Suffering and Injustice in Psychiatric Child Care
Building on the study on psychiatric drug tests, the institute investigated the suffering and injustice experienced by children and young clients in psychiatric institutions and institutions for the disabled in Schleswig-Holstein between 1949 and 1990, again on behalf of the Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Youth, Family and Senior Citizens of Schleswig-Holstein, in a project running from 2019 to 2021.
In collaboration with Prof. Gabriele Lingelbach (Department of History, CAU Kiel), Prof Cornelius Borck an his team from the University of Lübeck conducted 36 interviews with survivors, relatives, former employees and other witnesses. In addition the team evaluated archival materials, such as administrative documents and contemporary media coverage. In cooperation with Prof. Sebastian von Kielmansegg (Chair of Public Law and Medical Law, CAU Kiel), the changes of the legal, institutional and health policy framework for child and youth care during the period under investigation were reconstructed and evaluated.
The project investigated the Hesterberg Section of the Schleswig State Hospital (today: Helios Klinikum Schleswig), specializing on child psychiatry, the Haus Schöneberg in Wyk on the isle Föhr (today: Paritätisches Haus Schöneberg), a long-term facility for mentally and multiply disabled children from Berlin, and the School for the Deaf in Schleswig (today: Landesförderzentrum Hören und Kommunikation), in order to cover a spectrum of different facilities for the care of minors.
These investigations revealed a shocking picture: Numerous cases of suffering and injustice were documented in all facilities investigated. hey ranged from mental and physical neglect, abuse, coercion, exploitation through labor and physical or mental violence in the form of beatings, food deprivation or forced meals, to drug-induced sedation and sexual abuse. The children The children and young clients were exposed to these forms of violence totally unprotected and defenseless. Many of them suffer consequences to this day. The violence exerted by staff members went far beyond the then socially accepted standards of punishment or educational measures; in fact, physical punishment had officially been banned already in the 1950s.
The analysis of health policy developments in Schleswig-Holstein made clear that the described violence in psychiatric institutions was facilitated by structural conditions such as bad and cramped housing conditions, staff shortages and lack of qualified personnel. Even when the federal republic of Germany embarked on a curse of reform following the Psychiatry Enquête 1975, these efforts were blocked, protected and delayed by the local government, which decided against participation at the nationwide reform program and instead issued a hiring freeze in consequence of which the situation even deteriorated. In fact, the combination of staff shortages, overcrowding and underprovision persisted throughout the entire period under review. At the Hesterberg institution the undifferentiated placement of mentally handicapped minors together with psychiatric patients devolved any efforts for schooling and/or disorder and needs oriented treatment.
Incidences of physical, psychological, medical and sexual violences were documented for all three institutions studied. However, those institutions, that offered long-term housing for severe cases were significantly less well connected to social and educational infrastructures and suffered from higher numbers of violent incidences.
In conclusion, the project underlines the need for comprehensive legal protection of young patients and clients as well as it demands a thorough and independent monitoring.
You can download the final report of this project here.
Project Team
Dr. Christof Beyer, Prof. Dr. Cornelius Borck, Nils Kühne, Prof. Dr. Gabriele Lingelbach, Dr. Nils Löffelbein