Istanbul Neuropsychoanalysis Study Group

Our group continues to inform you about the national and international activities held in Istanbul, regarding neuropsychoanalytic approaches and the standardization of psychotherapy practice in Turkey. Here is some of the news from our city, as we carry out our bridging role between East and West:

1. In 2005, the European Federation of Psychologist Associations (EFPA) created an accreditation document for psychologists in psychotherapy practice and constructed a “Psychologist Specialized in Psychotherapy Accreditation Certificate.” The Turkish Psychologists Association, being a member of EFPA, built an EFPA Europe Evaluation Committe under the administration of Prof. Guler Fisek from Bogazici University's Psychology Department. The committee, founded in 2009, accepts submissions from psychologists specialized in psychotherapy and conveys their details to EFPA, which has started to distribute the certificates to Turkish candidates. The Istanbul Neuropsychoanalysis Study Group (npsa-istanbul.com) encourages its members to be candidates for the related submission, with the belief that the application of international standards is a must in psychological health services.

2. In December 2009, Clinical Psychologist Banu Çankaya, Ph.D., and colleagues from the Psychology Departments of Do?u? University and Koç University, published their study observing the influences of sudden unexpected loss on interleukin-6 and insulin-like growth factor (Cankaya, Chapman, Talbot, Moynihan, & Duberstein, 2009). Unexpected loss—an important theme in psychoanalytic literature—is shown to weaken the immune system of our body, and thus our physical defense system. The long-term negative influences of sudden unexpected loss are highlighted in this interesting research. For the full text of the article, please write to .

3. In January 2010, the Istanbul Bilgi University Clinical Psychology Program and LOIZ (the Zizek group for Lacan readings) hosted Christian Hoffmann, a psychoan