An account of the conditions of Faroese individuals with a mental illness from the early 1800s to the late 1960s Ein søga um støðuna hjá føroyskum sinnissjúkumfrá tíðliga í 1800-talinum til seinast í 1960unum
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Published
Dec 4, 2024
Elisabeth O.C. Hall
Jana Mortensen
Annemi Lund Joensen Susanne Malchau Dietz
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6691-2190
Jana Mortensen
Annemi Lund Joensen Susanne Malchau Dietz
Abstract
This paper provides a historic narrative of conditions for Faroese individuals with a mental illness from the early 1800s to 1969. The year 1969 was a landmark, as the Faroe Islands, an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean, finally established its own psychiatric ward led by a psychiatrist in collaboration with nurses and other healthcare providers. The narrative presents accounts of life in the Faroe Islands, as well as transportation to and life in asylums abroad. It is contextualised within international conventions on human rights and discussed through the lenses of ethical, nursing and mental healthcare theories. The conclusion emphasises the importance of recognising the unique history of mental health care in the Faroe Island underscoring the continued need to respect the human rights of individuals suffering from mental illnesses.
Úrtak
Hendan grein er ein søguliga frásøgn um støðuna hjá sinnisjúkum í Føroym frá tíðliga í 1800-talinum og fram til 1969. Hetta árið var ein marknasteinur í Føroyum, tí tá bleiv fyrsta sinnissjúkrahúsið tikið í brúk undir leiðslu av einum psykiatara, og við sjúkrarøktarfrøðingum og øðrum heilsustarvsfólki í starvi. Frásøgnin lýsir støðuna hjá sinnissjúkum, meðan tey vóru í Føroyum, hvussu tey vórðu flutt av landinum, og lívið hjá teimum uttanlands. Teirra støða verður greinað við støði í altjóða menniskjarættindasáttmálum, ástøði um siðfrøði, líðing, sosial viðurskifti og sjúkrarøkt til sinnissjúk. Í niðurstøðuni verður áherðsla løgd á týdningin av at viðurkenna serligu søguna hjá sinnissjúkum í Føroyum. Dentur verður eisini lagdur á týdningin av áhaldandi virðing fyri menniskjarættindunum hjá teimum, sum hava sálarsjúku.
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Keywords
Historical narrative, Human rights, Faroe Islands, Mental health, Mental illness, Nursing history, Psychiatry, Transfer, Ævisøga, menniskjarættindi, Føroyar, sálarheilsa, sinnissjúk, sjúkrarøktarsøga, psykiatri, flutningur
References
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Bassoe, P. (1945). Spain as the cradle of psychiatry. American Journal of Psychiatry, 101, 731-738.
Burnton, S. (2011). Doctors, patients and the Human Rights Act. Medical-Legal Journal, 79(4), 115-128. doi:10.1258/mlj.2011.011031
Butterworth, A. (2020). Commentary: Childhood experiences pursue adulthood for better and worse: a qualitative study of adults’ experiences after growing up with a severely mentally ill parent in a small-scale society. Journal of Research in Nursing, 25(6–7), 592–593. Doi:10.1177/1744987120946275 journals.sagepub.com/home/jrn
Crafoord, C. (2004). Udviklende fortrolighed. Tanker om kontaktpersonfunktionen. Hans Reitzels Forlag, København.
Cuijpers, P., Javed, A. & Bhui, K. (2023). The WHO World Mental Health Report: a call for action. British Journal of Psychiatry, 222, 227-229. doi:1192bjp.20023.9
Cutcliffe, J.R., Hummelvoll, J.K., Granerud, A. & Eriksson, B.G. (2015). Mental health nurses responding to suffering in the 21st century occidental world: Accompanying people in their search for meaning. Archives in Psychiatric Nursing, 29, 19-25. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apnu.2014.09.008 0883-9417
Dam, K., Joensen, D. & Hall, E.O.C. (2016). Experiences of adults who as children lived with a parent experiencing mental illness in a small-scale society: a qualitative study. Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 25, 76-87. doi:10.1111/jpm.12446
Dam, K. (2018). At navigere i en paradoksal tilværelse. En kvalitativ undersøgelse af barndommen og voksenlivet hos voksne børn, der er vokset op på Færøerne, sammen men en forælder ramt af svær psykisk sygdom. PhD-thesis, Fróðskaparsetur Føroya.
