By Tahir Özakkas (Turkey)
We would like to briefly inform you about some of the recent activities at our organization, The Psychotherapy Institute, located in Turkey. I am the founder of this institute, in which we work within a relational psychoanalytic perspective.
At our institute we offer a three-year program in integrative psychotherapy, with a graduating class every year for the past ten years. The theory and clinical application of relational psychotherapy hold an important place in our curriculum. Some examples of authors and topics discussed include: Stephen A. Mitchell, relational concepts in psychoanalysis; Paul Wachtel, relational psychotherapy; Jeffrey Magnativa, relational therapy; and Robert D. Stolorow, intersubjective systems theory.
We organized workshops in 2015 with Lewis Aron (USA) entitled “Introduction to Relational Psychoanalysis,” and with Spyros D. Orfanos (USA) entitled “Relational Psychoanalysis in Interaction with Developmental Theory.” In 2011 we presented workshops on Jeffrey Magnavita’s (USA) unified psychotherapy and Paul Wachtel’s (USA) integrative relational psychotherapy.
We have translated many books in the field, including titles from the Routledge Psychoanalytic Inquiry Book Series, including Psychoanalysis and Motivation, Self and Motivational Systems, and Craft and Spirit: A Guide to the Exploratory Psychotherapies by Joseph Lichtenberg. We have also translated The Clinical Exchange: Techniques Derived from Self and Motivational Systems and A Spirit of Inquiry: Communication in Psychoanalysis by Lichtenberg, Lachmann, and Fosshage, representing the intersection of self psychology, intersubjectivity, and relational psychoanalysis. Additionally, we have translated Personality-Guided Relational Psychotherapy and Theories of Personality by J.J. Magnavita, and Therapeutic Communication by Paul Wachtel. Translations of several more volumes from the Relational Perspectives Book Series are also scheduled to be published in 2017.
In addition, I recently published an article in The Journal of Unified Psychotherapy and Clinical Science, Volume 4. It was a great pleasure for to contribute to this journal. I will be also presenting at the 14th Annual IARPP conference in Sydney, Australia. The topic is entitled “Relative Unified Psychotherapy and the Relation of Civilizations,” in which I will describe the symptoms presented by the changing systems of societies worldwide, the role of the therapist in a multicultural environment with multicultural patients, as well as characteristics of the therapist that play an important role in therapeutic effectiveness and outcomes.
Links: www.psikoterapi.org and www.psikoterapi.com
Tahir Özakkas, MD, PhD
Psychotherapy Institute, Turkey
Email Tahir Özakkas
