Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karolinska institutet, 2002. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

Diss. Umeå : Univ., 2004.

Diss. Uppsala : Uppsala universitet, 2004. / [Ny tr.], 2005. Pp. 270-285: Bibliography.

Inna Sevelius: Psykiatrin som kulturell praktik: Bedömningen av patienter på Ulleråkers sjukhus år 1948. Uppsala universitet: Inst. för idé- och lärdomshistoria, masteruppsats, vårtermin, 2011.   Uppsatsens syfte är att bidra till psykiatrins historia genom en studie av hittills outforskade patientjournaler från Ulleråkers sjukhus i Uppsala. Frågeställningen är vilka konventioner – medicinska och kulturella – som läkarnas bedömningspraktik baseras på. Hypotesen är att konventionerna kommer till uttryck i de berättelser som läkarna återger om patienterna i sjukjournalerna. Materialet utgörs av 46 journaler för de patienter som år 1948 fick diagnosen psykogen sinnessjukdom. I analysen definieras och diskuteras tolv olika konventioner som framstår som återkommande kategorier i journalerna, nämligen hereditet, uppväxt och traumatiska upplevelser, somatisk sjukhistoria, psykiatrisk sjukhistoria, äktenskap, andra relationer, arbete, nuvarande insjuknande och specifika symtom, känslouttryck, sexualitet, religiösa upplevelser samt klinisk bild. En del av konventionerna kan kopplas till den medicinska vetenskapen och läkarutbildningen – som hereditet, uppväxt och tidigare sjukhistoria – medan andra inte ingår i skolningen utan handlar om kulturella förväntningar och föreställningar som påverkar bedömningen likafullt. Dessa konventioner rör bland annat mänskliga relationer, känslouttryck och arbetsliv. Avslutningsvis skisseras de generella berättelser om människan som kan anas bakom de konventioner som präglar läkarnas bedömning av patienter, för att peka på hur konventionerna återspeglar samtidens människosyn på olika sätt. Berättelserna om äktenskap, kön, känslor, relationer till andra, arbete, sexualitet och religion är intimt sammanvävda med berättelserna om sjukdom och normalitet, så att det i slutändan blir svårt att skilja dem åt. Så frammanas bilden av hur en fungerande eller frisk människa är, en berättelse som genomsyras av medicinska föreställningar om gränserna mellan friskt och sjukt, normalt och onormalt, men också av kulturella föreställningar som förväntningar om kvinnlighet/manlighet och hållning till arbete och relationer.

Polio epidemics appeared in Sweden in 1881 and at the turn of the 20th century the disease became an annual feature in the epidemiological pattern. Due to vaccination starting in 1957 epidemics ceased to exist in Sweden around 1965. This thesis deals with the history polio epidemics in Sweden, 1880-1965 and studies the demographical influence of polio, how the medical authorities investigated and tried to combat it, and the care of those who contracted the disease. A study of polio mortality and incidence in Sweden at the national level during 1905-1962 reveals that the disease caused 6,000 deaths out of the 51,000 cases reported. At the beginning of the 20th century polio primarily attacked children up to 10 years of age. At the end of the period victims were represented in all age groups, but mainly in the ages 15-39. Moreover, a regional incidence study shows considerable regional differences. Sweden and the USA developed different ways of investigating and explaining the causes of polio thinking that led to diverse preventive measures. Moreover, in the 1950’s Sweden developed its own vaccine, different in choice of methods and materials from the widely used Salk-vaccine. When polio was classified as an epidemic in 1905, those infected by polio were usually taken to an isolation hospital. These hospitals were owned and financed by the state. The aftercare of polio victims was organized by philanthropist organizations. Polio was associated with dirt and unhygienic circumstances until the 1950’s when the theory of polio epidemics as a backlash of good hygiene and sanitary standards was established. The theory is built upon the correlation between neonatal mortality and polio incidence. However, correlation analysis at the regional level reveals no significant relationship between these variables. In Sweden, the hygienic movement had been very influential, and this study suggests that the theory quickly was accepted, because it explained why Sweden could be hit by epidemics and still be considered a welfare state with good hygienic and sanitary standards. / digitalisering@umu

