Redefining empowerment in mental health: an analysis using Hannah Arendt's power concept

Abstract

The term ‘empowerment’ is in danger of becoming an empty concept in the field of mental health. In the mental health literature, political empowerment has been taken over by a usage referring to personal self‐development, while efforts to increase service user power have largely been directed at the mental health services. Still, the term has the potential to provide an important communicative function within the mental health movement. There is a need to connect the term ‘empowerment’ to a relevant power theory. In this article, I draw on Hannah Arendt's conception of power which explains how political power grows. From an Arendtian perspective, empowerment can be defined as rooted in collective, public, political action. This conceptual clarification helps to distinguish activities focussed on increasing an individual's self‐confidence and skills from those that aim at changes in power relations.