David William Oaks (born September 16, 1955, Chicago, Illinois)[1] is a civil rights activist and co-founder and former executive director of Eugene, Oregon-based MindFreedom International.

David Oaks co-founded the organization MindFreedom International which includes psychiatric survivors and psychiatrists who reject the biomedical model that defines contemporary psychiatry.

[2] They believe that "mental illness is caused by severe emotional distress, often combined with lack of socialization", and they "decry the pervasive treatment with prescription drugs, sales of which have nearly doubled since 1998".

"[3] Oaks has stated that the psychiatric drugs that patients take are often debilitating and frequently have harmful side effects, and people can recover without them.

[3] Oaks "maintains his mental health with exercise, diet, peer counseling and wilderness trips — strategies that are well outside the mainstream thinking of psychiatrists and many patients".