Considering Therapy?
Maria Sandgren Lic psychologist Stockholm

There is availability Monday-Friday during the day and sometimes in the evening.

When you attend private therapy, you and your psychologist can decide the focus and length of the therapy based on your needs. In private therapy, you can get help in several areas, unlike primary care, where the therapeutic framework is more limited in focus and length.  In private therapy, you pay the total cost of the therapy. High-cost cover and exemption cards do not apply here. If you receive reimbursement from an insurance company, Psychological Forum will invoice you, and in turn, you will settle the cost with the insurance company.

The very first session booked is 90 minutes (1.5 hours), and after that, a therapy session in general is 50 minutes. Some people book 75-minute or double sessions when they want to work in more depth.

It is possible to have online-only or face-to-face sessions, and it is possible to switch between the two. The possibility of online therapy is an asset, not a hindrance. You can book online and in-person sessions Monday through Thursday during the day and sometimes in the evening.

Most therapies are short-term or longer. In short-term therapy, the client and I meet once a week for about 12-16 weeks. Other clients want it to be more open, and then we have agree on that. More extended therapy is also possible, for example, 6 months, 1 year, or longer. Maria Sandgren is open to structure and adapts the focus and duration of therapy to each client's needs.  Sometimes, clients wish to book block therapy (2-3 hours of therapy over 2-4 days) when they are not living in Stockholm or are unable to book a short-term therapy. Block therapy is also an option for those who wish to work focused on a limited problem.

Companies (self-employed, larger companies) are welcome to contact Psychological Forum for counselling, rehab, therapy, crisis management or other services. Both shorter and longer contacts based on what the client needs.

I work with a base in psychodynamic and affect-focused therapy (ISTDP) and have also integrated other perspectives from cognition and behavioral science. I also emphasize the contexts in which clients have grown up and live. Lifestyles, norms, and values differ across contexts, cultures, generations, and over time. ISTDP therapy is based on research and shows good results for anxiety, depression, relationships, and physical (somatic) problems such as migraines and stomach problems. One reason ISTDP can improve so many different aspects of our lives is that ISTDP captures the emotional life that other forms of therapy focus less on.

I have therapies in Swedish and English. I understand French and German well but am not fluent, unfortunately.

I see clients for individual therapy. When enquiring about couples therapy, I recommend contacting psychologist colleagues with couples or family therapy training.

Yes, it happens that they come back. They are welcome. It is enriching to hear about their continuing journey and also to see how easy it can be to pick up the thread from previous therapy and how quickly the client and I can work in the direction of what they want help with.

Yes, there is one question. The issue is about the arrangement of therapy. For therapy to produce the best results possible it needs to have a beginning, a work-through phase, and a closing part. For me, there is a big difference in a therapy where the client and I as a psychologist stick to a plan and with a clear intention (the client wants help with some specific problems and challenges) and a therapy where the conversations are more temporarily booked and we talk about what's current right now. By processing I mean that therapist and client work together and regularly on what the client wishes to be helped with. What a client wishes to receive help with varies, so it is not a matter of deciding on something special that applies to everyone. It can be processing a problem or trauma or more like a kind of change work. Then the closing phase becomes very important. It is a phase where the changes are allowed to take hold and stabilize psychologically. Sometimes the opportunity to book a therapy with these three phases is not given, and then the client and I agree to deal with this, and we do the best we can given the circumstances (which we also talk about without falling victim to them). Then such an arrangement can work well. Welcome to book a call!