'He's not my carer - he's my husband': personal and policy constructions of care in mental health

The construction of 'care' in the professional and UK legislative and polic y arenas has been the focus of much interest in recent years. A growing awa reness of the needs of 'carers' in their own right and a recognition of the conflicting needs of 'carers' and users of services informs practice in he alth and social care where discourses of care focus on `care' as duty, burd en and responsibility. The complexity of the roles and tasks that make up t he lived experience of someone who 'cares' for and about another is well do cumented, especially in the areas of older people and physical disability. This paper seeks to locate individual experiences of `care' in mental healt h alongside the construction of `care' in mental health policy and legislat ion within the UK. The paper draws both on preliminary research with couple s, and an analysis of the development of `care' in policy and law. This dua l analysis indicates that, while practitioners in health and social care re cognise the needs of people who consider themselves to be 'carers', not all people subscribe to the identity of 'carer' or 'cared for' in their relati onship.