Preliminary Programme

Wed 12 April
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    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

Thu 13 April
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    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

Fri 14 April
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    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

Sat 15 April
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    14.00 - 16.00

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Thursday 13 April 2023 14.00 - 16.00
R-7 HEA08 The Asylum. Categorizations, Treatments and Everyday Life
E45
Network: Health and Environment Chairs: -
Organizers: - Discussants: -
Elin Bommenel : Challenges in Contributing to Public Knowledge about Asylums and Institutions
Swedish institutional care in the 20th century has recently given rise to demands for the identification of, and responsibility for, offences against patients and inmates. Specific demands have been made, amongst other things, for a government inquiry, a government apology and the establishment of a museum on Sweden's treatment of ... (Show more)
Swedish institutional care in the 20th century has recently given rise to demands for the identification of, and responsibility for, offences against patients and inmates. Specific demands have been made, amongst other things, for a government inquiry, a government apology and the establishment of a museum on Sweden's treatment of human rights. The demands may focus on the offensive nature of classification and researching the inmates, or the risks of trying out new treatments or the view of human value expressed in the everyday life of the care in asylums and institutions. The first demand in relation to the Vipeholm institution was made in 1999. By 2023, so many demands have been made that an entire research project to analyse the media debate would be needed to map and thematise them all. To our knowledge, no such project exists. Based on Harry Collins, Martin Weinel & Robert Evans, and Roger A. Pielke's research, the role of researchers can be seen as important to keep separate from the roles of opinion makers, policy advocates and decision makers. It is also important to keep it separate from the role of those affected by policies and decisions. Seen from this perspective, scientific knowledge is central to decision-making. With Collins et al. and Pielke, the ability to make decisions about government mapping and demanding responsibility for institutional care or asylum care can be seen as dependent on researchers maintaining their integrity. Integrity is created within science by using scientific methods and opening up to peer review before results are published. But integrity is also created by the way researchers relate to debate, policy-making and decision-making. What demands does it place on those of us who research institutional care, asylum care, classifications, the development of treatments and everyday care, to contribute to the knowledge of subjects that are so hotly debated? Can the views of Collins et al. and Pielke help us fulfil this role, or are other perspectives needed? (Show less)

Kristina Engwall, Anna Tunlid : “Untidy, Uneducable and Feebleminded” – the Connection between Grading Patient´s Functionality and Treating them in the Swedish Asylum of Vipeholm 1935–1962
Vipeholm, which opened in 1935, was the only Swedish mental hospital for so called 'untidy uneducable feebleminded'. It has gained bad reputation partly due to an extensive caries experiment performed on the patients without consent, high death rates in 1941-43, dissection of patients’ brains without consent, and a mass grave ... (Show more)
Vipeholm, which opened in 1935, was the only Swedish mental hospital for so called 'untidy uneducable feebleminded'. It has gained bad reputation partly due to an extensive caries experiment performed on the patients without consent, high death rates in 1941-43, dissection of patients’ brains without consent, and a mass grave at the cemetery. In the constant exchange of patients between different institutions, Vipeholm was regarded as the ‘bottom institution’ and the final destination for the most disabled.

The presentation focuses on the categorization of the patients at the asylum, their daily activities and how they were treated by the staff. The categorization, developed by the chief physician, was based on an estimate of patients’ functionality and level of development. By analyzing the medical records and the chief physician’s notes, we will discuss which characteristics were the basis for the categorization, its significance for care, and how it affected the treatment of the patients. Furthermore, we will discuss how different categories of patients were handled in the medical context of the asylum. To what extent was medical treatments (e.g. access to sedatives) used as a prerequisite for being able to participate in social activities such as working therapy? Since feeblemindedness was incurable, it is interesting to see how various medical treatments were tested on the patients. How can we understand the attempts to find new cures which exposed the patients to severe medical interventions which sometimes worked and sometimes failed? The analysis of patients’ everyday life also includes aspects of coercion and violence. Violence and coercion were part of everyday life in the asylum, including part of the medical interventions, and aggressive behavior between patients and towards staff occurred regularly, as did the abuse of patients by some staff members. In the presentation, we will discuss how the boundaries were drawn between acceptable and unacceptable violence and what measures were taken to prevent the emergence of intolerable violence. (Show less)

Lena Lennerhed, Johanna Ringarp : Life, Education and Work in Swedish Epilepsy Asylums 1890-1960
The 20th century was a time of change for persons with epilepsy. Improved diagnosis and new treatments made life easier for many. But the lives for persons with epilepsy were framed not only by medical knowledge and healthcare resources, but also by intrusive legal regulation. A ban on marriage for ... (Show more)
The 20th century was a time of change for persons with epilepsy. Improved diagnosis and new treatments made life easier for many. But the lives for persons with epilepsy were framed not only by medical knowledge and healthcare resources, but also by intrusive legal regulation. A ban on marriage for persons believed to have hereditary and congenital epilepsy was not abolished until 1969. Several jobs were also prohibited for persons with epilepsy. Prejudice was widespread.

In 20th century Sweden, there were twelve asylums or institutions for persons with epilepsy in Sweden. Five of the asylums were run by deacons or deaconesses, the other by private persons, regional council or the state. In the 1950s, it was estimated that about five percent of the persons having epilepsy, were living in an asylum. By the 1980s, the asylums had all been shut down and patients had been moved to home with outpatient care or to local nursing homes.

In the paper, two of these asylums will be discussed: Margarethahemmet, a school home and asylum for children (both boys and girls) with epilepsy founded in 1892 through a call from prominent citizens including Prince Carl, and Stora Sköndal, a work home for men with epilepsy founded in 1905 by the Swedish Association for Deacons (Svenska Diakonsällskapet). Both asylums had so-called educable as well as uneducable patients.

Motives for opening up the asylums will be discussed, as well as their role from the 1930´s and on in the developing welfare state, characterized by secular thought and with social reforms on the agenda. Motives for and organization of education and work therapy will also be highlighted, and the experiences of patients. Sources are scarce, but diaries, memoirs and letters give some information about how patients viewed themselves, their epilepsy and their life at the asylum. (Show less)

Jesper Vaczy Kragh : “The Most Dangerous Criminal Lunatics”. The Rise of the Criminal Asylum in Denmark, 1918–1968
During the 19th century, heated debates about offenses committed by people with psychiatric disorders took place in Europe. As a solution to this problem, so-called criminal asylums or high security forensic wards were introduced in many countries. Early criminal asylums had been established in Ireland (Dundrum) in 1850 and in ... (Show more)
During the 19th century, heated debates about offenses committed by people with psychiatric disorders took place in Europe. As a solution to this problem, so-called criminal asylums or high security forensic wards were introduced in many countries. Early criminal asylums had been established in Ireland (Dundrum) in 1850 and in the UK by 1863 (Broadmoor). Similar institutions followed in Italy (1876), The Netherlands (1884) and Norway (the criminal asylum of Trondheim) in 1895. The Danish high secure unit, Sikringsanstalten, came rather late compared to these European asylums. On 18 July 1918, Sikringsanstalten opened its doors for the first time to five male patients. This institution, designed for “the most dangerous criminal lunatics”, was situated at the state mental hospital in Nykøbing Sjælland (Zealand). During the following fifty years, the Zealand unit would receive more than 200 patients. Drawing on patient records of Sikringsanstalten, this paper will discuss the rise of criminal asylums, the diagnostic categories of patients admitted to the Danish forensic institution and the treatment of the inmates. (Show less)



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