In any healthcare setting, a patient should be able to influence their own care and treatment. However, there may be particular barriers that may prevent a patient from expressing their opinions regarding their care and treatment. The purpose of this essay is to discuss three barriers: how a patient can overcome disempowerment; staff with limited knowledge and insufficient training regarding some mental health problems and poor communication. These barriers will be related to recent clinical experience. The purpose of this essay is to consider how each of these barriers has diminished patient voice and how these have been overcome. Empowerment is a relatively new concept in healthcare; follows the theory that every person should have the right to make decisions about their own healthcare (Gohde, 2011). It is important that a patient can feel empowered – that they can feel instrumental in their own care – so that they can begin to recover. In previous years, patients were passive recipients of care (Latvala, 2000), but now they are more active in making decisions about their care. Patient empowerment is vital to promoting a positive outcome in the nurse-patient relationship (Spence Lashinger, 2010). An example of patient empowerment is the experience of Emily, a twenty-five-year-old woman diagnosed with anorexia nervosa. Emily was diagnosed with the condition eight years ago and is subsequently well known to local NHS psychiatric services. Emily was recently admitted to a psychiatric inpatient unit at the local NHS hospital under a compulsory treatment order (Scottish Government, 2004) after attempting suicide following an episode of severe hunger. When the student nurse began her training on the ward where Emily h...... half of the document ......an Eating Disorders Review (8) page 293-300Sanfter JL (2011) “Quality of Life in Relation to Psychosocial risk variables for eating disorders in women and men” Eating Behaviors 12 (2) page 136-142 Scottish Government (2004) The new mental health act: what is it? A brief introduction. Available online at www.scotland.gov.uk/publications/2004/01/18753/31686, first accessed 28/04/2011 Sheldon LK (2009) “Communication for Nurses”, second edition, London, James and Bartlett, page 81- 82Snell L, Crowe M, Jordan J (2010) “Maintaining a Therapeutic Connection: Nursing in an Inpatient Eating Disorders Unit” Journal of Clinical Nursing 19 (3-4) page 358Spence Laschinger HK (2010) “Towards a Comprehensive Theory of Nurse – Patient Empowerment: Application of Kanter's Empowerment Theory to Patient Care” Journal of Nursing Management. 18(1) page 4-13