The purpose of this essay is to examine the patients who were cared for at Stockholm's psychiatric hospital during three periods in history: 1890–1895, 1905–1910 and 1920–1925. The variables examined in the statistical part of the essay are the number of newly admitted patients per period and the diagnoses these people receive. The second part of the essay takes a closer look at how patients from different payment classes are described in the application documents. The focus has been on compiling positively and negatively value-laden words to see which and how many words are used and whether there are differences between the different classes and genders. Another class aspect that has been investigated is how daily life in the hospital has differed between the classes. The findings show that the number of patients per year is constantly increasing. There is only a small change between the first and the second survey period, from 1910 until and during the years 1920–1925, an enormous change takes place. Many people in the country are in line to be admitted to a hospital, which means that patients who are not judged as seriously ill or as a danger to themselves and others are discharged at a high rate. The diagnostic system undergoes several changes during the examined period, which makes it difficult to follow individual diagnoses over time. The discourse analysis of the application documents shows that the men in the first class were the ones who were given by far the best reviews, both by relatives and by the chief physician. The focus was on their intelligence and good mood. First-class women also generally received good marks, but they commented more on her calmness and dignity, completely in line with the bourgeois ideal that prevailed then. Third-class patients did not enjoy the same amount of positive words at all. Their bodies and ability to work arouse the most interest in the doctor and the amount of information about their background is less. Everyday life also separates the classes. Tasks, leisure activities and food are adapted to the classes' previous lives to facilitate care and read justment to society, which means that in the first class you devote a lot of time to reading and writing, while in the third class you work with the physical operation of the hospital. The food would also mimic the one you were used to before, which meant that the food for first class was more than twice as expensive per person per day compared to the food you ate in third class.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:sh-48397 |
| Date | January 2021 |
| Creators | Strandh, Anna |
| Publisher | Södertörns högskola, Institutionen för historia och samtidsstudier |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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