Denmark is still waiting for psychiatry reform

Since the 1950s the Danish psychiatric treatment system has been undergoing changes. Among other things, treatment strategies’s weight on medicine on the one hand, and talking, groups, activities, thoughts, work, etc. on the other hand, has changed over the years. Most recently, the 2007 municipal reform intervened in the municipal structure and affected the social psychiatric work which was previously the responsibility of counties.
This report describes the development of the psychiatric treatment system in Denmark and compares it to the development in the other Nordic countries. The conclusion is that part of the necessary scope of a modern psychiatric intervention has been established little by little but that an overall reform in Denmark has not been created, and that the area never received the intended boost.
The report is an easily readable version of the writer’s contribution to a survey of psychiatry reforms in Nordic countries which was published early this year. This Nordic survey has been financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers.