"From a gestalt therapy perspective,
all our symptoms are products
of a creative self and
display human uniqueness."
Perls, Hefferline & Goodman
Mood Disorders & Anxiety
Depression is one of the most common mood disorders that affect not only our daily lives but all other physical health and relationships as well and it can be pretty serious if it is overlooked. World Health Organization defines depression as a common worldwide illness, and there are more than 264 million people affected. Depression is nothing like usual mood fluctuations or short-lived emotional responses to challenges in everyday life. Whether dysthymia or severe depression, especially when long-lasting depression becomes a serious health condition.
Close to 800 000 people die due to suicide every year and it is the second leading cause of death in 15-29-year-olds (WHO).
Anxiety is another mental and physical state that I work with a lot. From speaking in public to taking an exam, from severe panic attacks to fearful dominant thoughts, anxiety can appear in unexpected places at unexpected times of our lives which can be pretty hard to deal with. Finding out the underlying adjustment patterns and the cause of such anxiety is necessary that I can help you with.
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Psychosomatics
What does the body remember?
Our bodies store all our emotional burden. Those suppressed emotions time to time 'thankfully' reveal themselves in different shapes and intensities. Gestalt therapy perspective enables me to consider physical symptoms with no organic cause, as messengers of our emotional patterns, which eventually become a tool in therapy. This recognition and listening process of our bodies eventually bring awareness and increases our possibilities to respond differently to our world.
International Community
One of my strengths is to work with the international community from all over the world. Born in Istanbul, I moved among various cities and European countries all my life, which has given me a unique opportunity to experience different cultures and societies while shaping my own identity. No doubt this has helped me gain a special skill set and intuition that I can readily use while working in the field of mental health and ‘understanding’.
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Vienna is a vivid city with a large international community, yet acculturation is not always very easy due to its long-lasting traditions. In our global world with the development of technology, our cultural differences and borders seem to disappear, distances become shorter and information has become something so eligible and fast. But sometimes we are a little ‘too fast’ to come to conclusions, too demanding on our expectations from one another. This may cause some psychological stress in our lives, the interpersonal sphere, especially in another culture.
Our cultural differences with reflective awareness become competences. I like not to oversee this important aspect of psychotherapy. I truly enjoy and find the cultural variety among my clients extremely rewarding professionally and nourishing personally.
Intercultural Couples Therapy
Sometimes couples may not be even aware of the fact that how others might have different worldviews.
I often witness conflicts between couples that are caused by cultural misunderstandings or miscommunications, which can be resolved by gaining a broader perspective and by simply finding tools to communicate our cultural codes.
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I facilitate dialogues among couples and cultures. The usual difficulties of relationships can multiply due to some cultural differences. Gaining a broader perspective on some cultural codes and expectations brings relieve and motivation for the relationship.
Women’s Health
Women’s health is undeniably very complex and difficult to understand, yet so much undervalued in societies even with higher socioeconomic status. My work as a psychotherapist at the public Woman Healthcare Center-Vienna for the last 6 years has made me become a more sensitive practitioner towards gender-related aspects of both physical and mental wellbeing.
Both physically and emotionally, hormonal changes that women go through in their lives, as well as socio-cultural expectations and rules or taboos all can sometimes cause a tremendous weight to carry for a woman. Today, I continue to research and learn about hormonal functions, the role of adrenal glands, autoimmune diseases, diabetics, and thyroid or causes of emotional eating. I found myself in an endless learning process about clinical presentations of these issues and their influence on our mental health and overall wellbeing. I love spreading this awareness further in my praxis, which helps women understand themselves better and find a solution to a chronic issue that they may have been dealing for so long. This is also the point where we talk about visiting alternative healthcare practitioners, which would complement your healing process and personal development.
Trauma
Trauma can take many forms and everyone's reaction to it is unique. Many changes after trauma are normal also in the long term. Anxiety, unwanted thoughts, fear, avoidance, substance abuse, dissociation, guilt, shame or depression are few of those responses. Trauma-related responses, adaptation ways can turn into many forms of pervasive chronic conditions that can negatively impact an individual’s mental health and psychosocial functioning on a daily level.
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