The Swedish mental health care system underwent a reconstruction during the 17th century. Mentally sick people who were enclosed and hidden from the society were now moved to newly built hospitals, with a specialization in mental rehabilitation, due to the number of mentally sick people in Sweden rising during the 17thcentury. In 1923, a new way of treating and rehabilitating patients was enforced, called occupational therapy. Occupational therapy meant that the patients would be assigned jobs or other occupations, instead of being bedridden, which was often the way patients were previously treated at the beginning of the 18th century. Occupational therapy became highly popular in Sweden, due to the new hospitals that were built being very expensive for the Swedish tax-payers. The new way of treating patients with occupational therapy became an economic priority for the hospitals. Mariebergs Hospital in Kristinehamn was also, at the time, using other new was of treating patients like lobotomy and electroshock therapy. In this essay, we will get in contact with the patients that underwent lobotomy treatment and were sterilized without their consent. The purpose of this essay is to focus on what kind of people were hospitalized in the mental hospitals during the 18thcentury and how they were cared for in various ways. This essay will be based on two thesis statements that were crafted by sociologist Bengt Sjöström in order to interpret the material that appears in this enquiry.

During the long 19th century and the great development of mental health care, several new hospitals were built, and new methods emerged. The society wanted healthy citizens who could work, to contribute to the economy and that made the mental hospitals very important during that time. The economic status of social classes was also reflected in the mental hospitals where patients were divided into different class units. In the first class, one could find patients with good economic backgrounds, meanwhile the poor patients were living in the crowded third class. This research follows the lives of five patients, three men and two women, who were diagnosed with melancholia during the early 20th century at Kristinehamn’s hospital. Letters, patient records, examinations etc. will be examined to get an insight into their lives, but also the doctors’ thoughts and methods. Their most common symptoms, how they were taken care of and how themselves experienced their illness will be discussed and analyzed in this paper.