Past Issues
Mental Health Care in Sweden
Christer Allgulander
Background: Reforming psychiatric services in Sweden in the 1960s and 1970s caused a shift from inpatient to outpatient units.
Methods: Besides my lifetime experiences in receiving training, teaching, and practicing psychiatry, I collected information from the literature
pertinent to the mental health care in Sweden. Results: In this review, I have highlighted some of the more important mental health events
in Sweden. The number of psychiatric beds in Sweden has reduced from 37,000 to 4,500. The national health insurance and the ethos of the
welfare state have created an equitable and generous environment for patients who are mentally ill. The suicide rate has gone down over the
last three decades. There has been a substantial increase in a Swedish diagnosis called exhaustion disorder (burnout), especially in medical
staff, office workers, and in the schools. Also, against all predictions, children and adolescents increasingly report having aches, insomnia,
and depressive symptoms. Diagnosis and treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder has increased substantially in the last 15
years. Moving from the International Classification of Diseases, version 9 (ICD-9) in the 1980s to ICD-11 and the DSM nosologies was
accompanied by evidence-based guidelines, resulting in revised curricula for undergraduate and graduate training. Current researchers are
showing a growing interest in autoimmune conditions that are comorbid with traditional psychiatric disorders. Neurovirology and psychiatry
have an interface with the COVID-19 pandemic that will require an immediate action plan and collaborative efforts. Conclusion: Demographic
changes due to increasing proportions of elderly and multiethnic populations, as well as the COVID-19 epidemic, will profoundly affect
the future provision of services.
Key Word | COVID-19, mental health services, research and development, telepsychiatry |
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