Crisis and Caring for Inner Selves: Psychiatric Crisis as a Social Classification in Sweden in the 1970s
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3384/cu.2000.1525.124499Keywords:
Psychiatric crisis, crisis psychotherapy, inner growth, self, self-care, social classification, classificatory loopingAbstract
This article aims to contribute to the understanding concerning the introduction of crisis psychotherapy in the 1970s in psychiatric clinics in Sweden. The article discusses how this psychotherapy became central in the work of the clinics in supporting patients to well-being and inner growth. The ambition was that patients in an acute crisis-situation would be offered care immediately, aiming at a short and intensive contact with the professionals to avoid hospitalization and long-term sick leave. These ideas were by no means new; in the 1960s, a Western debate had emerged in which the hospitalization in psychiatric clinics had received criticism. In Sweden, the psychiatrist Johan Cullberg was a key actor during the 1970s in the introduction of the psychiatric crisis perspectives. Here, his publication ’The psychic trauma’ from 1971 is analysed. The publication inspired psychiatric clinics to introduce crisis psychotherapy in three different pilot projects. The projects were presented in articles in the Swedish Medical Journal. These articles have also been analysed here. Self-care is highlighted through this material as a concept to be analysed. The question is discussed as to how the concept of the psychiatric crisis initiated and institutionalized a new form of social classification in which the patients were to take more responsibility for their own inner growth.
References
Ardelius, Margareta, Solveig Göthlin, Ann-Christine Sjöström & Börje Wistedt (1978): ‘Två års erfarenheter av kristerapi’ [Two Years of Experiences of Crisis Therapy], Läkartidningen, 75:45.
Blumer, Herbert (1971): ‘Social Problems as Collective Behavior’, Social Problems, 18:3, 298-306.
Beck, Ulrich & Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim (2001): Individualization: Institutionalized Individualism and its Social and Political Consequences, London: Saga.
Boëthius, Eva, Erik Gerdin, Eva Gruvstad & Gudrun Wadman (1977): ‘Kristerapi. Ett alternativ’ [Crisis Therapy. An Alternative]. Läkartidningen, 74:15, 1501-1503.
Cullberg, Johan (1971): ‘Det psykiska traumat. Om kristeori och krispsykoterapi’ [The Psychic Trauma: About Crisis Theory and Crisis Psychotherapy]. Sfph:s monografiserie, No 1.
Cullberg, Johan (1980/1975): Kris och utveckling. En psykoanalytisk och socialpsykiatrisk studie [Crisis and Development. A Psychoanalytic and Social Psychiatric Study], Stockholm: Natur och Kultur.
Ekenstam, Claes (2006): Kroppens idéhistoria. Disciplinering och karaktärsdaning i Sverige 1700-1950 [Ideas of the Body. Discipline and Character Building in Sweden 1700-1950], Hedemora: Gidlunds Förlag.
Ekenstam, Claes (2007): ‘Den kännande människan’ [The Human Being as a Feeling Person], Claes Ekenstam & per Magnus Johansson (eds): Människobilder. Tio idéhistoriska studier [Pictures of Man. Ten studies in history of ideas and sciences], Hedemora: Gidlunds Förlag.
Ekselius, Eva, Notini, Dag & Gunnar Öberg (1976): Människor i kris [People in Crisis], Stockholm: Esselte Studium.
Erikson, Erik Homburger (1993/1950): Childhood and Society, New York/London: W W Norton & Company.
Ewing, Charles P (1980): Krispsykoterapi [Crisis Intervention as Psychotherapy], Stockholm: Natur och Kultur.
Falk, Margareta & Karin Stenstedt (1973): ‘Presentation of the Crisis Attitude’, Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 49, 49.
Folksams sociala råd och TCO:s socialpolitiska råd (1979): Människa i kris. En debattbok med utgångspunkt från självmordsfrågan [Man in Crisis. A Debate Book with Starting Point in the Suicide Issue], Stockholm: Folksam, TCO, Tiden.
Foucault, Michel (1967): Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason, London: Tavistock.
Foucault, Michel (1984/1990): The History of Sexuality: The Care of the Self, London: Penguin Books Ltd.
Foucault, Michel (1963/2003): The Birth of the Clinic: An Archaeology of Medical Perception, London and New York: Routledge Classics.
Fried, Barbara (1978): Krisen vid livets mitt [The Middle-age Crisis]. Stockholm: Natur och Kultur.
Frykman, Jonas (1994): ‘Kroppens förvandlingar. Hälsa, medicin och kulturell förändring i 1900-talets samhälle’ [Transformations of Bodies: Health, Medicine and Cultural Changes in the Twentieth Century Society], Kulturella Perspektiv. Svensk Etnologisk Tidskrift, 2, 48-59.
Giddens, Anthony (1991): Modernity and Self-identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
Goffman, Erving (1961): Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates, New York: Doubleday.
Hacking, Ian (1992): ‘“Style” for Historians and Philosophers’, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 23:1, 1-20.
Hacking, Ian (1999): The Social Construction of What?, Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Hacking, Ian (2004): Historical Ontology. Cambridge/London: Harvard University Press.
Jaques, Elliott (1965): ‘Death and the Mid-Life Crisis, International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 46, 502-514.
Jönsson, Lars-Eric (forthcoming): ‘Psychiatry Writes History’, Ethnologia Scandinavica.
Lasch, Christopher (1991/1979): Culture of Narcissism: American Life in an Age of Diminishing Expectations, New York and London: W. W. Norton & Company.
Lindemann, Eric (1944): ‘Symptomatology and Management of Acute grief’, American Journal of Psychiatry, 101:2, 141-148.
Micale, Mark S. & Roy Porter(1994): Discovering the History of Psychiatry, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Mol, Annemarie, Ingunn Moser & Jeannette Pols (2010): ‘Care: Putting Practice into Theory’, Annemarie Mol, Ingunn Moser & Jeannette Pols (eds) Care in Practice: On Tinkering in Clinics, Homes and Farms. Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag.
Ohlsson, Anna (2008): Myt och manipulation. Radikal psykiatrikritik i Svensk offentlig idédebatt 1968-1973 [Myth and Manipulation: Radical Criticism of Psychiatry in Public Discussion in Sweden, 1968-1973], Stockholm: Acta Universitatis Stockholmiensis.
Rapoport, Lydia (1967): ‘Crisis-oriented Short-term Casework’, Social Service Review, 41, 31-43.
Rose, Nikolas (1998): Inventing Our Selves: Psychology, Power and Personhood, Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.
Scheff, Thomas (1966/1984): Being Mentally Ill: A Sociological Theory, New York: Aldline Publishing Company.
Stenstedt, Karin (1973): ’Krisbehandling i öppenvårdsteam. Ett psykiatriskt vårdalternativ’ [Crisis Intervention in an Outpatient Care Unit], Läkartidningen, 70:46, 4154-4158.
Szasz, Thomas Stephen (1961): The Myth of Mental Illness. Foundations of a Theory of Personal Conduct, New York, Cambridge, London: Harper & Row, Publishers.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2012 Hansson
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
Copyright for all manuscripts rests with the author(s). The editors reserve the right to edit manuscripts. Contributors are responsible for acquiring all permissions from the copyright owners for the use of quotations, illustrations, tables, etc. Each author must, before final publication fill, in a publishing agreement provided by LiU E-Press.
Since 2021 Culture Unbound uses a Creative Commons: Attribution license for new articles, which allows users to distribute the work and to reform or build upon it without the author's permission. Full reference to the author must be given. For older articles please see each article landing page.
