An experiment was launched in 2017 in the psychiatric hospital of the city of Tromsø, on the borders of Norway, in Lapland: treating mental disorders without chemistry. His “drug-free” unit is unlike any other. It has six beds for a team of 24 people and has welcomed a hundred patients in five years.
“When they arrive at the unit, about half of the people take neuroleptics. I think that half of them have succeeded or are in the process of successfully withdrawing”, says the director of this unit, Christine Nyquist, to the magazine “We, the Europeans” (video). After the unit in Tromsø, a few other “drug-free” services have opened in the country.
“Listen to patients and consider them as equal partners”
At the origin of this movement, a reaction to the excesses of the Norwegian psychiatric system. Mette Elingsdalen, president of the WSO patient association, has been denouncing these excesses for more than ten years: “Coerced psychiatry is highly developed in Norway. Compared to many other countries, a lot of people are forced to take medication or be hospitalized. There was no help possible if you didn’t want medication This has been denounced for years, among others by the United Nations Committee against Torture.”
Along with four other patient and family associations, the activist fought for chemical-free treatments. In 2015, they are heard. Bent Høje, then Norwegian Minister of Health, ordered the establishment of “drug-free” units in public hospitals. A world first: “My wish, as minister, was to create a health system based on listening to patients. In this system, the idea was not only to listen to patients, but also to consider them as equal partners. Norway is a country with a low hierarchy, so my idea at the time was part of a very Norwegian vision of society.”
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