Dam, K. & Hall, E.O.C. (2020). Childhood experiences pursue adulthood for better and worse. A qualitative study of adults’ experiences after growing up with a severely mentally ill parent in a small-scale society. Journal of Research in Nursing, 25(6-7), 579-591. doi: 10.1177/1744987120942272
Debes, H.J. (1995). The formation of a nation: The Faroe Islands. In S. Tägil, (Ed.). Ethnicity and nation building in the Nordic world (pp. 63–84). Hurst & Company, London.
De Haan, S. (2017). The existential dimension in psychiatry: An enactive framework. Mental health, Religion & Culture, 20(6), 528-535. https://doi.org/10.1080/13674676.2017.1378326
De Haan, S. (2020). An enactive approach to psychiatry. Philosophy, Psychiatry & Psychology, 27(1), 3-25. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/751748
Djurhuus Magnussen, G. (2022). Sálareyga. Sinnisbati 40 ár. Sprotin.
Drew, N., Funk, M, Tang, S., Lamichhane, J., Chavéz, E., Katontoka, S., Pathare, S., Lewis, O., Gostin, L. & Saraceno, B. (2011). Human rights violations of people with mental and psychosocial disabilities: an unresolved global crisis. Lancet, 378, 1664–1675. doi:10.1016/S0140- 6736(11)61458-X
Eriksson, K. (2006). The Suffering Human Being. Nordic Studies Press, Chicago, IL.
Foucault, M. (2021). Galskabens historie i den klassiske periode. 4th Edition, Det Lille Forlag, Frederiksberg, Denmark.
Gabrielsson, S., Tuvesson, H., Wiklund Gustin, L. & Jormfeldt, H. (2020). Positioning psychiatric and mental health nursing as a transformative force in health care. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 41(11), 976-984. doi: 10.1080/01612840.2020.1756009
Gill, M.J., Gill, D.J. & Roulet, T.J. (2018). Constructing trustworthy historical narratives: criteria, principles and techniques. British Journal of Management, 18(29),191–205. doi: 10.1111/1467-8551.12262
Goren, S. & Orion, R. (1994). Space and sanity. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, VIII(4), 237-244.
Gravesen, G. (1941). Lægekone på Færøerne i fem aar. København, Gyldendalske Boghandel, Nordisk Forlag.
Hall, E.O.C., Harder, I., Haahr, A. & Martinsen, B. (2012). Menneskelige grundtræk i sygeplejen. Klinisk Sygepleje, 26(4), 15-25.
Hall, E.O.C, Joensen, A.L. & Malchau Dietz, S. (2023). Historiographic and biographic accounts of Faroese nurses’ training and health-promoting work from 1910 to the end of the 1930s. International Journal of Circumpolar Health, 82, 2233151, https://doi.org/10.1080/22423982.2023.2233151
Hansen, D. (1996). Søgan um hini 1895-1981. Torshavn, Føroya Skúlabókagrunnur.
Hayfield, E.A. (2024). Resilience processes during lockdown: a diary study from the Faroe Islands. Scottish Geographic Journal, 140(1-2), 12-28. doi:10.1080/14702541.2023.2224292
Hayfield, E.A. & Schug, M. (2019). ‘It’s like they have a cognitive map of relations’: Feeling strange in a small island community. Journal of Intercultural Studies, 40(4), 383-398. https://doi.org/10.1080/07256868.2019.1628719
Helweg, H. (1958). Oringe i 100 år. Medicinsk Forum, 11(2), 33-45.
Hurley, J., Lakeman, R., Linsley, P., Ramsay, M. & McKenna-Lawson, S. (2022). Utilizing the mental health nursing workforce: A scoping review of mental health nursing clinical roles and identities. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 31, 796-822. doi:10.1111/inm.12983
Jacobsen, E.S. (2004). Slóðir í heilsuverkssøguni. Føroya Fróðskaparfelag.
Jónsson, F. (1912). Lægekunsten i den nordiske oldtid. Medicinsk-historiske småskrifter 1.
Karnick, P.M. (2007). The suffering human being by Katie Eriksson. Nursing Science Quarterly, 20(3), 290-291.
Kjeldstadli, K. (2005). Fortiden er ikke hvad den har været. Roskilde Universitetsforlag, Denmark.
Kragh, J.V. (2010a). Det hvide snit. Psykokirurgi og dansk psykiatri 1922-1983. Syddansk Universitetsforlag, Odense, Denmark.
Kragh, J.V. (2010b). Shock therapy in Danish psychiatry. Medical History, 54, 341-364.
Kristiansen, E. S. (1952). Om hospitalisering af psykiatriske patienter på Færøerne. Ugeskrift for Læger, 114(29), 986-988.
