Clinical psychologist · Ho Chi Minh City
The patterns that hurt us form in relationship. They can be worked with there too.
I’m Hieu Tran, a clinical psychologist in Ho Chi Minh City, trained in Norway. Some problems need to be understood before they shift. Others need solving. Part of the first sessions is working out which one this is.
- Cand.Psychol., University of Bergen
- Licensed in Norway
- EuroPsy registered
- Sessions in English or Norwegian
Treatment methods
How I work
Three methods, used in combination rather than in sequence. Which one leads depends on what you bring.
ISTDP
Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy is an accelerated form of psychodynamic therapy. It focuses on identifying unconscious defences and resistance that block deep, avoided emotions. By experiencing these suppressed feelings in real time with the therapist, many people find relief from psychosomatic symptoms and can work with long-standing emotional blocks that otherwise stay out of reach. How far we take that, and at what pace, is decided together.
MBT
Mentalization-Based Treatment focuses on developing the capacity to mentalize: the ability to understand the thoughts, feelings and intentions behind one’s own behaviour and that of others. Originally designed to treat borderline personality disorder, it is now widely used to help people regulate intense emotions and improve relationship stability by making sense of complex internal experiences.
Group Analysis
Group Analytic therapy is rooted in the belief that human beings are fundamentally social creatures, or as S.H. Foulkes put it, nodes in a social network. Group Analysis treats the group itself as a matrix, where participants’ internal worlds and interpersonal patterns are brought to life through free-flowing conversation. By examining the unconscious dynamics in the room, members gain insight into how they relate to others and to themselves.
Clinical experience
Where I’ve practised
Vikersund
Modum Bad
Psychologist in the Inpatient Division for Treatment-Resistant Depression, treating patients with complex, comorbid presentations, including depression alongside trauma, personality disorders and anxiety, with ISTDP as the primary treatment model.
Lillestrøm
Akershus University Hospital
Outpatient Clinic for Personality Disorders, conducting diagnostic evaluations for patients with severe personality disorders. Co-led Mentalization-Based Group Therapy for patients with borderline personality disorder, and led relational group therapy grounded in Group Analytic principles across a range of diagnoses.
Ho Chi Minh City
Vietnam Institute of Psychology
Psychologist and group therapist, providing individual, couples and group therapy, and conducting one adult group.
Training placements
Bergen
University Psychological Clinic
The faculty’s own outpatient clinic at the University of Bergen, where candidates on the Cand.Psychol. programme carry a clinical caseload of assessment and therapy under the supervision of a specialist psychologist.
Bergen
Educational and Psychological Counselling Service
The municipal educational-psychological service, which supports kindergartens and schools in adapting provision for children who need it, and writes the expert assessments on which that provision is decided.
Research & technology
Better records shouldn’t cost the therapist their attention.
In May 2025 I co-founded psylab, a company building AI systems for therapists. The work runs on two strands: efficient clinical documentation, and expert-verified feedback on clinical technique.
The point isn’t only to save time. Administrative load is what pulls a clinician’s attention out of the room. Handing that load to a system is what lets the therapist stay present, and over time get better at the work itself.
I build from a Vietnamese and Norwegian vantage point, which shapes what I think accessible, ethical mental health infrastructure has to look like outside the countries that usually design it.
Training & registration
Credentials, in full
Professional degree
Bachelor’s degree
Postgraduate training
Licence to practise
Memberships
European Federation of Psychologists’ Associations, through EuroPsy registration
Independent listings
It’s Complicated
Finn en psykolog, the Norwegian Psychological Association’s public directory
Ledig psykolog
Clinical teams
Working together
Where to start
Write and tell me a little about what is going on. I’ll reply with whether I think I’m the right person, and what a first session would look like.
- Who I seeAdults and adolescents.
- LanguagesEnglish or Norwegian.
- WhereHo Chi Minh City, and online.