Gaustad Hospital ( no, Gaustad sykehus) is a

psychiatric hospital Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociat ...

in the neighborhood of

Gaustad Gaustad is a neighborhood in Nordre Aker borough of Oslo, Norway. It is located between Vinderen and Kringsjå. At Gaustad are The National Hospital and Gaustad Hospital, as well as residential areas that border to Nordmarka. The area is serve ...

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

. Founded in 1855, it is Norway's oldest purpose-built psychiatric hospital. It opened as the nation's first insane asylum designed according to the guidelines in the Insane Act of 1848 (''Sinnssykeloven''). The facility was planned by Herman Wedel Major, based on the model of foreign institutions, and the building complex was designed by architect

Heinrich Ernst Schirmer Heinrich Ernst Schirmer (27 August 1814 – 6 December 1887) was a German-born architect most noted for his work in Norway. Schirmer worked in Norway from 1838 to 1883 and left his mark on a number of public buildings. He contributed significant ...

. During the occupation of Norway in 1940–1945, the hospital's workers, knowing German soldiers would send their patients to concentration camps, devised a plan to save them. For months, they collected urine in buckets. When the day came that the soldiers knocked on the door, they threw the urine on every radiator and heater, creating a tremendous stink. The soldiers left and didn't return, and the patients' lives were saved. Arnold Juklerød, then a father and construction worker, was forcibly admitted to the Gaustad Hospital in 1971. He was

lobotomized A lobotomy, or leucotomy, is a form of neurosurgical treatment for psychiatric disorder or neurological disorder (e.g. epilepsy) that involves severing connections in the brain's prefrontal cortex. The surgery causes most of the connections t ...

and, at times, denied contact with the outside world. (He alleged psychiatric abuse.) The level of care he received from Gaustad's leading psychiatrists became the focus of widespread media attention. The hospital was owned by the State until it was taken over by the City of Oslo in 1985. Since 1996, Gaustad Hospital been part of

Aker University Hospital Oslo University Hospital, Aker (also known as Aker Hospital or just Aker) is one of the four main campuses of Oslo University Hospital. It was an independent hospital from 1895 to 2009, under the name Aker Hospital and from 2002 Aker University Ho ...

; and since January 2009, Aker University Hospital has been part of

Oslo University Hospital Oslo University Hospital ( no, Oslo universitetssykehus; OUS) is a university hospital in Oslo, Norway. With over 24,000 employees it is the largest hospital organization in Europe. It is affiliated with the Faculty of Medicine of the University ...

, a subsidiary of the

Southern and Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority Southern and Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority ( no, Helse Sør-Øst RHF) is the largest of the four Regional health authorities in Norway. It covers the counties of Viken, Oslo, Innlandet, Vestfold og Telemark, and Agder, with 57% of the ...

References

External links

Gaustad Hospital website
Hospitals in Oslo Hospitals established in 1855 1855 establishments in Norway Oslo Municipality Psychiatric hospitals in Norway {{Norway-struct-stub