In short Online therapy in English in Lisbon: individual and couples sessions over secure video, scheduled across time zones. Psychodynamic depth work with a US-trained therapist. You pay directly, so nothing runs through local insurance or health records. Fees and fit are covered in a free 15-minute call.

The work

The work I do is relational and focused on pattern. I don't run intake checklists. I don't assign homework. I pay attention to what happens in the session. The moments when something shifts or goes flat. The pattern that keeps showing up underneath the problem. Most people already know their own story. They still keep landing in the same place. What's missing is someone watching in real time, someone who can name what you cannot see from inside it. More on how I work, and how I work with couples.

The arrangement

I am a US-trained psychodynamic therapist working online and privately. No Portuguese license. No public-system involvement. No diagnosis on any record. You pay directly, in any currency. Lisbon evening sessions are easy to schedule across time zones. The schedule flexes around remote and freelance work. When what you need is prescribing, assessment, or covered care, the Portuguese system handles that. I will say so directly.

What people bring to online therapy

The people I work with in English come for a wide range of reasons: anxiety, depression, stress and burnout, anger management, grief and loss, relationship difficulties, loneliness, self-esteem issues, procrastination, sleep problems, attachment patterns, self-sabotage, perfectionism, identity questions, and existential concerns. Online counseling makes this work possible from wherever you are, whether you need an English-speaking therapist, a virtual counselor, or simply someone who can work in your language at a depth that matters.

How it works

Sessions are online via secure video call. I work with individuals and couples (60 minutes). Before your first session, we have a free 15-minute call to see if this feels like the right fit for you.

In shortOnline psychodynamic therapy in English for internationals in Lisbon. Private. Outside the Portuguese system. Available now.

What I see from Lisbon

Lisbon is full of people who made a geographic bet on their own happiness. The room is where they find out whether it paid. The digital nomads and remote workers. The startup crowd orbiting Web Summit. The American wave. The retirees reinventing themselves. The recurring story is the geographic cure that did not cure. You moved to the city everyone envies. The weather is genuinely better. And the anxiety made the trip with you. Around it sits the loneliness of a place where everyone leaves in three months. The freelancer's low background hum of money worry. The founder running on runway and willpower. It is paradise, reportedly. And a lot of people are quietly struggling inside it.

The numbers behind the shortage

Portugal's mental health gap is unusually well documented. The country reports the second-highest prevalence of mental disorders in Europe, around 23 percent, and the national health study found roughly one adult in three reporting symptoms like anxiety, panic or depression in the previous year while only about half that share managed to see a professional. On the supply side, the public system was running on the order of 2.5 psychologists per hundred thousand residents as of 2020.

The SNS route itself goes through your médico de família. Psychiatric care is covered, and mental health consultations prescribed within the SNS are exempt from the taxa moderadora, but psychotherapy is scarce, session-limited, and waited for: months in Lisbon, longer elsewhere. The whole national picture is on my Portugal page.

Privately there is no referral requirement at all. Sessions commonly run 40 to 90 euro with Lisbon at the top of the range, the credential to check is registration with the Ordem dos Psicólogos Portugueses, and Portuguese insurance typically reimburses a capped 20 to 40 euro per session with registered providers. I work outside that structure: direct, in fluent English, with no Portuguese record and no queue between you and the first session.

A wave that outran the supply

The tax incentives that pulled a wave of remote workers, founders, and retirees into Lisbon, since narrowed, also overwhelmed the supply of English-language therapy. The Portuguese public system has its own waits, and the new anglophone population is large and growing. The wider picture is on my Portugal page.

Work with me is private and online, with no Portuguese record and no wait, which is how a lot of Lisbon's internationals actually get therapy.

Questions people ask from Lisbon

I moved here and I am still anxious or low. Did I do something wrong?
No. The geographic cure rarely cures on its own. A change of place does not reach the pattern underneath, which is exactly what this work is for.
Is English-speaking therapy hard to find in Lisbon?
The anglophone population grew faster than the English-therapy supply, so availability is tight. Online removes the wait entirely.
I am a nomad or freelancer with an irregular schedule. Does that work?
Yes. Sessions are online and we work around your schedule, including if you move on from Lisbon.
Do I need a referral for private therapy in Lisbon?
No. Referrals gate the SNS route only. Private therapy in Portugal, local or with someone like me, starts when you contact the therapist. The difference with my practice is what happens after: no Portuguese file, no insurer claim, and the same therapist whether you stay in Lisbon or your visa situation moves you on.
Will a Portuguese seguro de saúde reimburse sessions with you?
Portuguese policies typically reimburse a fixed 20 to 40 euro per session, capped annually, and only for providers registered with the Ordem dos Psicólogos who issue a Portuguese fatura. I am outside that registry by design, so no. You pay directly, which buys the thing the reimbursement route cannot: nothing on file anywhere in Portugal.

Selected research on this approach

My work is psychodynamic and depth-oriented. These are some of the studies on the effectiveness of that kind of therapy. They describe research on the method in general, and are not claims about any individual outcome.

  • Shedler, J. (2010). The efficacy of psychodynamic psychotherapy. American Psychologist, 65(2), 98-109. doi:10.1037/a0018378
  • Steinert, C., Munder, T., Rabung, S., Hoyer, J., & Leichsenring, F. (2017). Psychodynamic therapy: as efficacious as other empirically supported treatments? A meta-analysis testing equivalence of outcomes. American Journal of Psychiatry, 174(10), 943-953. PMID 28541091

The full reading list is on the approach page.

Related Reading

Therapy for digital nomads
Therapy for expats
Therapy in English in other countries