TempoLife › Fonctions › Mental health support: who to see and what it costs › denmark
Soutien en santé mentale dansDenmark
A referral scheme that subsidises a defined number of psychologist sessions for a defined list of reasons, and an authorisation held by a board of its own.
Il s’agit d’une carte du fonctionnement des systèmes, pas d’un diagnostic ni d’un plan de traitement. Il ne mentionne aucune pratique ni aucun prix privé, car ni l’un ni l’autre ne peuvent être tenus avec précision ici. Il ne peut pas vous dire ce qui ne va pas ni de quel traitement vous avez besoin. C'est le travail d'un clinicien et cela commence par un rendez-vous. N’arrêtez ou ne modifiez jamais un médicament prescrit sur la base d’une page Web. Si la vie d'une personne est actuellement en danger, appelez le numéro d'urgence : 112 partout dans l'UE et l'EEE.
Où aller
Chaque porte financée et non financée dans leDanishsystème, avec ce que cela coûte et si une référence se présente devant lui. Lisez d'abord la colonne de référence : c'est le chemin le plus court vers les portes qui vous sont ouvertes aujourd'hui.
| Porte | Géré par | Ce que ça coûte | Une référence nécessaire ? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Egen læge (your own GP) | Votre cabinet enregistré | Free in group 1 | Aucun |
| Subsidised psychologist on referral | Authorised psychologists with a public agreement | Public subsidy, you pay the rest; free for young adults in the defined band | Referral from the GP, for one of the listed reasons |
| Fully private psychologist | Cabinet privé | Payé par vous | Aucun |
| Outpatient psychiatry | Services psychiatriques régionaux | Gratuit | Referral |
| Psychiatric emergency | Regional psychiatric emergency services | Gratuit | None in an emergency |
| Out-of-hours medical service | Regional, arrangements differ between regions | Gratuit | Aucun |
| School psychologist (PPR) | Municipal pedagogical psychological service | Gratuit | Through the school |
| Municipal social and family services | Your municipality | Gratuit là où offert | Aucun |
A scheme built out of reasons
Denmark’s subsidised psychologist arrangement is unlike anything else in the region because entry is defined by a list of referral reasons rather than by a diagnosis alone. The list mixes life events with clinical states: bereavement, serious accidents, robbery and violence, serious illness in the family, and, in their own right, light to moderate anxiety and light to moderate depression. Your GP decides whether your situation matches one of the listed reasons and writes the referral against it. That structure has two consequences worth planning around: the event-based reasons carry a time window after the event within which the referral must be written, and the number of subsidised sessions is set by the national agreement rather than by the psychologist.
Group 1 and group 2
Every resident chooses a health-insurance group, and the choice changes how you use care. In group 1 you are attached to a named GP, that GP is free, and specialists are reached by referral. In group 2 you may go directly to specialists without a referral but pay part of the cost yourself. Most people are in group 1, most people have never consciously made the choice, and it is worth knowing which one you are in before assuming that you either can or cannot approach a specialist directly.
The right to be assessed
Danish hospital patients have a right to assessment within a defined period after referral, and where the hospital cannot meet it the patient is entitled to be offered an alternative. Applied to psychiatry, that right is the lever most people do not know they are holding: the question to ask when a referral disappears into a queue is not "when will I be seen" but "what is being offered under the assessment right". The regions publish waiting times, and the national health portal is where the current rules and the current numbers live.
Authorisation sits in an unusual place
In most of this region every regulated health profession is registered by the same authority. Denmark splits it: doctors and other health professionals are authorised by the Patient Safety Authority, while psychologists are authorised by a board of their own. That is why the phrase "autoriseret psykolog" carries specific weight in Danish — it names a particular authorisation granted through a supervised post-qualification period, and it is not the same as holding a psychology degree. When you check a Danish psychologist, you are checking that board’s authorisation, not the health authority’s register.
Young adults and the free band
Denmark has made the subsidy free rather than partial for young adults referred with light to moderate anxiety or depression. Exactly which years the band covers has been changed by successive agreements, so it is a thing to check rather than to assume from a page — but the shape is stable and it is the most generous mental-health entitlement in the country. If you are in your late teens or early twenties, the first question to put to the GP is not whether therapy is possible but whether you fall inside that band.
Children go through the municipality
For school-age children the psychological service sits with the municipality rather than with health care: the pedagogical psychological service assesses and advises through the school, and municipal family services handle the social side. Child and adolescent psychiatry is regional and entered by referral. That division — municipality for the school-linked work, region for the clinical work — is the thing to hold on to when it is unclear who to ask, and it is set out further on the children and teenagers page.
