Constructing Responsibility in Mental Health Policy: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Educational and Vocational Support for Young Adults in Sweden's National Strategy

ABSTRACT How mental health policy is formulated shape interpretations of responsibility and actions, making language analysis crucial for understanding its impact on welfare practices. This paper explores how responsibility for educational and vocational support for young adults with mental health problems is constructed in Swedish mental health policy. Using Critical Discourse Analysis and legitimation analysis, three key national policy documents are analysed. Findings reveal that responsibility is constructed as collective yet expressed through language diffusing accountability. While moral legitimation strategies are prevalent, rationalization and neoliberal principles such as efficiency, activation and individual responsibility are prominent. Young adults are positioned as both vulnerable and responsible, expected to participate in education and employment, reflecting an activation discourse, instrumentalizing mental health as a resource for economic productivity. Neoliberal discursive patterns shift responsibility from central authorities to local actors and individuals, risking unequal support. Despite emphasis on education as a protective factor, higher education is notably absent risking to exclude support for young adults in this arena. National policy should strengthen clarity of responsibility to prevent diffusion and promote equality. Otherwise, mental health policy risks becoming an aspiration rather than a framework for justice. Social work practice should advocate structural solutions and inclusive policies that recognize mental health as a social right to prevent further marginalizing young adults with mental health problems.