Psychology

Psychology (Clinical Psychology)

Psychology is the scientific study of the mind and behavior, aimed at understanding, explaining, and influencing how people think, feel, and behave. It aims to support individuals’ emotional and motivational processes using scientific methods in many mental health challenges such as anxiety, panic attacks, relationship problems, exam anxiety, and depression.

Daviva Health Group provides services to its patients in these processes using modern therapy schools.

What Is Psychology?

Psychology is the study of the mind, behavior, and human experience.

This definition encompasses a very broad range. It includes mental processes such as passing thoughts, decisions made, personality, and social relationships. It also examines biological influences such as brain chemistry and genetic predispositions, as well as how a person thinks, behaves, and feels, social pressures, and environmental factors.

Which Conditions / Diseases Does the Psychology Department Address?

Mood and Anxiety Disorders

• Depression: It is a common and serious medical illness characterized by persistent sadness, loss of interest in events, and low energy that affects daily life. It is much more than simply feeling bad. Most people feel down from time to time, but when you are depressed, this feeling does not remain limited to a few days and can last for weeks or months. It affects how a person feels, thinks, and handles daily activities, and requires treatment for recovery.
• Chronic fatigue: It is a serious and long-term condition characterized by extreme exhaustion that does not improve with rest and affects daily activity. In addition to fatigue, memory problems, dizziness when standing up, and muscle and joint pain are among the symptoms of chronic fatigue.
• Anxiety disorder (Anxiety): Anxiety is the body’s natural response to stress. Normal, temporary anxiety helps people stay alert. Anxiety disorders, however, involve excessive, persistent, and uncontrollable worry that affects daily life. They are often accompanied by physical symptoms such as rapid heartbeat, sweating, and fatigue.
• Panic Attack: It is a sudden and intense episode of fear or distress that triggers severe physical reactions such as palpitations, shortness of breath, dizziness, or trembling, even when there is no real danger. It usually reaches its peak within 5-20 minutes. It causes excessive anxiety and sometimes fear of death. Panic attacks are difficult to manage on your own and can worsen if left untreated.
• Social Phobia and Specific Phobias: Social phobia (social anxiety disorder) and specific phobias are types of anxiety disorders that involve irrational, intense fear of situations or objects and cause significant distress and functional impairment. Social phobia focuses on the fear of being judged in social situations, while specific phobias focus on particular triggers such as fear of insects or fear of heights.
• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: It is a chronic mental health condition characterized by uncontrollable, repetitive thoughts and repetitive behaviors that a person feels compelled to perform. Obsessions are unwanted, disturbing thoughts, urges, or mental images that cause excessive anxiety. Fear of germs, fear of harm, or a need for symmetry are the best known. Compulsions are repetitive behaviors or mental acts designed to reduce the anxiety caused by obsessions. Behaviors such as excessive cleaning and checking locks are common. The relief provided by compulsions is only temporary. It leads to a vicious cycle that causes the thought to return, more anxiety, and more compulsive actions.

Trauma and Adjustment Processes

• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: This is a condition that can occur in people who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event such as natural disasters or serious accidents. Disturbing situations such as distressing dreams or repeatedly reliving traumatic events, avoiding situations that remind them of the traumatic event, lack of interest in activities they previously enjoyed, and outbursts of anger may be symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. It is normal to experience upsetting and confusing thoughts after a traumatic event. However, most people recover on their own within a few weeks. If these symptoms persist about 4 weeks after the traumatic event, support from a specialist should be sought.
• Adjustment Disorders: Work problems, illness, or many life changes can cause stress. Most often, people get used to such changes within a few months. However, people with an adjustment disorder may have temporary emotional or behavioral reactions that are disproportionate to the event and impair daily functioning. The symptoms of adjustment disorder usually improve when stress decreases. However, sometimes the stressful event remains part of your life. If you feel that you are having difficulty carrying on with daily life, a psychologist can help you overcome the difficulties.
• Impulse Control Disorders: This is a condition characterized by the inability to resist urges that may harm oneself or others. Since they can include situations such as physical violence, theft, or property damage, these disorders can have harmful effects on both the person with the disorder and those around them. Kleptomania, known as the urge to steal, Pyromania, known as the urge to set fires, and Trichotillomania, known as the urge to pull out hair, are the most common impulse control disorders.

