At Grandpa Family, we highlight creative and exciting individuals within our community. This time, we meet the author, psychologist, and researcher Erik Andersson in Stockholm. Erik works at the OCD program at Karolinska Huddinge, where he helps patients suffering from severe cases of various obsessive-compulsive disorders. He also conducts research at the Karolinska Institute, where he is currently involved in a project helping people with OCD to enter the job market, thereby improving their quality of life. He is also the Director of Studies for the Psychology Program at KI. This spring, he is filming a (currently secret) TV series about OCD, where he treats a colorful author.

On a spring day in April, we meet up with Erik at the Karolinska Institute to talk about the TV series, research, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Hi Erik!

You mainly work with OCD. How did you get into that?

My former supervisor Olle at the psychology program taught me a lot about OCD. I quickly became hooked on it because it gave me the opportunity to work creatively and exploratively with patients. He always told me, "Erik, you need to dare to shoot from the hip, and if you miss, just revise your analysis. It’s part of the discovery journey in psychological treatment." I still work according to that principle today.

Do you have any role models in the world of treatment or research?

Role models are something that constantly shifts for me. I can get incredibly impressed by so many people. Most recently, I almost fell off my chair when I got to sit in on a student having a session with a patient. He was incredibly skilled—much better than me. That day, he became my idol. So for me, it changes from day to day depending on who inspires me.

What is your process when treating patients?

There are a few key questions I always ask myself when treating patients. The first question is: what is this person afraid of? That’s something we need to explore together. The second question I ask is whether the person actually has a meaningful life to return to once we successfully have treated their OCD. If not, we have to think about how we can work towards creating a meaningful life. Those two questions are the core of the treatment. We practice staying with what the patient finds scary and difficult. Very often, we also plan active steps during the treatment so that the person can build a more meaningful life—for example, by finding a job.

How has the filming of the TV series been?

It’s been incredibly fun and stimulating. I’ve had the chance to go through a very emotionally intimate process with another person in front of the camera, where we've dared to stay with difficult thoughts and feelings together. I hope and believe that this TV series can help people understand what drives compulsions and why people get stuck in them.

Do you have a dream project?

My personal dream project is actually happening right now with the TV series. It’s so much fun and things are happening all the time. In my other job at KI, my dream and vision is to improve education so that our students can start training in real healthcare environments much earlier in the program. I truly believe that would make a big difference for patients if our students could get more hands-on experience in real-life settings.

How would you describe your personal style?

My colleague Volen once told me that I dress like a mix between a middle-aged man and a 14-year-old. And it’s kind of true—I like to mix things in an unholy way so that it sometimes gets a little crazy. But the recurring theme is that I’ve been a rocker since elementary school, and that’s a style I keep coming back to.

Top three Grandpa favorites right now?

I might have to get the blue and white Foret shirt, Peer Jacquard Ss Shirt Blue/Cloud. The jacket from heaven right now is the Nudie Eddy Rider Leather Jacket Black, maybe paired with a pair of Komono sunglasses.