Antoinette Lundahl

I was a doctoral student at LIME, Karolinska Institutet, from December 2019 through May 31st 2024. My principal supervisor was Professor Niklas Juth and my co-supervisor was Professor Gert Helgesson. I defended my thesis on May 31st 2024. I will continue working with my former supervisors and combine clinical work with research.

I work as a psychiatric consultant in psychiatry at S:t Görans Hospital in Stockholm, in a hospital ward. I have worked there as a specialist since 2007. My patients suffer mainly from personality disorders and anxiety disorders, and working with these patients has inspired my current research.

Apart from working at the hospital or with my research, I lead a quiet life. I enjoy music and going to the local gym.

Education
High school exam in Natural Science, Kungsholmens musikgymnasium, 1993

Medical Doctor exam, 220 points, Karolinska Institutet, 1999

Studies in mathematics, 20 points, Stockholms Universitet, 1995

Studies in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, 30 points, Beteendeterapeutiska föreningen i Uppsala

Specialist doctor in psychiatry since 2007

PhD in medical science at Karolinska Institutet 2024

The title of my doctoral project was: “The motives and ethical justifiability of treating patients with borderline personality disorder under compulsory care”. Patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) are overly represented when it comes to inpatient compulsory care, sometimes with lengthy hospital stays. The reason for this is often suicidal behaviour, which is chronically fluctuating with these patients. However, the gathered clinical experience has shown uncertain or negative effects of inpatient care of BPD patients, with no proven suicide-preventive results. Also, there is little consensus among psychiatrists on how to treat these patients, entailing that BPD patients can be treated very differently depending on which clinician they are treated by. In my project, I want to investigate psychiatrists’ motives for compulsory detaining BPD patients, and also conduct normative analyses on compulsory care of these patients.