Stress therapy Copenhagen

Help to carry less, rest properly and say no without guilt

I help you find what keeps you running and where your limits really are

What I want you to know when stress has taken over

In this short video, I explain why working harder at coping rarely reduces stress, and what changes when you look at the inner pressure behind the outer demands.

Video introduction by psychotherapist Mark Colclough, MA

At a glance

Stress therapy Copenhagen helps you when the demands on you have grown larger than the capacity you have to meet them, and your body and mind are paying for it. Each appointment is one hour, with 50 minutes of therapy for you alone, in English or Danish, and you can take it at my practice in central Copenhagen or online from your own desk.

I help you see what you are carrying, why you keep carrying it and which of the pressures come from outside and which come from inside you. Then we work on the changes that let you rest, set limits and choose your load. This page is the stress hub within my psychotherapy. If one pattern stands out, I have more specific help for burnout, perfectionism and imposter syndrome.

You can request a free discovery call, book a session, read my client policy or get in touch with me directly.

Is this the right page for you?

This is for you if…

Stress therapy Copenhagen is for adults who are still coping, but only just, and who can feel the cost building. Work, family, a move abroad or several of these at once ask more of you than you can give. You want to understand why you keep saying yes, and to find a way of living that does not drain you.

  • You lie down at night exhausted, and then your mind starts listing everything you did not finish today.
  • You notice your jaw clenched, your shoulders up by your ears or a headache that arrives most afternoons.
  • You snap at the people you love over small things, and afterwards you feel guilty and even more tired.
  • You keep a running list in your head of birthdays, forms, school messages and bills that nobody else seems to see.
  • You promise yourself a quieter month, and somehow the next month is just as full as the last one.
  • You eat at your desk, skip the gym and cancel friends, because there is never a moment that feels free.
  • You moved to Denmark for a new start, and the new job, new language and new systems have worn you down.
  • You suspect the pressure is partly coming from inside you, and you want to understand why you cannot ease off.

This is probably not for you if…

Stress often sits close to other difficulties, and some of them need a more specific kind of help. If your overload looks more like one of these, the linked page is the better place to start.

  • You have already crashed, you are on sick leave or you can no longer work at all. → burnout therapy
  • Your own standards are the real source of the pressure, and nothing you do ever feels good enough. → perfectionism therapy
  • Worry and dread are stronger than the overload, even on quiet days with little to do. → anxiety therapy
  • You feel flat, hopeless or empty more than you feel pressured or rushed. → depression therapy
  • The strain is mostly about living abroad, far from family, language and familiar ways of doing things. → expat psychotherapy
  • Something has just happened this week and you need help within days, not a planned course. → acute psychotherapy
  • You fear being found out as not as capable as people think, despite everything you have achieved. → imposter syndrome therapy
  • You are in immediate danger, or you are thinking about ending your life. Please call 112, or 1813 for urgent mental health help in the Capital Region.

Client reviews

The reviews shown here are shared by clients who have worked with me in therapy and chosen to reflect on their experience. They are collected via Google and displayed through an independent verification service, offering an open and transparent picture of how my work is experienced.

Mark’s view

“In my experience, stress is rarely about how much you have to do. It is about what you feel you are not allowed to put down. Most people I see could drop a third of their load tomorrow, and they do not, because a quiet voice inside asks ‘If I stop delivering, will anyone still want me around?’. Next to it sits another voice that says ‘I will sort it out myself, I do not need anyone’s help.’ Some people swing between ‘Please notice how much I am carrying’ and ‘Do not come near me, I am busy’ in the same evening. Time management will not touch any of that. Stress eases when you find out whose approval you are still working for.”

Mark Colclough, MA, psychotherapist and EFT couples therapist

Meet Mark, psychotherapist and EFT couples therapist

I am Mark Colclough, MA, a psychotherapist and EFT couples therapist specialising in expats and international couples. I work in English and Danish, from my practice in central Copenhagen and online.

Practising since 2004, I bring a bicultural perspective to work with individuals and couples across languages and cultural contexts. My work integrates depth-oriented psychotherapy with approaches such as integral psychotherapy, Gestalt therapy, Jungian psychoanalysis, and object relations theory. I also have specialist training in attachment theory, narcissism, and borderline personality disorder.