Lindström, U.Å. (1995). Ensamhetskänslan sviker ikke. En kvalitativ studie rörande patienters upplevelser av vårdkultur och vårdrelation på psykiatriskt sjukhus. Rapport 6/1995. Vårdforskning, Åbo Akademi, Finland.
Lindström U.Å. (1997). Patientens upplevelse af vårdkultur og vårdrelation – motsatsernas dialektik. In J.K. Hummelvoll & U.Å. Lindstrøm (Eds), Nordiske perspektiv på psykiatrisk omvårdnad (pp. 73-94). Studentlitteratur, Lund, Sweden.
Martinsen, K. (2001). Huset sangen, gråten og skammen. Rom og arkitektur som ivaretaker av menneskets verdighet, In T. Wyller (Ed.) Skam. Perspektiver på skam og skamløshet i det moderne (pp. 167-190). Fagbokforlaget, Bergen, Norway.
Møllerhøj, J. (2021). Fra bindegal til uanbringelig. Forståelser og reguleringer af psykiatrisk tvang i et historisk perspektiv. Tidsskrift for Forskning i Sygdom og Samfund, (34), 23-45.
Nielsen, J.-E. (2018). Mennesker på sindsygehospitaler. En krønike om Sct. Hans, Risskov, Oringe, Viborg, Middelfart, Nykøbing S., Vedsted og Augustenborg. Bogforlaget Her & Nu, Denmark.
Petersen, W. (1998). Frá diakonissuni til sjúkrarøktarfrøðingin. Felagið Føroyskir Sjúkrarøktarfrøðingar.
Polkinghorne, D.E. (1988). Narrative knowing and the human sciences. State University of New York Press, Albany.
Porter, R. (2000). Ve og vel – medicinens historie fra oldtid til nutid. Rosinante Forlag, København.
Rosenberg, R. (2008). Den psykofarmakologiske udvikling 1950-1970. In J.V. Kragh (Ed.), Psykiatriens historie i Danmark (pp. 263-291). Hans Reitzels Forlag, Denmark.
Rössler, W. (2016). The stigma of mental disorders. EMBO Reports, 17(9), 1250-1253. doi.10.15252/embr.2015433041
Sigvardsen, H.J. (1978). Argir.
Sølvará, H. A. (2020). Færøerne efter freden, Aarhus Universitetsforlag, Aarhus, Denmark.
Vaag, U.H. (1967). Færøske psykiatriske patienters forhold. Ugeskrift for Læger, 129, 1125-1130.
Van Manen, M. (1990). Researching lived experience. New York State University Press, New York.
Ventura, C.A., Austin, W., Carrara, B.S. & Seicenti de Brito, E. (2021). Nursing care in mental health. Human rights and ethical issues. Nursing Ethics, 28(4), 463-480. doi: 10.1177/0969733020952102
Vestergaard, P. (2018). Den moderne psykiatris historie. En essay om sindslidende i velfærdsstaten. Aarhus Universitetsforlag, Aarhus, Denmark.
Wang, A.G. (1981). Establishment of a local psychiatric service. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavia, 64, 150-157.
West, J.F. (1974). Færøerne. En nation og dens historie. Gyldendal, Nordisk Forlag, Copenhagen.
Wiklund Gustin, L. (2021). “Being mutually involved in recovery”. A hermeneutic exploration of nurses’ experiences of patient participation in psychiatric care. International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-Being, 16, 2001893. https://doi.org/10.1080/17482631.2021.2001893
World Health Organization (2022). World Mental Health Report. Transforming mental health for all. Geneva: World Health Organization; Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO. Downloaded 14th April 2023.
Bassoe, P. (1945). Spain as the cradle of psychiatry. American Journal of Psychiatry, 101, 731-738.
Burnton, S. (2011). Doctors, patients and the Human Rights Act. Medical-Legal Journal, 79(4), 115-128. doi:10.1258/mlj.2011.011031
Butterworth, A. (2020). Commentary: Childhood experiences pursue adulthood for better and worse: a qualitative study of adults’ experiences after growing up with a severely mentally ill parent in a small-scale society. Journal of Research in Nursing, 25(6–7), 592–593. Doi:10.1177/1744987120946275 journals.sagepub.com/home/jrn
Crafoord, C. (2004). Udviklende fortrolighed. Tanker om kontaktpersonfunktionen. Hans Reitzels Forlag, København.
