Mental Health Licensing & Regulation in Sweden: 2026 Guide

Mental Health Licensing and Regulation in Sweden: 2026 Guide

This guide explains how Sweden licenses mental-health practitioners, which titles are protected, and where complaints go, in plain terms.

Sweden protects professional titles, not the act of therapy itself. Two common titles are psykolog (psychologist) and psykoterapeut (psychotherapist). To use either, a person needs a state licence.

That licence is called legitimation. It is issued by Socialstyrelsen, the National Board of Health and Welfare. Always confirm a practitioner's current status on its register.

How to check a therapist's licence (start here)

Socialstyrelsen keeps the register of licensed healthcare staff, called the HOSP register. Its information on practitioners' credentials serves employers, pharmacies, authorities and the public.⁸

To check a practitioner, ask Socialstyrelsen directly. Email HOSP@socialstyrelsen.se, or ring 075-247 42 42 for a legitimation check on non-holiday Tuesdays to Fridays, 09:00 to 10:00.⁸

• Ask whether the person holds a current legitimation, not a lapsed one.
• Check that their profession matches the title they use.
• If the answers do not match what the practitioner claims, treat that as a warning sign.

A licence confirms training and qualification. It cannot promise that any single session will go well.

Swedish mental-health titles and what each can do

Sweden uses a few core titles, and each covers different work. Psykolog and psykoterapeut are among the professions that require legitimation.¹

The table below shows who does what. Of these roles, only the psychiatrist, as a physician, can prescribe medication.

A psykiater is not a separate protected title. A psychiatrist is a läkare (physician) with specialist training in psychiatry.

The protected title is hälso- och sjukvårdskurator, not plain kurator.¹

A psykoterapeut who holds legitimation must also state their base training when practising.¹ This tells you the field they originally trained in.

Who actually regulates therapists in Sweden

Three public bodies matter, and people often mix them up. Getting this right saves time if you ever need to act.

• Socialstyrelsen issues legitimation and keeps the register.
• IVO (the health and social care inspectorate) supervises healthcare staff and receives complaints.
• HSAN (the medical responsibility board) decides on restrictions to a practitioner's authorisation when IVO refers a case.

Chapter 7 of the Patient Safety Act covers supervision by IVO, the Inspektionen för vård och omsorg.³ The Ministry of Health and Social Affairs sits outside those three. It sets policy, and does not license anyone.

Professional associations are voluntary, and are not regulators.

The Act counts anyone who holds legitimation for a healthcare profession as hälso- och sjukvårdspersonal, or healthcare personnel. It also sets limits, in its chapter 5, on the right of people who are not healthcare personnel to carry out certain healthcare measures.

Warning signs a practitioner may not be licensed

Watch for these signs.

• No entry on the register, or a licence that has lapsed.
• A title that does not match their actual profession.
• Work that goes beyond what their licence covers.
• Qualifications you cannot verify anywhere.
• A title built to look like a protected one.

A title that could be confused with a skyddad yrkestitel (protected title) is also barred.²

If something goes wrong: how to complain

Complaints do not go to Socialstyrelsen. Start with the clinic or practice itself, and with the patientnämnd in your region, which is free and independent and will help you put the complaint together.

IVO is the authority that supervises healthcare staff, and it takes the serious cases: broadly, where care has caused lasting serious harm, a substantially greater need for care, or death, along with certain compulsory-care and personal-integrity matters. A patient can report a klagomål, or complaint, to IVO.⁴ A close relative can report if the patient cannot.

IVO can refer serious cases to HSAN. The Act sets out HSAN, the Hälso- och sjukvårdens ansvarsnämnd, in its chapter 9.⁶

HSAN can act in two main ways. The law provides for a prövotid, or probation, for someone with legitimation. In serious cases, a person's legitimation can be withdrawn through återkallelse (revocation).⁵

Protected titles and penalties

In professional activity in the healthcare field, a protected yrkestitel may be used only by someone who holds legitimation for the profession, or who is undergoing prescribed practical service.²

Using a protected yrkestitel without the right to it is punishable by böter (a fine).⁷

One heavier penalty covers a narrow case. A revoked läkare who practises for payment faces böter or up to six months in prison.⁷ So ordinary title misuse means a fine, not prison.

Trained abroad? Getting licensed in Sweden

This section is for clinicians, not patients. If you qualified outside Sweden, Socialstyrelsen assesses your qualifications. It then decides whether to grant legitimation.

The route differs by where you trained. Qualifications from inside the EU and EEA follow one recognition path. Qualifications from outside it are assessed separately.

A Swedish language requirement also applies. Danish or Norwegian may be accepted in its place. Check Socialstyrelsen for the current level, accepted evidence, and timeline.

Find a licensed therapist in Sweden

Once you have checked the register, you can choose the right person. Match the title to what you need, using the table above.

You can start your search through TherapyRoute's directory of therapists in Sweden. Our guide on how to find the right therapist can help.

This page is general information, not legal advice. Rules change over time. Confirm a practitioner's current status on Socialstyrelsen's register. Contact the relevant authority for your own situation.

Valid as at 2026, based on the Patient Safety Act, or Patientsäkerhetslag (2010:659).

Team TherapyRoute

References

1. [1] Patientsäkerhetslag (2010:659), 4 kap. 1 § riksdagen.se.
2. [2] Patientsäkerhetslag (2010:659), 4 kap. 5, 5 a och 6 §§ riksdagen.se.
3. [3] Patientsäkerhetslag (2010:659), 7 kap. 1-3 §§ riksdagen.se.
4. [4] Patientsäkerhetslag (2010:659), 7 kap. 10-11 §§ riksdagen.se.
5. [5] Patientsäkerhetslag (2010:659), 8 kap. 1-3 §§ riksdagen.se.
6. [6] Patientsäkerhetslag (2010:659), 9 kap. 1-2 §§ riksdagen.se.
7. [7] Patientsäkerhetslag (2010:659), 10 kap. 3-5 §§ riksdagen.se.
8. [8] Socialstyrelsen — Registret över legitimerad hälso- och sjukvårdspersonal (HOSP) socialstyrelsen.se.