For support with life between cultures, explore expat psychotherapy or expat couples therapy. My practice is supported by ongoing training and supervision. To read more about my background, training, and approach, visit About me.

Psychotherapist Mark Colclough, MA

The importance of supervision

Good therapy begins with good supervision

I regularly meet with experienced senior psychotherapists in Denmark and abroad to reflect on my work, challenge my thinking, and continue developing my skills. This ongoing process supports the quality of my individual and couples therapy, helping me offer thoughtful, ethical, and effective care.

My focus is simple: excellence, integrity, and impact.

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You are welcome to get in touch. We can clarify what’s the right therapy for you.

A typical situation

Henrik is 46, an engineer with 2 teenagers and a father in a care home in Aarhus. He leaves the office at 17:00, answers emails on the train, cooks, drives to football and then works again after 22:00. He has started waking at 04:00 with his heart pounding. His wife says he has become short-tempered. Henrik tells himself it is just a busy year, but he has said that for 3 years now, and he cannot see which part of his life he is allowed to cut.

I would start by mapping, with Henrik, everything he is carrying and who decided he should carry it. In our first session he would probably see that most of the load is real, but that the rule “I must never let anyone down” is his, and it came long before his job did.

I have presented this clinical example as a compound of 22 years of clinical practice.

This is when you need stress therapy with me

You have organised, prioritised and pushed through, and the pressure has still not let go of you.

There is no right moment and no required reason to start stress therapy. If you feel that life has become too much to manage, that you are running on empty, or that the people close to you are getting the worn-out version of you, that is enough. You do not need a diagnosis, a sick note or a collapse before you come to see me. In 22 years of practice, I have sat with many people who waited far too long because they were still functioning, and I know the signs that pressure has turned into a pattern your body and your life cannot sustain.

In sessions, I usually begin by helping you see the whole picture: what you carry, what it costs you and what keeps you from setting any of it down. I will tell you plainly what I notice. The 6 questions below can show you whether your pressure has become more than a busy patch.

Does an ordinary week now take everything you have?

If it does, that is a sign to act, not to push harder. Stress usually builds slowly enough that you adjust to it. You start sleeping less and drinking more coffee. You forget appointments you would never have forgotten before, and simple decisions like what to cook feel heavy. Your body joins in, with tension, stomach trouble, colds that come one after another or a heart that races when you sit still. Weekends no longer restore you. You simply recover enough to start again on Monday.

I would look at how long this has been going on, what changed when it began and whether there are any weeks in which you feel like yourself. That helps us tell the difference between a hard season that will pass and a way of living that will not ease on its own. If the load includes the invisible planning that keeps a household running, my article on the mental load may help you name it. If you have been adjusting to this for months, book a session with me and we can look at your week together.

Do you long to slow down, yet feel unable to stop?

Both are real, and they serve different needs. One part of you is tired and wants a slower, simpler life. Another part feels safe only when you are busy, useful and ahead of things. So you book a holiday and spend it checking your phone, or you promise yourself an evening off and find yourself tidying the kitchen at 23:00. The more tired you get, the louder the busy part becomes, because slowing down feels like losing control.

I do not treat the busy part as the enemy. It has probably kept you safe for a long time, perhaps by making you reliable in a family where reliability was rewarded. In my work, we treat these inner figures as parts of you, each with its own purpose. I help you understand what the driven part is protecting and what the tired part needs, so you can choose a pace rather than being driven by one side.

Do you keep checking that you are still doing enough?

Many stressed people do. A short email from your manager, a colleague who seems cooler than usual or a friend who has not replied can feel like evidence that you are falling behind or letting someone down. You reread messages, you ask whether the work was all right, you stay late to make sure. The relief when someone says “that was great” lasts an hour, and then the doubt returns. You may not be able to rest until every possible complaint has been prevented.

Your wish to know where you stand is reasonable, and I will not make you feel foolish for it. What I help you change is the alarm that tells you that any silence means you have failed. Together we look at what the checking is trying to calm, often an older fear that your place depends on how useful you are, and you practise asking directly for the feedback you need instead of working until the fear goes quiet.

