The Republic of Fear: Mental Illness in the Finnish Civil War of 1918

This article examines the links between mental illness and the Finnish Civil War of 1918. Based on the study of patient records from a large state mental hospital, the article discusses the mental wounds of both servicemen and civilians and focuses on fear as an essential component in the onset of mental disorder. An examination of patient records reveals how civil war affected the mental health of ordinary people and created a collective psychological atmosphere of fear and anxiety. What this article also demonstrates is that, during and after the war, patients who were mentally scarred by the atrocities were neither categorised nor diagnosed any differently from other mental patients. By focussing on patient experiences in the ‘mini-society’ of a mental hospital, this article aims to give a nuanced account of the ways in which civil war can affect mental health on both the individual and collective levels.