Chiffres de crise dansDenmark
| Service | Numéro | Quand | Pour qui c'est |
|---|---|---|---|
| Services d'urgence | 112 | Toujours | Danger de mort immédiat |
| Livslinien | 70 201 201 | Published hours, phone and chat | Anyone with thoughts of suicide, and those close to them |
| Børnetelefonen | 116 111 | Horaires publiés | Enfants et jeunes |
Les numéros et les horaires d'ouverture changent. Vérifiez-les sur la page de l'opérateur avant d'en avoir besoin et consultez le page de crise pour savoir quoi faire en attendant que quelqu'un réponde et comment aider une autre personne.
Vérification d'un pratiquant àDenmark
Le statut du titre ici est :Authorised psychologist, granted by the Psychology Board. Ce que cela signifie en pratique, et les questions à poser auxquelles aucun registre ne peut répondre, se trouvent sur le page de licence.
| S'inscrire | Conservé par | Ce que ça prouve |
|---|---|---|
| Authorisation register | Styrelsen for Patientsikkerhed (Patient Safety Authority) | That a doctor or health professional is authorised, and whether the authorisation is restricted |
| Psychologist authorisation | Psykolognævnet (Psychology Board) | That a psychologist is authorised, which is what "autoriseret psykolog" means |
| Health service portal | Sundhed.dk | Your own records, your GP, and how the schemes work |
| Complaints authority | Styrelsen for Patientklager (Patient Complaints Authority) | Where a formal complaint about treatment goes |
Sources :Sundhed.dk — Danish health portal · Styrelsen for Patientsikkerhed (Patient Safety Authority) · Styrelsen for Patientklager (Patient Complaints Authority) · Dansk Psykolog Forening · Livslinien · Psykiatrifonden· Les règles, les droits et les numéros d'assistance téléphonique changent : vérifiez la propre page de l'opérateur avant de vous en fier à une. Vérifié2026-09-08.
Questions fréquentes
How do I get a subsidised psychologist in Denmark?
Through a referral from your own GP against one of the scheme’s listed referral reasons, which include bereavement, accidents, violence, serious illness in the family, and light to moderate anxiety or depression. The public subsidy covers part of each session and the national agreement sets how many sessions the referral buys.
Is psychologist treatment free for young people in Denmark?
For young adults referred with light to moderate anxiety or depression the patient’s share has been removed, so the sessions are free. The exact age band has been changed by successive agreements, so ask the GP which band currently applies rather than relying on a figure found online.
What does "autoriseret psykolog" mean?
It means the psychologist holds authorisation from the Danish Psychology Board, granted after a supervised post-qualification period. It is a specific credential, granted by a different body from the one that authorises doctors, and it is not the same as simply holding a degree in psychology.
What is the difference between group 1 and group 2?
In group 1 you have a named GP who is free to visit and you reach specialists by referral. In group 2 you may approach specialists directly but pay part of the cost yourself. Most people are in group 1 without ever having chosen it consciously.
Les mêmes questions dans les autres pays
Estonie
Le médecin de famille est la plaque tournante, le psychiatre n'a pas besoin d'être référé, l'infirmière en santé mentale est la porte gratuite la plus rapide et le psychologue est principalement privé.
Finlande
Quatre portes d'entrée parallèles – centre de santé, médecine du travail, santé étudiante, privé – et un programme national qui finance une partie de la psychothérapie longue.
Lettonie
Un système de médecin de famille avec accès direct à un psychiatre, un ticket modérateur avec de larges exonérations et un registre des psychologues créé par son propre statut.
Lituanie
Centres municipaux de santé mentale rattachés aux soins primaires : un psychiatre, un psychologue, une infirmière et une assistante sociale dans une équipe gratuite, sans référence.
Suède
Une profession de psychothérapeute agréée, une garantie de soins juridiques avec des délais fixés et un plafond d'honoraires qui permet de survivre à une année difficile.
Norway
A named GP as the gate, a free low-threshold municipal service you can refer yourself to, and a decisive split between psychologists with a public agreement and without.
Des guides applicables partout
Free and low-cost routes
Every route in this region that costs nothing or very little — with the eligibility rule that goes with each, because most of them have one.
Waiting lists, guarantees and what to do meanwhile
The published access rules in each country, how to read a queue, and a realistic plan for the months in between.
What it costs, and who pays
The four ways an hour of therapy gets paid for in this region, why a published price tells you almost nothing, and the questions that settle it.
How referrals actually work
What a referral is, which countries require one for mental-health care, what makes a good one, and what to do when it does not happen.
What happens in a first session
The hour, minute by minute: what they ask, what they write down, what you can ask back, and what to prepare beforehand.
Crisis: what to do right now
The numbers for each country, what happens when you call, how to help someone else, and how to make a plan while you are well.
Deux semaines de données battent une bonne mémoire
Quelle que soit la porte que vous utilisez en Denmark, le premier rendez-vous vous demande les mêmes quatre choses : quand il a commencé, ce qui a changé, comment vous dormez et ce que vous avez essayé. TempoLife enregistre les quatre au fur et à mesure, gratuitement.