The purpose of the study is to understand whether, and if so why, the Swedish medical profession's position on the availability and shortage of doctors during the 1950s and 1960s could be interpreted as an expression of an overall common mentality within the medical profession. The start and end points of the study (1950 and 1970) cover the emergence of the Swedish welfare state. The emergence of the welfare state is the contextual background to this study and how that influenced the medical profession's social status and perception of the future role of their own profession. The source material for the study is mainly from the Swedish medical journal (Svenska Läkartidningen) and meeting minutes from various Swedish medical organisations, primarily the Swedish Medical Association (Sveriges Läkarförbund). Government public inquiries, government bills and the daily press have also been analysed. The analysis is based on three central proposals for action from the government to secure the future supply of doctors and stem the shortage of doctors. The proposals were the transfer of foreign doctors to Sweden, the expansion of education of doctors and the reorganisation of the Swedish health care system. The study shows that the argumentation from the Swedish medical profession against all proposals from the government consisted of several different rhetorical manoeuvres to exercise social closure. Another conclusion is that until the mid-1960s, both the Swedish Association of Young Doctors and the Swedish Medical Association acted mainly as professional associations, rather than as traditional trade unions regarding the expansion of the medical profession. From the mid-1960s, there are tendencies indicating that the association more began to resemble a traditional trade union. However, professional issues such as improvement in the profession, demands for exclusivity, social status and issues of legitimisation appear to have been more important throughout the period than more traditional trade union issues such as pay, employment conditions and the working environment. The professions' opposition to increasing the number of doctors, regardless of the method proposed by the government and responsible authorities, was characterised by a clear guild spirit. The study shows that the medical organisation arguments against the various proposals were driven by union strategies, attitudes, and norms and in some cases ideology. The mentality of medical professional representatives and individual doctors was influenced by the professional status of the medical profession with inherent norms and attitudes based on the doctors' self-perceived expertise and scientifically anchored professional identity. A central conclusion from the study is that the main rhetorical line of the professional representatives was that more doctors were neither desirable nor needed in the medical profession and therefore most of the arguments against an expanded medical profession were based on some form of protectionism. This was justified by the profession by using historical analogies and by conducting their own 'objective and scientific' investigations. A right-wing based criticism of society at the time and a fundamentally conservative view of the economy, the tax system and the expansion of the welfare state also served as rhetorical tools from the medical profession in the debate on the shortage of doctors.

This thesis examines the medical content of Early Modern Swedish almanacs between the years 1608-1731. The aim of the study is to uncover the understanding of health, illness and the human body that is prevalent within the almanacs. This has been found to be strongly related to the medical paradigm of humorism, or Galenic Medicine. The almanacs also reveal the connection between the intellectual fields of medicine and astrology during the Early Modern Era, which I argue to be largely overlooked within the history of medicine in Sweden. Another central aspect of the study has been to analyze how the medical content and medical understanding changed during the studied period. The part of the almanacs called elections, were found to change quite drastically, and disappeared from the almanacs around 1700. When analyzing medical texts in the almanacs however, this change was not evident, indicating, among other results, that the relation between medicine and astrology remained.

This study treats the topic of smallpox prevention in Sweden during the nascent phase of vaccination between 1798–1805. The aim is to examine how Swedish physicians sought to establish trustworthiness for a new medical treatment as well as to analyse the relation between professional physicians and the unlicensed actors involved in the practice, i.e. the clergy and their assistants. The source material consists of pamphlets, articles in daily papers and annual reports written by Swedish physicians. By drawing upon theories on boundary-work and epistemic authority, this study has found that several boundaries were drawn within the medical space by the physicians who strived to retain the elements of the practice that were considered the most crucial, while delegating others. More importantly, the study has found that the physicians attempted to engage the clergy in the dissemination of knowledge due to their influence over the public. According to the physicians, the clergy were able to establish a credibility for the vaccine which could induce the population to undergo the treatment without coercion or laws made by the government.

Diss. Uppsala : Univ., 2003.

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