Sofia Zetterlund and Samuel Bai's therapeutic relationship

Sofia Zetterlund and Samuel Bai's therapeutic relationship brings together the limits of clinical understanding and the consequences of trying to approach a fragmented, traumatic past. Sofia seeks to help Samuel integrate his distinct personalities at a pace he can tolerate, but a dangerous encounter leaves her shaken and forces her to reckon with memories of her own.

Identity and Therapeutic Aim

Samuel is a sixteen-year-old who has run away from home and been reported missing. His case notes describe drug use, theft, violence, and signs of trauma connected to the war his family fled in Sierra Leone. He has received care at a child psychiatry center and from Sofia, a private therapist. The book establishes their treatment as one part of a wider history of vulnerability and distress, rather than presenting Sofia as someone who knows all of Samuel's past from the outset.

Sofia's therapeutic aim is to bring Samuel's various personalities together into one coherent person. She understands that this cannot simply be demanded of him: he must be able to manage the material that emerges, and she is wary of moving too fast. Her method therefore combines a goal of integration with attention to timing and capacity. The distinction matters because knowing that a personality has spoken is not the same as knowing that the person can safely absorb what it brings forward.

Samuel in the Sessions

In one meeting, after a social worker leaves, Sofia recognizes the persona she calls Frankly Samuel. He greets her politely, smiles, and speaks in a genial, homespun English manner. That outward ease sits uneasily beside what he recounts: serious acts of violence he committed as a child. Sofia notices that his eyes sometimes flash and wonders whether another side of him remains present but unseen. Her response is watchful rather than conclusive; the encounter gives her reason to remain alert to what his pleasant manner may not reveal.

The meeting also shows why Sofia's cautious approach is central to their work. Samuel's different presentations do not arrive as a clear, completed account that can simply be assembled. Sofia wants to make room for what is disclosed while avoiding a pace that would overwhelm him. She contrasts this gradual work with what happened in her treatment of Victoria Bergman, where integration had unfolded of its own accord. The comparison clarifies her method with Samuel: she cannot assume that a process that emerged spontaneously for one client can be reproduced for another.

The Crisis and Its Aftermath

A later therapy session exposes how sharply Samuel's presentation can change. Thinking back on it a few hours afterward, Sofia recalls that when he became angry he was unpredictable and seemed cut off from rational exchange. She had tried to reach into his chaotic consciousness and give him something to hold on to, but she felt she had failed. The account marks the limit of her therapeutic approach in that moment: her intention to connect does not ensure that she can establish safety or influence what happens next.

The encounter becomes physically dangerous, and Sofia loses consciousness. When she reflects on it afterward, she recognizes how close she came to not surviving. The memory is not contained within the session: she is left with a sore neck, begins to cry, and realizes that she must make sense of her own memories. The relationship thus has a consequence beyond the treatment room. Sofia's attempt to understand Samuel's divided experience is followed by a confrontation with the parts of her own past that she cannot yet explain.

The Relationship in the Investigation

After Samuel is found hanged in the Monument block, police records identify him as a missing teenager and bring his earlier treatment into the investigation. Jeanette Kihlberg learns that Sofia had been his private therapist. Because Sofia has also been associated with Karl Lundström's case, Jeanette notices the recurrence and reflects that Stockholm is small. This connection makes Sofia relevant to the inquiry, but the evidence establishes her as Samuel's therapist, not as an explanation for his death.

The relationship consequently operates on two levels. Within the treatment, Sofia tries to approach Samuel's distinct personalities with care, while learning that her understanding cannot prevent a crisis. In the investigation, the record of that treatment becomes one link in the police's reconstruction of Samuel's life. Its significance lies in that unresolved tension: Sofia's professional effort to make separate experiences intelligible is bound to an encounter that disrupts her own sense of what she remembers.