Do you want help, and then push it away when it comes?

This is common under stress, and it confuses everyone involved. You complain that nobody helps, then redo the dishes your partner just washed. You ask a colleague to take a task, then hover over it until you take it back. Part of you badly wants support, and another part feels exposed, criticised or out of control the moment someone else steps in. Afterwards you feel alone with the load again, and resentful that it is still all yours.

I help you slow this sequence down, so we can find the exact moment when wanting help turns into needing to stay in charge. Usually something specific sets it off, such as fear of being judged, of owing someone or of things being done wrongly. I have real compassion for those reactions. I will also ask you to take responsibility for the ones that push away the people who are trying to help, and we practise accepting support without taking it back.

Do you shut down when people ask for more of you?

When you are overloaded, other people’s needs can start to feel like one demand too many. Your partner wants to talk, your child wants attention, a friend calls about a problem, and something in you goes cold. You answer in short sentences, become very practical or disappear into your laptop. It gives you a little room to breathe. The cost is that the people closest to you start to feel shut out, and you end up even more alone with the pressure.

My view is that this distance is doing a real job, and I will not shame you for needing it. I help you understand what it is protecting you from, so you can stay present a bit longer without feeling swamped. You learn to say “I have nothing left tonight, can we talk tomorrow?” before the shutting down becomes a habit that damages your relationships. Taking space is healthy. Disappearing without a word usually is not.

Have you become the person who copes, and forgotten who else you are?

After years of managing, it is easy to lose touch with everything except your role. You are the one who organises, delivers and holds it together. Hobbies, friendships and the things that once made you feel alive have quietly fallen away, and when someone asks what you want, you have no answer. Many internationals know this especially well, after rebuilding a life in a new country while holding a demanding job. That is not a flaw in you. It is a sign of how much you have been adapting.

I help you look at which parts of your life are truly yours and which you took on to meet expectations, at work, in your family or from the generations before you. If living abroad is part of the strain, my article on expat fatigue describes it well. I will offer direction and challenge you when I see you disappearing into duty, but I will not tell you who to be. The aim is clarity about what matters to you and how you want to spend your energy.

If you see yourself in these questions, request a free call to talk it through, or book a session if you already know the pressure needs attention.

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What stress therapy with me will help you do

Understanding why you are under pressure is a start, but you also need to change what you carry, how you rest and when you say no.

Stress therapy with me will help you understand what is really happening when the pressure builds, recognise the patterns that keep you overloaded and make changes you can feel in your evenings, your sleep and your relationships. Insight matters. Many people come already knowing they work too much. But knowing it, without changing how you live, does not lower the pressure by a single degree.

In my 22 years of experience, stress work moves when I take an active part. I will not just listen while you list what you have to do. I will guide you, name what I see and challenge you when you defend a load that is harming you. These 6 questions describe what we work towards.

How will I help you see what is really driving your stress?

I help you separate the core of the problem from the noise around it. The deadlines, the inbox and the family calendar are real. But underneath them there are usually beliefs and emotions that decide how much of it you take on: a sense that rest must be earned, a fear of disappointing people, guilt about having needs, or loyalty to a family where everyone worked until they dropped.

I bring structure to this. I tell you what I think is going on, what needs attention first and which explanations keep you stuck, such as “it will calm down after this project”. I work with conscious and unconscious patterns and with the body, because stress often shows itself there before you admit it in words. When you are ready, book a session with me and we will map it together.

How can you notice the pressure rising before it runs you?

You can learn to recognise the early signs, and that is often where the real change starts. Stress tends to build in a familiar order: your breathing gets shallow, you start eating standing up, you say yes before you have checked your calendar, you stop replying to friends. Once you know your own early signals, you have a point at which you can choose something different, before you are running on fumes.

In sessions, I help you slow that sequence down and look at it: what triggers it, what it protects you from and what it costs you. Spotting it is not enough. We practise a different response, in the room and between sessions, until you can use it on a real Wednesday afternoon when 3 people want something from you at once.

How can you settle your body when you are wound up?

