Kommer snart!
Kommer snart!
TRYGHED
A Danish concept of safeness
How can one ordinary Danish word help us better understand the conditions for human flourishing?
Tryghed is one of the most frequently used words in Denmark, yet it has no direct English equivalent. As a clinical psychologist, I explore what this uniquely Danish concept can teach us about wellbeing, learning, organizations, democracy, and the ways cultures create the conditions for people to thrive.
What allows human beings to thrive?
Psychology has taught us a great deal about the importance of safeness, trust, connection and predictability for human wellbeing. Yet we know much less about how these conditions become embedded - not only in families or therapy rooms - but in the everyday practices, institutions and narratives of an entire society.
I explore this question through the uniquely Danish concept of tryghed. Rather than treating tryghed simply as an emotion or a cultural value, I investigate how it moves between embodied experience, language, social practices and material environments. Denmark serves as a case through which I ask how cultures can intentionally create the conditions for human flourishing. The aim is not to argue that Danish culture is universally superior. Rather, it is to make visible a body of largely implicit cultural knowledge that has the potential to enrich both psychological theory and practical efforts to create environments in which people can learn, collaborate and thrive.
Why I'm studying this
shared expectations, and the design of environments and settings. Denmark offers a particularly interesting case. It consistently ranks among the world's leading countries in wellbeing, liveability, innovation, social trust, and quality of life. While many factors contribute to these outcomes, the prominence of tryghed in Danish culture raises an important question: might this unique emotional concept help explain part of the picture? This raises a larger question: If cultures can cultivate tryghed, what can psychology - and other societies -learn from the ways they do it?
What is tryghed?
There is no direct English equivalent. It is often translated as security or safety, but neither captures its full meaning. Tryghed describes a felt sense of embodied safeness - a state in which people feel sufficiently at ease to learn, connect, create, and participate in society. Rather than an individual responsibility, tryghed in Denmark is something people create together through everyday interactions,
Selected publications and essays
The work presented here investigates the Danish concept of tryghed across a range of empirical contexts and publication formats, including peer-reviewed research, conference presentations, and public essays. Together, these publications explore its potential significance for learning, organizations, democracy, and human flourishing.
Featured publication
The Missing Emotion in Liberal Democracy
Psyche · forthcoming
An essay introducing the Danish concept of tryghed to an international audience. It argues that tryghed represents a distinct emotional concept and explores what it may contribute to contemporary discussions of democracy - in which Denmark ranks #1 on the democracy index.
Read article
[Link available upon publication]
Peer-reviewed research
Is tryghed important for learning in institutions?
Psyke & Logos · 2020
This peer-reviewed article examines the role of tryghed in a psychoeducational CBT programme for patients with anorexia. Drawing on an empirical study, it investigates how patients perceive what tryghed is. It identifies the relational, temporal, and physical factors that contribute to a sense of safeness. It also explores how patients understand its role in supporting their learning and treatment.
Read article (Danish)
Research essays
Tryghed (Safeness): Denmark as an Allegory
Alaxon · 2026
This research essay develops a theoretical framework for understanding tryghed as a distinct, culturally embedded emotional concept. Using Denmark as an allegorical case, it explores what psychology, and other societies, might learn from a culture that has long treated emotional safeness as a collective responsibility rather than an individual concern.
Drawing on psychology (Bowlby, Winnicott, Porges, Gilbert, Feldmann-Barrette), phenomenology and philosophy (Merleau-Ponty, Barad), feminist theory (Gilligan, Butler), and social and political theory (Tronto), the essay argues that tryghed provides a conceptual lens for understanding how emotional concepts shape embodiment, cultural practices, relationships, learning - and in return - human flourishing.
Article link (Hebrew)
Declining Democracies: Instead of Emigrating to Denmark, Maybe We Should Learn from It
Local Conversation· 2023 (Hebrew)
Written in light of the decline of Israeli democracy. The essay explores how the Danish unique emotional concept of tryghed shapes social practice and social design, as well as temporal and physical design, in Denmark. The article suggests that Denmark, ranking consistently #1 on the democracy index, might contribute to the conversation about declining democracies, as it presents a unique cultural approach that foster conditions for everyday wellbeing and trust.
Read article (Hebrew)
Safeness vs. safety
Tryghed and the Corona Pandemic: A Case Study
Local Coversation· 2020
While the pandemic posed the same threat to all societies, each society tackeled the threat uniquely. The article describes that while Israeli society focused on safety, Danihs society focused mostly on safeness (tryghed). The article examines the striking differences arisning from this different focus and the sociaetal implications of focusing on safety (Israel) versus safeness (Denmark).
Read article (English translation)
Research presentation & Work in progress
Can Danish Tryghed Add Value to Organizations Beyond Psychological Safety?
Work-in-progress presentation, European Network for Psychological Anthropology, 2025
This ongoing research project examines whether the Danish concept of tryghed offers a broader understanding of workplace wellbeing than psychological safety alone. It explores how tryghed is experienced, communicated, and cultivated in organizations, and how relational and structural conditions may shape wellbeing, collaboration, and organizational outcomes.
Presented at the European Network for Psychological Anthropology’s Work-in-Progress Seminar, 27 March 2025. The ENPA page identifies you as the seminar presenter and includes the project abstract, so it works well as public evidence that the project has been presented and discussed in an international academic setting.
View presentation announcement
Regularity, Predictability and Emotional Safety (Tryghed) in CBT Groups
45th EACBT Congress · Jerusalem · 2015
An oral presentation of quantitative findings examining how regularity, predictability, and emotional safety (tryghed) influence group processes in cognitive behavioural therapy.
Current work
This is an ongoing research programme.
I am particularly interested in interdisciplinary collaborations that connect psychology, anthropology, organizational studies, philosophy, and the social sciences.
I am interested welcome conversations with researchers, practitioners, organizations, and potential collaborators interested in developing this research further.
If you work in a related field - or see connections to your own research or practice - I would be happy to hear from you.
