[Users' participation in mental health services].

Users' participation in mental health services isn't precisely a novelty but its recent form is that of a movement impossible to imagine twenty years ago. The present paper distinguishes the terms "consumer", "client", "patient" and "user", as well as "participation", "perspective", "inv olvement" and "users' control of services". Some historical milestones are described and also the relationship between users' movement and the recovery concept, the Human Rights doctrine and the development of Post Psychiatry. Self-help and mutual-aid groups, participation in planning, provision and evaluation of services, and also in selection and training of mental health professionals are pointed as the main types of participation. Some aspects of the local users' movement are also depicted. Finally, the personal narratives are presented as potentially subjectivity creators and ways of coming out of isolation and fighting stigma.