Mental health issues among reindeer herders

Lars Jacobsson. Photo: Ellinor Friström

Lars Jacobsson, professor emeritus at the Department of Clinical Sciences at Umeå University, has studied suicide among Sámi for many years. While it is well known that indigenous people, in general, are at a higher risk of committing suicide, he says the situation in Sweden is not at all comparable.

Jacobsson hasn’t been able to determine any higher suicide rate among Sámi in general but says reindeer herding men stick out compared to the rest of the Swedish population but explains that it is not an easy subject to study due to several factors.

“It's not so easy to know firstly, who is Sámi, the reindeer herding group is easier to identify, but it's also very difficult to reach them. They are in the forests and up in the mountains, and so it’s not so easy to get a hold of them, so the research is difficult for several reasons,” Jacobsson says.

In Sweden, it is against the law to gather statistics on ethnicity, and because many Sámi today are also tightly integrated into the Swedish society it makes it difficult to identify who is Sámi. Reindeer herders meanwhile are easier to identify, and only Sámi are allowed to own reindeer. In this group, Jacobsson says they have been able to identify a higher risk of suicide.

“But it’s s only among men,” Jacobsson says.

“The women who belong to the reindeer herding families, their risk of suicide is probably lower or at least not higher than women in sparsely populated areas or Swedish women in general”.

He points out that this is a global pattern that men commit suicide more frequently than women and says Swedish men, in general, commit suicide twice as frequently as women. Among reindeer herding men, however, the suicide rate is four to five times as high as women in the same environment.

He identifies several reasons why reindeer herding men are at a higher risk of suicide but says it bottles down to their very distinct male roles.

“I don’t like to use the word macho because it's not about being macho," he says.

"If you're alone on the fell, then you have to survive on your own, they're sort of brought up to get by on their own. But that is an issue in that when you get problems of more personal nature like anxiety, worry, and uneasiness, it's not something you talk about, and you don’t seek help, but you try to cope with it on your own and so I think that is the big problem but then, of course, the division of labor matters there is no doubt about it but the men are raised to fend for themselves”.

Jacobsson explains that reindeer husbandry is oftentimes very lonely work and reindeer herders never know what their day is going to look like.

”In terms of work, there's a lot of solo work with keeping track of the reindeer, especially during winter when they are down in the forest. And this is above all a man's work, and there is a lot of solo work during winter with snow scooters, and in the summer they’re up on the fells”.

Jacobsson says that due to the very pressured economic situation, reindeer herding families are often dependent on the woman having a steady income and says reindeer herding women often have a higher level of education compared to other women in Sweden.

”I have never encountered women who are as caring about their husbands as Sámi women, and I just wonder how long they will endure because they can do not plan any holidays and whether he comes home for dinner or not it is just an open question. But there is a great understanding because they know that if reindeer husbandry disappears,” he says. ”If the men stop being out in the reindeer forests the Sami culture risks dying, and these women know that”.

Apart from the very pressured financial situation and work environment, Jacobsson says many Sámi also experience a lot of racism, and reindeer herders often suffer the worst of these attacks.

”There is a lot of discrimination, like 'Lappjävel,' and as soon as the reindeer are on the road, you get pissed off, and in the worst case, you shoot the reindeer or drive at them. So they constantly have to be on their guard and are very exposed in this way, and this affects them a lot of course, and it is mainly the men who are affected by this”.

Jacobsson has also seen a higher risk of suicide among reindeer herders further south and believes this is because there are fewer of them compared to up north, which makes them more vulnerable. In Jämtland and Härjedalen, Jabobsson says reindeer herding men are at a higher risk of committing suicide than other Swedes in the same area but adds that people in Jämtland, in general, have the highest suicide rate compared to the rest of Sweden. Apart from the fact that they are fewer further south, he also points out that they have fewer lands and are often involved in more lawsuits regarding land. This also puts them in a more pressured financial situation compared to reindeer herders up north.

Jacobsson says a big step towards the mental welfare of reindeer herders would be for the Swedish government to become more understanding and generous towards reindeer husbandry.

”I think the Swedish politics is far too greedy in relation to the Sámi life situation, take the compensation for predators for example they are so very greedy and picky,” he says.

”It’s very difficult for the Sámi to get reasonable compensation and to get it on time. And when they need help to emergency feed the reindeer when it gets icy, for example, on the ground so that the reindeer can't graze, they have to wait in months for benefits. And they don’t have any money in the bank, and the banks are greedy, so the state should be much more generous, I think when it comes to benefits and support than they are now”.