 | ||
Books Amnesia and Emotional Arousal | ||
Sven Åke Christianson (born June 18, 1954) is a Swedish professor of psychology. He is also a psychologist and writer. His research primarily concerns the function of human memory, crime and mental trauma and interview methods.
Contents
Career
Christianson undertook his doctorate at Umeå University in 1984, became associate professor in 1987 and was awarded the title of professor in 1996 at Stockholm University. In addition to his current position at the Stockholm University, he has served at Umeå University, the University Hospital of Umeå, the Montreal Neurological Institute in Montreal, Canada, and the University of Washington in Seattle, USA.
Periodically, he has also worked outside the universities to implement knowledge about memory and interview techniques. Examples of such institutions are the Swedish Police Authority in Stockholm County, the forensic region clinic in Sundsvall and for Correctional Officers at the Institution Norrtälje, a closed prison for prisoners deemed dangerous.
Christianson established himself as one of Sweden's leading forensic psychiatrists. His knowledge of the perpetrators of serious sexual and violent offenses, traumatic experiences in children and adults, as well as cognitive interview methodology has gained considerable influence in several lawsuits. He is perhaps best known for being interviewed as an expert in media coverage of the investigations of a shooting murder in Rödeby, the sex offender Alexandra Man, as well as the trials of murderer Christine Schürrer, the murder of 4-year-old Kevin Hjalmarsson by other young children, child sex offender Tito Beltrán and the trial of Thomas Quick (later overturned as a miscarriage of justice).
Christianson has published over 100 research articles in scientific journals. His involvement in the case against Thomas Quick is controversial, and it has also been noted that he was one of the psychologists in the circuit around the therapist Margit Norell.