Settling does not mean forcing yourself to relax or pretending everything is fine. It means staying present enough to notice what is happening in you and choose how to respond. A body that has been on high alert for months does not switch off because you tell it to. It needs repeated, small experiences of safety before it believes the pressure has eased.

I help you notice activation earlier and understand what your nervous system is reacting to, which is often more about old expectations than today’s workload. We find specific ways of coming down that fit your life, not a generic list. I will be clear that this asks something of you between sessions. A daily 10 minutes of what we agree on will do more than one good hour with me each week.

How can you say no without explaining yourself for 10 minutes?

Saying no clearly starts with knowing what you feel, what you need and what is really yours to do. Stress blurs all of that. You agree to things before you have thought, you over-explain when you decline, or you say nothing and then quietly resent the extra work. Over time the unspoken limits turn into irritation, and the irritation makes everything feel heavier.

I help you find words that are honest, short and proportionate. I will challenge you when you swallow your limits to keep the peace, and I will also challenge you when you expect others to guess that you are overloaded. We often rehearse real conversations, with your manager, your partner or your family, until you can say “I cannot take that on this month” and mean it.

How can you decide what to drop without drowning in guilt?

Clearer choices become possible when you separate fear, obligation and habit from what you actually value. Under stress, everything looks equally urgent, and dropping anything feels like failure. So you keep it all, and the decision about what matters is made for you by exhaustion.

I help you look honestly at your commitments, what each one gives you and what it costs. I will give you my professional view, and I will point it out when you are avoiding a decision that is obvious from the outside. I will not choose for you. If the trouble is that nothing you do ever feels good enough to stop, perfectionism therapy goes deeper into that.

What does a life with room to breathe look like?

Stress therapy only works if your diary looks different afterwards. Feeling lighter in a session is good, but the real test is your Monday morning, your calendar in December and how you respond when a new request lands. You may need different boundaries at work, a fairer split of tasks at home, fewer commitments, a real lunch break or friendships that give you energy rather than take it.

Together we pick out the commitments that drain you and the ones that are worth keeping. Your drive, your sense of responsibility and your care for others are not the problem, and I will not try to remove them. The aim is to help you live with clearer limits and more choice, so your days follow your values rather than the fear of letting someone down.

What happens when you begin stress therapy with me

You do not need a diagnosis or a tidy summary of your situation. I start with what is weighing on you now and what you need to change.

When you begin, I listen carefully, help you name the main source of the pressure and give the work a clear direction early on. I do not expect you to arrive with a diagnosis, a plan or a full account of your life. We start with what feels heaviest.

Stress therapy is a focused form of psychotherapy, structured individual work on your inner life, your choices and your relationships. If the strain lives mostly in your relationship, and your partner is willing to come, couples therapy offers long-term relational development and healing. When you already know the work will take a while, therapy discounts and bundles give you real savings and the safety of a plan agreed from the start.

What happens in our first stress therapy session?

In our first session, I ask what brought you now, what feels most overwhelming, what you have already tried and what you need to be different. I ask about your body, your sleep and your week as well as your thoughts. A clear account of last week, hour by hour, is often more useful at the start than your life story.

By the end, I give you my first understanding of where the pressure comes from and propose a direction for the work. You decide whether my way of working feels useful. If you cannot face committing to a full session yet, book a free 30-minute discovery call and we can talk it over first.

When should you choose individual therapy for stress?

Individual therapy is the right choice when the stress lives mainly in you: in how you take on demands, how you rest, what you believe you owe others and how your body reacts. That is true for most stress, even when it shows up at home. We can look closely at your relationships without anyone else in the room.

Coming on your own, you get a steady place each week where someone notices when you start overloading yourself again and says so. If stress is one theme among several and you want to look at your life more broadly, Psychotherapy Copenhagen describes my structured individual work as a whole.

When is couples therapy a better choice than stress therapy?

Choose couples therapy when the strain you feel is coming from the relationship as much as from your workload. If the pressure you feel comes mainly from the same arguments about money, chores or time, if you and your partner have drifted into living parallel lives, or if trust has been damaged, working on it together usually achieves more than working on it alone.

