Psychodynamics in child psychiatry in Sweden, 1945–85: from political vision to treatment ideology

Abstract

In this article, changing treatment ideologies and policies in child psychiatric outpatient services in Sweden from 1945 to 1985 are examined. The aim is to discuss the role played by psychoanalytic and psychodynamic thinking in this process of change. When mental health services for children were introduced in the mid-1940s, psychoanalytic thinking was intertwined with the social democratic vision of the Swedish welfare state in which children symbolized the future. In practice, however, treatment ideology was initially less influenced by psychoanalytic thinking. From the early 1960s, child psychiatric services expanded and the number of units increased. By then, the political vision had disappeared, but a treatment ideology began to evolve based on psychodynamic theories, which became dominant in the 1970s.

Youth Well-Being Contextualized: Perceptions of Swedish Fathers

“…Some research also suggests that in Sweden independence is an important goal for rearing children (Daun 1996;Trost et al 2007) and a quality that is more valued among highly educated fathers than less educated fathers (Bernhardt et al 2002). This along with political and scientific discourses in Sweden that have challenged authoritarian education and parenting (Nelson and Sandin 2013), these study findings may also illustrate present-day priorities that permeate the normative perceptions and understanding of youth well-being in some segments of Swedish society. Furthermore, emotional and psychological well-being also covered a happy and harmonious state of mind.…”

Den offentliga ohälsan : En historisk studie av barnpsykologi och -psykiatri i svensk media 1968-2008

“…För det andra täcker avhandlingen åren 1968-2008. Tidsperiodens startpunkt är vald utifrån att den svenska barnpsykiatrin var väl etablerad vid slutet av 1960-talet, med en omfattande mängd kliniker och yrkesverksamma runt om i landet (Zetterqvist Nelson & Sandin, 2013). Etablerandet av dessa institutioner bidrog till en tydlig legitimering av, jämsides med en uppbackning från offentligt håll, av de psykologiska och psykiatriska professionerna, vilket gav dem en grund att stå på i deras fortsatta arbete, inklusive att på olika sätt interagera med svensk media.…”

“…Ett flertal historiker har studerat hur de första decennierna av 1900-talet såg ett genomslag av mentalhygienska tankeströmningar, med en emfas på behovet av vetenskaplig expertis för att främja barns hälsosamma utveckling och anpassning till samhället, och visat att dessa även kom att bli inflytelserika för etablerandet av den tidiga barnpsykiatrin (Jönson, 1997;Mortensen Vik, 2010;Qvarsell, 1985Qvarsell, , 1997Richardson, 1989;Toms, 2012;Zetterqvist Nelson, 2016). Även decennierna kring mitten av 1900-talet har studerats i viss utsträckning och studier har belyst hur psykodynamiska och psykoanalytiska teorier etablerade sig som en framträdande form av barnpsy-expertis, med ett starkt fokus på barns inre, omedvetna, liv och processer samt på föräldrars påverkan på barns psykiska hälsa och utveckling (Bergenheim, 2013;Shapira, 2013;Zetterqvist Nelson, 2012Zetterqvist Nelson & Sandin, 2013).…”

From talking cure to play- and group-therapy: outpatient mental health care for children in the Netherlands c. 1945–70

“…Only from the late 1960s was this social perspective exchanged for a more individualized one that took inspiration from psychodynamic theory, pushing aside biomedical psychiatry and behaviouristic treatments. By 1980, when individual psychotherapy was finally used more often in the treatment of ‘mentally ill’ children, this occurred at a time when the Anglophone world had already moved towards group- and family-therapies and became susceptible to a new neuropsychiatry that linked children’s cognitive and socio-emotional disturbances to the development of their brains ( Evans, 2017 : 108–41; Zetterqvist Nelson and Sandin, 2013 ).…”