Arne Gerdner

Arne Gerdner is Professor Emeritus of Social Work, a social worker and an internationally certified alcohol and drug therapist (ICRC).

He worked for 16 years as a therapist in LVM care and then in the R&D unit at the National Board of Institutional Care. In 1998, he received his PhD at Lund University in psychiatry, special treatment research, with a thesis on methodological and clinical studies on treatment outcomes. His research since then has been dominated by the following:

·      Research on the care and treatment of people with severe alcohol and drug dependence, and with complications in the form of psychiatric comorbidities, homelessness, crime and other social problems.

·      Several studies have been devoted to instrument development in diagnostic investigations and treatment planning, such as CTQ, ADDIS, etc.

·      He led a project to develop a computerized instrument for the analysis of personal networks around people with substance abuse and addiction problems: MAP-NET – Measure and Analysis of Personal Networks.

·      He led LoRDIA, Longitudinal Research on Development In Adolescence, a research program that followed 1885 adolescents from the age of 12-13 up to the age of 19. The focus is on mental health, substance abuse, school functioning and social networks. Data were collected in 6 waves (five surveys and one thru interviews). LoRDIA has so far led to nine doctoral dissertations and 240 publications, including more than 40 scientifically published articles.

·      He participates in LoRDYA, i.e. LoRDIA's continuation. LoRDYA stands for Longitudinal Research on Development to Young Adults, which follows the same population through institutional sources. LoRDYA focuses on children victims of abuse, neglect and through their own behaviour and studies how these are handled in social child welfare. 

·      Together with Klas Borell, he run the project Swedish Muslim Congregations, where these congregations were examined regarding voluntary social work and external relations.

·      He conducted studies on the psychosocial health of Swedish Sami and their ethnic identities.

Gerdner has participated as an expert in four Swedish government investigations in the field of addiction, including the LVM Inquiry on compulsory care (2004), the Investigation of Severe Abuse (2005), the Addiction Investigation (2011), and the Co-morbidity Inquiry (2021, 2022). Participated in the expert committee for SKL's national project "Knowledge for Practice", which aimed to increase knowledge among all who work with alcohol and drug problems. He has participated in the planning group responsible for revising the National Board of Health and Welfare's national guidelines for care and support for people with substance dependence and harmful use. He participated in the scientific council of SBU, the Swedish Agency for Medical and Social Evaluation, and was responsible for prioritizing ALF funds in the field of psychiatry and addiction at Karolinska Institutet. In the years 1999-2002, he participated as an expert in a three-year project for the Ministry of Health in Russia, funded by the Council of Europe, which led to Russia's first national guidelines for psychosocial treatment of drug misuse.