Children and young people's mental ill-health in Swedish media
In my thesis, I examined how child psychological and psychiatric knowledge has been conveyed via Swedish media during the years 1968-2008. I showed that the discussions in the media included different definitions, explanations, and understandings regarding mental illness, and that these also shifted over time and between media formats. It was thus possible to distinguish everything from an alarmist framing where the mental illness of children and young people was presented as an acute public health problem, to a stance where almost all perceived problems were presented as normal and transitory aspects of children's development. Rather than seeing mental illness among children and young people as a uniform and coherent phenomenon, the results of the thesis illustrate the necessity to understand the media discussions about, and concerns about, the mental ill health of children and young people against the background of specific, and historically shifting, forms of child psychological and psychiatric expertise .
The history of autism
I am also interested in the history of autism in Sweden and, together with a colleague, am starting a historical project with a focus on studying the Swedish discussions about the diagnosis of autism, during the period approx. 1960-2010. We want to better understand how the diagnosis of autism has been defined and explained by Swedish experts, professionals and civil society actors, and how this has changed over time in relation to changing values, institutional landscapes and perceptions of children and childhood.
Children and young people in social work
In conclusion, I am interested in theories about and methods of working with children and young people in social work. This interest concerns, among other things, the historical development of various institutional contexts where children and young people have been received and placed; specific psychological and psychiatric theories about children and young people's health and development and how these have colored social care; working methods for the investigation, assessment and treatment of children and young people such as Barns behov i centrum (BBIC); as well as the role that civil society organizations, for example associations for young adults or parents' associations, have played in influencing views on issues relating to mental health and child development.
Teaching and leadership
I mainly teach at the Social Work Programme and have, among other things, been course manager and participated in courses related to sociology, social and developmental psychology, interview methodology, and children and young people in community care.
Nowadays, I am also head of unit and director of studies at the department for social work.