Cuijpers, P., Javed, A. & Bhui, K. (2023). The WHO World Mental Health Report: a call for action. British Journal of Psychiatry, 222, 227-229. doi:1192bjp.20023.9
Cutcliffe, J.R., Hummelvoll, J.K., Granerud, A. & Eriksson, B.G. (2015). Mental health nurses responding to suffering in the 21st century occidental world: Accompanying people in their search for meaning. Archives in Psychiatric Nursing, 29, 19-25. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apnu.2014.09.008 0883-9417
Dam, K., Joensen, D. & Hall, E.O.C. (2016). Experiences of adults who as children lived with a parent experiencing mental illness in a small-scale society: a qualitative study. Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 25, 76-87. doi:10.1111/jpm.12446
Dam, K. (2018). At navigere i en paradoksal tilværelse. En kvalitativ undersøgelse af barndommen og voksenlivet hos voksne børn, der er vokset op på Færøerne, sammen men en forælder ramt af svær psykisk sygdom. PhD-thesis, Fróðskaparsetur Føroya.
Dam, K. & Hall, E.O.C. (2020). Childhood experiences pursue adulthood for better and worse. A qualitative study of adults’ experiences after growing up with a severely mentally ill parent in a small-scale society. Journal of Research in Nursing, 25(6-7), 579-591. doi: 10.1177/1744987120942272
Debes, H.J. (1995). The formation of a nation: The Faroe Islands. In S. Tägil, (Ed.). Ethnicity and nation building in the Nordic world (pp. 63–84). Hurst & Company, London.
De Haan, S. (2017). The existential dimension in psychiatry: An enactive framework. Mental health, Religion & Culture, 20(6), 528-535. https://doi.org/10.1080/13674676.2017.1378326
De Haan, S. (2020). An enactive approach to psychiatry. Philosophy, Psychiatry & Psychology, 27(1), 3-25. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/751748
Djurhuus Magnussen, G. (2022). Sálareyga. Sinnisbati 40 ár. Sprotin.
Drew, N., Funk, M, Tang, S., Lamichhane, J., Chavéz, E., Katontoka, S., Pathare, S., Lewis, O., Gostin, L. & Saraceno, B. (2011). Human rights violations of people with mental and psychosocial disabilities: an unresolved global crisis. Lancet, 378, 1664–1675. doi:10.1016/S0140- 6736(11)61458-X
Eriksson, K. (2006). The Suffering Human Being. Nordic Studies Press, Chicago, IL.
Foucault, M. (2021). Galskabens historie i den klassiske periode. 4th Edition, Det Lille Forlag, Frederiksberg, Denmark.
Gabrielsson, S., Tuvesson, H., Wiklund Gustin, L. & Jormfeldt, H. (2020). Positioning psychiatric and mental health nursing as a transformative force in health care. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 41(11), 976-984. doi: 10.1080/01612840.2020.1756009
Gill, M.J., Gill, D.J. & Roulet, T.J. (2018). Constructing trustworthy historical narratives: criteria, principles and techniques. British Journal of Management, 18(29),191–205. doi: 10.1111/1467-8551.12262
Goren, S. & Orion, R. (1994). Space and sanity. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, VIII(4), 237-244.
Gravesen, G. (1941). Lægekone på Færøerne i fem aar. København, Gyldendalske Boghandel, Nordisk Forlag.
Hall, E.O.C., Harder, I., Haahr, A. & Martinsen, B. (2012). Menneskelige grundtræk i sygeplejen. Klinisk Sygepleje, 26(4), 15-25.
Hall, E.O.C, Joensen, A.L. & Malchau Dietz, S. (2023). Historiographic and biographic accounts of Faroese nurses’ training and health-promoting work from 1910 to the end of the 1930s. International Journal of Circumpolar Health, 82, 2233151, https://doi.org/10.1080/22423982.2023.2233151
Hansen, D. (1996). Søgan um hini 1895-1981. Torshavn, Føroya Skúlabókagrunnur.
Hayfield, E.A. (2024). Resilience processes during lockdown: a diary study from the Faroe Islands. Scottish Geographic Journal, 140(1-2), 12-28. doi:10.1080/14702541.2023.2224292
Hayfield, E.A. & Schug, M. (2019). ‘It’s like they have a cognitive map of relations’: Feeling strange in a small island community. Journal of Intercultural Studies, 40(4), 383-398. https://doi.org/10.1080/07256868.2019.1628719
Helweg, H. (1958). Oringe i 100 år. Medicinsk Forum, 11(2), 33-45.
Hurley, J., Lakeman, R., Linsley, P., Ramsay, M. & McKenna-Lawson, S. (2022). Utilizing the mental health nursing workforce: A scoping review of mental health nursing clinical roles and identities. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 31, 796-822. doi:10.1111/inm.12983
Jacobsen, E.S. (2004). Slóðir í heilsuverkssøguni. Føroya Fróðskaparfelag.
