History of the Nordic Psychiatric Cooperation

Abstract

The Nordic countries include Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden as well the Faroe Islands, Greenland, Svalbard and Åland. The countries share much common history as well as common traits in their respective societies. As early as 1906, a Scandinavian Psychiatric Association was suggested. The first Nordic Psychiatric Congress was held in Copenhagen 1913. After the First World War, at the 6th Nordic Psychiatric Congress in Stockholm 1935, a Nordic Psychiatric Association was founded and it was decided that a Nordic Journal of Psychiatry should be founded. After the Second World War, at the 8th Nordic Psychiatric Congress in Copenhagen 1946, the Nordic Psychiatric Association was terminated. At this time, the most important task of the Association, to found a Nordic Journal of Psychiatry, had been achieved. After 1946, there has been a close cooperation between the Nordic countries but no common Nordic Psychiatric Association. Today, the Nordic Psychiatric Cooperation is active and ongoing. The 30th Nordic Psychiatric Congress is scheduled to be held in Tromsö, in 2012. The Nordic Journal of Psychiatry is publishing its 64th volume. The Journal is indexed in the important international databases and the impact factor is increasing. The Joint Committee of the Nordic psychiatric associations has established itself as the owner of the Journal and the organizer of the congresses. There are also a series of Nordic cooperations in a series of different fields, such as the Scandinavian Societies of Biological Psychiatry, the Scandinavian College of Neuropsychopharmacology (SCNP), the bi-annual Nordic Psychoanalytical Congresses, the Scandinavian Psychoanalytic Review, the Nordic Association of Psychiatric Epidemiology, NAPE, and so on.