Sweden
General Geography
Sweden is located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in northern Europe; it shares this peninsula with Norway (Enander & Norman, 2018).
Swedish Peninsula (smartraveller.gov.au)
Sweden’s land has three primary regions. The northern region is Norrland and consists of mountains and forests (Enander & Norman, 2018). The central region is Svealand and consists of highland in the west and lowland in the east (Enander & Norman, 2018). And, lastly, the southern region is Gotaland and includes the Smaland highlands and plains of Skane (Enander & Norman, 2018).
Sweden also has a constitutional monarchy with a well-established parliamentary democracy, and has not participated in any war in two centuries (Enander & Norman, 2018).
Overall Demographics
- Sweden’s population as of July 2017 was approximately 9,960,487 (CIA, 2017).
- Sweden’s official language is Swedish (CIA, 2017).
- Approximately 87.4% of the population lives in urban areas (CIA, 2017).
Disability Statistics on Your Population
I found that it was relatively difficult to solely dissect anxiety statistics in Sweden, and therefore broadened my search to the combination of depression and anxiety. In my research, it was found that antidepressant prescriptions increased by 36 percent between 2006 and 2012 (Larsson, 2016). It was also discovered that, between 1991 and 2014, the sales of antidepressants increased by 13,690 percent for girls aged 15 to 19, while the increase for boys was 6,710 percent (Larsson, 2016). Delving more into this rise, the increase appeared to possibly be associated to the spread of mental health awareness, lowering the stigma and pushing people to seek treatment (Larsson, 2016).
A interesting study involving 3001 randomly selected adults in Sweden looked into depression prevalence, anxiety prevalence, and the combination of the two. Results stated about 17.2% were experiencing clinically significant depression, about 5.% of that was major depression. 14.7% were experiencing clinically significant anxiety, and 8.8% of that was Generalized Anxiety Disorder(Johansson, Carlbring, Heedman, Paxling, & Andersson, 2013). As a whole, almost 50% were experiencing some combination of depression and anxiety, with 28.2% of them having major depression and GAD specifically (Johansson, Carlbring, Heedman, Paxling, & Andersson, 2013).
Model(s) of Disability most common:
It seems as though Sweden has committed to forming a solid mental healthcare system in order to assist those who need it fairly. A mental health plan does exist and was approved or most recently revised in 2010. The mental health plan components include timelines for the implementation of the mental health plan, funding allocation for the implementation of half or more of the items in the mental health plan, a shift of services and resources from mental hospitals to community mental health facilities, and an integration of mental health services into primary care (WHO, 2011). Legal provisions such as welfare and disability are covered in other laws as well.
Continuing, there are officially approved manuals on the management and treatment of mental disorders available in the majority of primary health care clinics (WHO, 2011). This is important because it lessens the impact of the stigma, as it encourages education and treatment of mental disorders.
Another interesting addition is that Sweden allows its primary care doctors to prescribe psychotherapeutic medicines (WHO, 2011). I found this intriguing because here in New Jersey most doctors or urgent care centers will not prescribe this medication, and instead must refer you to a psychiatrist. So, the ability of primary care doctors to prescribe this medicine is a huge convenience factor for those needing treatment in Sweden.
(swedhr.org)
Perception of people with disability:
- In 2012, a study aimed to survey Swedish attitudes toward living next to someone with a mental illness. The results showed that most Swedes agreed to live next to someone with a mental illness.
- The study found that most people who agreed were female gender, had experienced mental illness themselves, and were between 31-50 years old (Hogberg, Magnusson, Lutzen, & Ewalds-Kvist, 2012).
- In another study based upon awareness, attitudes, and literacy of mental health in Sweden, results showed that between 2009-2014 (Stjernswärd & Svensson, 2016):
- Mental health literacy improved dramatically
- Attitudes toward mental illness improved significantly
- More social contact and interaction with persons with mental illnesses had a positive impact on these results (socializing and getting to know people who have mental illnesses improved attitudes and literacy)
This information led me to believe Sweden is moving toward an a societal goal of becoming more open, accepting, and knowledgable of mental illness. This is great news for those living with a disability, as a decrease in stigma and judgement makes it a safer and happier place for them to live.
References
Central Intelligience Agency (CIA). (2017). The World Factbook. Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/sw.html
Enander, Henrik & Norman, Lennart T. (2018). Sweden. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/place/Sweden
(2012). Swedish attitudes towards persons with mental illness, Nordic Journal of Psychiatry, 66:2, 86-96, DOI: 10.3109/08039488.2011.596947
Johansson, R., Carlbring, P., Heedman, Åsa, Paxling, B., & Andersson, G. (2013). Depression, anxiety and their comorbidity in the Swedish general population: point prevalence and the effect on health-related quality of life. PeerJ, 1, e98. http://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.98
Larsson, Hanniel. (2016). Why Sweden’s Youth Take More Antidepressants than Ever. VICE. Retrieved from https://www.vice.com/sv/article/jm9g38/why-the-sales-of-antidepressants-are-skyrocketing-in-sweden-123
Stjernswärd, Hansson L. & Svensson, S.B. (2016). Changes in attitudes, intended behaviour, and mental health literacy in the Swedish population 2009–2014: an evaluation of a national antistigma programme, Wiley Online Library, https://doi.org/10.1111/acps.12609
WHO, Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse. (2011). Sweden. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/mental_health/evidence/atlas/profiles/swe_mh_profile.pdf
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