With both of you present, I help you spot how one partner’s overload and the other’s frustration feed each other, and how each of you can change your side of it. That is more than agreeing a new rota for the dishes. Couples therapy Copenhagen is long-term relational development and healing, and some people work on their own stress first and bring the relationship in later.

How often should you come for stress therapy?

The right pace depends on how strained you are, how much room you have right now and how much continuity the work needs. When stress is high, coming regularly at the start keeps you from sliding back into old habits between sessions. Once you have more space, the work can usually spread out.

My recommendation is to start weekly or every second week. I will tell you honestly if sessions are too far apart for change to take hold, if a short period of closer sessions would help, or when it is safe to meet less often. A few sessions back-to-back over 2 or 3 days are also possible if a weekly rhythm does not fit your life.

When does a bundle make sense for stress therapy?

A bundle makes sense when you already know the work will take several sessions and you want continuity instead of deciding after every appointment whether you can spare the time. For stressed people, therapy is often the first thing cancelled. A planned course protects the time in your calendar and lets you focus on the work.

Paying for a run of sessions in advance costs less and puts the appointments in your diary before the next busy week can claim the time. Ask me how many sessions your stress is likely to need, and I will tell you honestly whether a bundle is worth it. The bundle cards further down and my therapy discounts and bundles page list the sizes.

How will we know when stress therapy has done its job?

Therapy has done its job when you have more ownership of your load, clearer limits and real choice about how you spend your energy, and when you can manage busy periods without the same support. Pressure will still come. The difference is that you notice it early, respond to it and recover.

We check together how your weeks are going, and I will not keep you in therapy once you can handle your load yourself. When that happens, we can meet less often, take a break or end. Coming back during a new job, a new baby or a hard year is not proof that our first round of work did not hold. Life simply asked something new of you.

How it works with me

  1. Book your first session when it suits your week, or begin with a free 30-minute call. Tell me briefly what is weighing on you, so I can check that stress therapy is the right place to start.
  2. We meet for one hour with 50 minutes of therapy, just the 2 of us, at Møntergade 4 in central Copenhagen or online, in English or Danish. I offer times between 08:00 and 21:00 Copenhagen time, every day of the week, subject to availability, so early mornings and evenings are possible.
  3. In the first weeks we usually meet weekly or every second week. Between sessions, you try out a few concrete changes we have agreed on, in your calendar as well as in your head.
  4. Every few sessions, we look at what has shifted in your sleep, your body, your week and your relationships. Together we decide whether to keep the pace, space sessions out, focus on burnout or perfectionism, or finish.
  5. If you expect several sessions, a therapy bundle saves you 10 per cent and gives you a clear plan from the start. You can see the bundles just below.

Save with a prepaid session bundle

How the bundle works

Compare with nearby options

Not sure stress therapy is the right starting point? Here is how it compares with the options people under pressure most often consider.

OptionChoose it whenPace
Stress therapy (this page)You are still functioning, but the load is too much and you can feel the cost.Weekly 1-hour sessions at first
Burnout therapyYou have already hit the wall and need to recover before anything else.A slow, steady course of 1-hour sessions
Perfectionism therapyYour own standards are the main source of the pressure.Weekly or every second week
Anxiety therapyWorry and dread are stronger than the overload itself.Weekly 1-hour sessions at first

Frequently asked questions

What is stress therapy with you?

Stress therapy with me is individual psychotherapy for adults whose demands have outgrown their capacity, and who feel it in their sleep, body, mood and relationships. Rather than only giving you coping tips, it helps you understand why you take on what you do, what keeps you from setting it down and how to live with clearer limits. We can meet in central Copenhagen or online, and work in English or Danish.

I work integratively and in depth, with the whole person: your emotions, your body, your history and the expectations you grew up with. Stress therapy is a main branch of my psychotherapy, and the place to start when pressure and overload are what you most want help with.

When should I come to you about stress?

Come when stress is costing you sleep, health, patience or closeness, or when you keep promising yourself that things will calm down and they do not. You do not need to wait for a breakdown. Your own sense that you cannot go on like this is reason enough.