Jónsson, F. (1912). Lægekunsten i den nordiske oldtid. Medicinsk-historiske småskrifter 1.
Karnick, P.M. (2007). The suffering human being by Katie Eriksson. Nursing Science Quarterly, 20(3), 290-291.
Kjeldstadli, K. (2005). Fortiden er ikke hvad den har været. Roskilde Universitetsforlag, Denmark.
Kragh, J.V. (2010a). Det hvide snit. Psykokirurgi og dansk psykiatri 1922-1983. Syddansk Universitetsforlag, Odense, Denmark.
Kragh, J.V. (2010b). Shock therapy in Danish psychiatry. Medical History, 54, 341-364.
Kristiansen, E. S. (1952). Om hospitalisering af psykiatriske patienter på Færøerne. Ugeskrift for Læger, 114(29), 986-988.
Lindström, U.Å. (1995). Ensamhetskänslan sviker ikke. En kvalitativ studie rörande patienters upplevelser av vårdkultur och vårdrelation på psykiatriskt sjukhus. Rapport 6/1995. Vårdforskning, Åbo Akademi, Finland.
Lindström U.Å. (1997). Patientens upplevelse af vårdkultur og vårdrelation – motsatsernas dialektik. In J.K. Hummelvoll & U.Å. Lindstrøm (Eds), Nordiske perspektiv på psykiatrisk omvårdnad (pp. 73-94). Studentlitteratur, Lund, Sweden.
Martinsen, K. (2001). Huset sangen, gråten og skammen. Rom og arkitektur som ivaretaker av menneskets verdighet, In T. Wyller (Ed.) Skam. Perspektiver på skam og skamløshet i det moderne (pp. 167-190). Fagbokforlaget, Bergen, Norway.
Møllerhøj, J. (2021). Fra bindegal til uanbringelig. Forståelser og reguleringer af psykiatrisk tvang i et historisk perspektiv. Tidsskrift for Forskning i Sygdom og Samfund, (34), 23-45.
Nielsen, J.-E. (2018). Mennesker på sindsygehospitaler. En krønike om Sct. Hans, Risskov, Oringe, Viborg, Middelfart, Nykøbing S., Vedsted og Augustenborg. Bogforlaget Her & Nu, Denmark.
Petersen, W. (1998). Frá diakonissuni til sjúkrarøktarfrøðingin. Felagið Føroyskir Sjúkrarøktarfrøðingar.
Polkinghorne, D.E. (1988). Narrative knowing and the human sciences. State University of New York Press, Albany.
Porter, R. (2000). Ve og vel – medicinens historie fra oldtid til nutid. Rosinante Forlag, København.
Rosenberg, R. (2008). Den psykofarmakologiske udvikling 1950-1970. In J.V. Kragh (Ed.), Psykiatriens historie i Danmark (pp. 263-291). Hans Reitzels Forlag, Denmark.
Rössler, W. (2016). The stigma of mental disorders. EMBO Reports, 17(9), 1250-1253. doi.10.15252/embr.2015433041
Sigvardsen, H.J. (1978). Argir.
Sølvará, H. A. (2020). Færøerne efter freden, Aarhus Universitetsforlag, Aarhus, Denmark.
Vaag, U.H. (1967). Færøske psykiatriske patienters forhold. Ugeskrift for Læger, 129, 1125-1130.
Van Manen, M. (1990). Researching lived experience. New York State University Press, New York.
Ventura, C.A., Austin, W., Carrara, B.S. & Seicenti de Brito, E. (2021). Nursing care in mental health. Human rights and ethical issues. Nursing Ethics, 28(4), 463-480. doi: 10.1177/0969733020952102
Vestergaard, P. (2018). Den moderne psykiatris historie. En essay om sindslidende i velfærdsstaten. Aarhus Universitetsforlag, Aarhus, Denmark.
Wang, A.G. (1981). Establishment of a local psychiatric service. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavia, 64, 150-157.
West, J.F. (1974). Færøerne. En nation og dens historie. Gyldendal, Nordisk Forlag, Copenhagen.
Wiklund Gustin, L. (2021). “Being mutually involved in recovery”. A hermeneutic exploration of nurses’ experiences of patient participation in psychiatric care. International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-Being, 16, 2001893. https://doi.org/10.1080/17482631.2021.2001893
World Health Organization (2022). World Mental Health Report. Transforming mental health for all. Geneva: World Health Organization; Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO. Downloaded 14th April 2023.
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Special Issue Human Rights
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