Preliminary Programme

Wed 24 March
    11.00 - 12.15
    12.30 - 13.45
    14.30 - 15.45
    16.00 - 17.15

Thu 25 March
    11.00 - 12.15
    12.30 - 13.45
    14.30 - 15.45
    16.00 - 17.15

Fri 26 March
    11.00 - 12.15
    12.30 - 13.45
    14.30 - 15.45
    16.00 - 17.15

Sat 27 March
    11.00 - 12.15
    12.30 - 13.45
    14.30 - 15.45
    16.00 - 17.00

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Friday 26 March 2021 16.00 - 17.15
S-12 HEA10 Attitudes to Disability and Insanity
S
Network: Health and Environment Chair: Ciara Breathnach
Organizers: - Discussants: -
Lena Lennerhed, Johanna Ringarp : Disease as a Danger to Society. Epilepsy in Sweden 1930-2000
In Sweden, epilepsy was given an exceptional position among diseases. The 1915 Marriage law prohibited persons with so-called inherited epilepsy to get married (a law that can be traced back to the 1686 Church Law). During the period, epilepsy was also linked to the sterilisation policy, and epileptics could apply ... (Show more)
In Sweden, epilepsy was given an exceptional position among diseases. The 1915 Marriage law prohibited persons with so-called inherited epilepsy to get married (a law that can be traced back to the 1686 Church Law). During the period, epilepsy was also linked to the sterilisation policy, and epileptics could apply for permission to marry if they first got sterilised. The prohibition for epileptics to marry was abolished in 1969. During the following decades, problems for epileptics to be permitted to work (for example as nurses and teachers) instead came into focus.

Our research project is ongoing, and one observation is that studies about the history of epilepsy are remarkably often written by neurologists, and not by historians with their methods and theories. Swedish historians Gunnar Broberg and Mattias Tydén (1991), Tydén (2002, 2007) has though included epilepsy and the prohibition to marry in their studies about Swedish eugenics and sterilisation practices.

With perspectives in the critical history of medicine and theories on patient role and power, the aim is to analyse policies, medical theory and medical practice related to epilepsy in Sweden, 1930-2000. Of specific interest is how ideas and conceptions of epilepsy changed; from being described as a danger to society and public health to, at the end of the period, be seen as a neurological disorder among others. Overall questions are: what main factors can explain the changed status of epilepsy among diseases? Who and what were the driving forces? Explanations will be looked for in psychiatric-neurologic theory, in new treatments, in policymaking and in patient organisations’ demands for increased influence.

Previous international research has highlighted the myth formation that followed the disease and emphasises the importance of the medical development for epileptics to get a better life. In a preliminary study, Lennerhed & Ringarp (in print) show that in Sweden the development went very slowly. Political decisions tended more to lean on old knowledge of epilepsy than to embrace new medical findings. This may have to do with the impact that eugenics had in Sweden during the growth of the welfare state. (Show less)

Lotta Vikström, Johan Junkka & Liselotte Eriksson & Frida Skog & Glenn Sandström : Long-term Trends of Mental Impairment and Institutionalization in the Early Swedish Welfare State (1900–1960)
There are large gender and socio-economic inequalities in mental health across the globe. This is also true for Sweden and despite its long history of social welfare-oriented policy. However, we do not know if these inequalities are a recent development or a continuation of long-term trends. This study goes back ... (Show more)
There are large gender and socio-economic inequalities in mental health across the globe. This is also true for Sweden and despite its long history of social welfare-oriented policy. However, we do not know if these inequalities are a recent development or a continuation of long-term trends. This study goes back in time to investigate the associations between mental impairment, socio-economic status (SES) and gender in Sweden 1900-1960 by investigating: (1) the recognition of mental impairments among people depending on gender and SES; (2) the selection of them to institutions, and; (3) variations over time.

This study is based upon Swedish parish registers in Västerbotten county (1900–1960) digitized by the Demographic Data Base (DDB), Umeå University. At the micro level, these registers report demographic data on all parishioners across their lifetime and whether they had impairments or were institutionalized. The population consists of 257,514, where 2,626 have mental impairments, out of whom 1,993 were sent to institutions. The risk of impairment is estimated using mixed-effects Cox regressions while the probability of institutionalization is estimated using mixed-effects logistic regressions.

First, our findings show an increase in socio-economic inequalities in mental impairment from 1900 to 1960, as the gap between people with a high-SES and a low-SES became significantly larger. In parallel, there was a reversal trend in institutionalization where the Elite had the highest probability in 1900 and the lowest in the mid-1900s. This suggests that today’s association between inequalities and mental health in Sweden is part of a long-term trend that goes back to the early nineteenth century. Second, the gendered gap regarding both mental impairment and institutionalization decreased over time as the risks became more similar. Only before 1915, men ran substantially higher risks of impairment and institutionalization than women. (Show less)



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