In 22 years of practice, I have learned to look at how long the pressure has lasted, whether your body is starting to protest and what you have given up to keep going. If you recognise several warning signs in my article on burnout symptoms, do not wait. Coming early usually means less time off later.

Can therapy help if my job and life really are this demanding?

Yes, often it can. Therapy cannot shrink your workload or care for your parents for you. What it can change is how you meet those demands: what you agree to, how you recover, what you ask of others and which pressures you add on top. I do not promise a stress-free life, and I do not offer quick fixes.

In my clinical experience, even people with genuinely heavy lives find that a part of the pressure is self-imposed, an inner rule that says they must always be available or never ask for help. I would focus with you on that part, because it is the part you can change, and it often makes the outer load lighter too.

Is stress really a reason to see a psychotherapist?

Yes. Long-term stress affects your health, your relationships and your judgement, and it is one of the most common reasons adults seek therapy. You do not need another label to make it serious enough.

I do not measure whether you are stressed enough. I look at what the pressure is doing to your life and what you want to be different. Sometimes a handful of sessions is enough to change how you handle your load. Sometimes the pattern goes back much further and the work goes deeper. By the end of our first hour, I will tell you how serious I think your stress is and what I suggest.

Why do I either take on everything or shut everyone out?

Both are ways of trying to stay in control when life feels like too much. Some people say yes to everything and work harder to keep others happy. Others withdraw, go quiet and handle it all alone. Many people do both, depending on the week. Neither makes you weak or difficult. Each is a strategy you learned for staying safe, often long before your current job.

I help you recognise which way you move under pressure, what each move is trying to achieve and what it costs you and the people close to you. Then we work on steadier choices: asking for help clearly, taking space without disappearing and setting limits before you are at the end of your rope.

What will we actually do in the first stress session?

We start with your life as it is now. I ask what a typical week looks like, where the pressure is greatest, how your body and sleep are, what you have tried and what you hope will change. I also ask a little about your family and history, because the way we handle demands often has deep roots. You leave knowing how I see your pressure and what I would suggest we tackle first.

You do not need to prepare anything. Many people arrive at the first session straight from work, still in a rush, and that is fine. We can start right there. Find a gap in your week and book your first session, or start smaller with a free discovery call.

How many sessions of stress therapy will I need?

My recommendation is to plan for a course of sessions over a few months, usually weekly or every second week, rather than one conversation. That is often enough to understand your pattern and change how you manage your load. If the stress has lasted for years, or is tangled up with older experiences, the work usually takes longer.

Stressed people are the first to cancel, so in 22 years of practice I have learned to agree a clear first stretch with you and then review it, rather than leave it open. We look together at what has changed, and you decide with me whether to carry on, space the sessions out or stop.

Should I come in person or have stress therapy online?

If you can, come in person. For many stressed people, the walk to my practice and an hour away from screens are part of what helps. Online sessions work well too, especially if you live outside Copenhagen, travel for work or cannot fit the journey into your day, and they last just as long.

Whichever you choose, it is the same psychotherapy, and you can speak English or Danish. If you cannot tell whether the journey would help or just add pressure, talk it through with me on a free call first.

What does stress therapy with you cost?

Stress therapy is individual psychotherapy, booked in one-hour appointments that give you 50 minutes of therapy. The current price is on my prices page. Payment is by invoice and bank transfer.

Booking a bundle of sessions takes 10 per cent off and keeps therapy from being the first thing you drop in a busy week. The bundle sizes are on therapy discounts and bundles. If you pay on the day from a Danish bank account, another 3 per cent comes off.

How do I book stress therapy with you?

You can book your first session online in a few minutes, or ask for a free 30-minute discovery call if you want to speak to me first. Either way, tell me briefly what is weighing on you.

If none of the times fit your week, or things feel acute, contact me directly. When the pressure has suddenly tipped over, I can usually offer you a time within days, because I keep space for that. Book now, before the next busy month decides for you.

My approach and values

My mission

My mission is to help individuals, couples and families rediscover connection, communicate with understanding, and build a stronger, more loving relationship that can thrive through any challenge.

My vision

My vision is to create a world where every person in my therapy room feels supported, connected, and empowered to grow, and to step one step closer to your Self.

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