Relationship and Life-Focused Support

• Marital and Relationship Problems: Marital and relationship problems usually stem from poor communication, financial stress, lack of intimacy, and unresolved conflicts. Psychological support such as couples therapy is not always necessary, but it is highly effective for marital and relationship problems. It is recommended when facing infidelity, poor communication, constant conflict, or major life changes.
• Sex Therapy: It is a specialized form of psychotherapy applied to address sexual dysfunctions, intimacy issues, and relationship-related concerns. Using talk therapy or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy methods, it focuses on emotional, cognitive, and behavioral factors such as performance anxiety or trauma.

Nutrition and Body Image

• Eating Disorders: These are serious medical conditions that involve severe and often persistent disturbances in eating behavior and the disturbing thoughts and feelings associated with them. Conditions such as Anorexia and Bulimia Nervosa are the best known eating disorders.
• Personality Disorders: It is a mental health condition that involves long-term destructive patterns of thinking, behavior, mood, and relating to others.

What Scientific Therapy Methods Are Applied in the Psychology Department?

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

It is a type of talk therapy in which the psychologist helps you change the way you think and behave. It can treat many different mental health problems. It helps identify negative thought patterns and unhelpful behaviors and replace them with more realistic and positive ones. Rather than dwelling on the past, it focuses on current problems and practical solutions.

• It can produce positive results in improving many mental health conditions such as depression
• social anxiety and phobias
• post-traumatic stress disorder
• eating disorders including anorexia and bulimia
• personality disorders.

EMDR Therapy

EMDR therapy, also known as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy, is a powerful psychotherapeutic method aimed at repairing the mental and emotional damage caused by traumatic memories. In EMDR therapy, traumatic memories are reprocessed with the help of eye movements or other stimuli such as sound. In this way, the impact of the memory is intended to be reduced. It usually lasts 6-12 sessions. It is highly effective in conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, phobias, and grief.

Schema Therapy

It is an integrative psychotherapy method developed to treat deep and chronic psychological problems and personality disorders. It primarily enables the identification of negative, self-defeating patterns formed in childhood. It then helps replace them with adaptive, healthy, functional patterns. Since schema therapy targets childhood experiences, it can be applied to all age groups, including children.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

It is a form of therapy that teaches people to accept disturbing thoughts and feelings rather than fight them. It is a type of talk therapy. Its main goal is to help you develop psychological flexibility. Your psychologist helps you learn skills to manage the thoughts, feelings, and sensations you avoid and fear.

Play Therapy

Play therapy is a form of therapy used primarily for children. It uses play as the main tool of communication and expression. It allows children to explore difficult experiences in a safe environment. It enables children to express their feelings, process trauma, and address behavioral or emotional difficulties in a safe, developmentally appropriate way.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy

It is based on cognitive behavioral therapy. However, it is specifically adapted for people who experience emotions very intensely. It is a form of therapy commonly used in people who self-harm, and in the treatment of depression and addiction.

Psychodynamic Therapy

It is a type of talk therapy that tries to understand how unconscious thoughts and repressed emotions shape the present personality. Rather than simply relieving symptoms, it aims to resolve deep-rooted conflicts by allowing lasting personal change. It yields successful results in conditions such as attachment issues, depression, and personality disorders.

Family and Couples Therapy

It is a type of psychological counseling that treats couples or families by focusing on relationship dynamics rather than only on the individual. It yields successful results in resolving behavioral problems such as parent-child conflicts, alcohol and drug addiction, sexual dysfunction, financial difficulties, and grief, including separation or divorce.