“I look fine from the outside, but inside I am tense all the time.”
Staying alert, never truly resting, and feeling as if softening has to be earned.
Clinical Psychologist · Suadiye, Istanbul
It is possible to move back toward yourself from the place where you felt lost.
I am Seren Basmacı, a clinical psychologist. I work with adults in individual psychotherapy, in my practice in Suadiye, Istanbul and online, in English and Turkish. My orientation is schema therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy: we look both at the patterns that press on you today and at the much older roots they grew from.
If you came here looking less for a quick fix and more for someone to sit alongside what you have been carrying on your own, this page is here to tell you plainly how that work is done.
Seren Basmacı Clinical Psychologist
- BA in Psychology, Istanbul Bilgi University; MA in Clinical Psychology, Istanbul Rumeli University
- ISST-certified international schema therapy training with Prof. Gonca Soygüt Pekak
- Ongoing schema therapy supervision with Assoc. Prof. İ. Volkan Gülüm
- Sessions are held under professional confidentiality and ethical guidelines
- Member of the Turkish Psychological Association and the Schema Therapy and Therapists Association
This may feel familiar
Sometimes people cannot even name what has become heavy.
And still something keeps repeating: the same hurt, the same tightness, the same inner voice, the same loneliness. You may recognise yourself in one of these lines.
“I keep hitting the same wall in relationships.”
Wanting closeness while bracing for hurt; struggling to ask, to trust, or to set a limit.
“My mind will not go quiet.”
Scenarios, possibilities, the need to calculate everything in advance, and the tiredness that follows.
“I know what I feel, but not why.”
The surface of the feeling is visible while its root stays hidden in much older patterns.
And if none of these are yours, that is fine too. You do not have to find the right word before coming to therapy.
Approach
Scientifically grounded work that still makes room for feeling.
Therapy looks not only at the difficulty you are living with today, but at how you carry it, which relational patterns it repeats inside, and what need is waiting underneath. Below are the two frameworks I work with.
Schema Therapy
Schema therapy
Schema therapy examines how emotional needs left unmet in childhood turn into repeating patterns of thought, feeling, and relating in adult life. It grew out of cognitive behavioral therapy and extends it with attachment theory and experiential methods.
- Suited to relational patterns that have repeated for years
- Reaches feeling through experience, not only through talking
- Makes room for the question “why do I keep ending up here?”
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Cognitive behavioral therapy
CBT is a structured approach, supported by a broad research base, that makes the link between thought, feeling, and behaviour visible. It is widely used with anxiety disorders, depression, panic, and OCD.
- Often shorter when working with a specific current difficulty
- Offers concrete tools you can use between sessions
- Makes progress something we can observe together
How they meet
Using both together
Which framework comes forward is not decided in advance; it takes shape with you and with what you bring. Sometimes a present symptom needs to become bearable first; sometimes the real matter lies in a far older story beneath it.
- The method is fitted to the person, not the other way round
- We talk about where we are going and review it along the way
- If I think this is not the right fit, I will say so and refer you on
About
For me, therapy means building a relationship that can hear what is carried beyond what is said.
I completed my BA in Psychology at Istanbul Bilgi University in 2020. During those years I worked as a trainee psychologist at FMV Erenköy Işık Preschool and took part in social responsibility projects with the TURMEPA marine conservation association, for children who had never seen the sea.
Alongside my MA in Clinical Psychology at Istanbul Rumeli University, I deepened my training in cognitive behavioral therapy and schema therapy. What I care about most in this work is offering a space that is scientifically solid without losing its human warmth.
Working in English matters to me for a particular reason. Living far from where you grew up — as a foreign professional, a student, or a partner who followed someone here — often means carrying difficulties without a familiar language to hold them in. Therapy can be one place where that language is allowed to be found slowly.
I should also say this plainly: therapy is not always a comfortable process, and I do not promise fast results or certain outcomes. What I can offer is that you will not have to look at the difficult parts alone.
- Undergraduate Istanbul Bilgi University, Psychology (2020)
- Postgraduate Istanbul Rumeli University, Clinical Psychology
- Schema therapy ISST-certified international training with Prof. Gonca Soygüt Pekak; ongoing supervision with Assoc. Prof. İ. Volkan Gülüm
- Cognitive behavioral therapy CBT supervision with Dr. Serap Çakıcı; Beck-oriented workshop programme with Dr. Emel Stroup
- Professional memberships Turkish Psychological Association; Schema Therapy and Therapists Association
My stance
Before method, a stance.
Before deciding to work with a therapist, knowing what they believe is often more useful than knowing which technique they use. These are a few convictions that shape how I work.
Your symptom is not your enemy.
Anxiety, anger, avoidance, procrastination — each once served a purpose. Trying to remove them directly often leaves a person defenceless. We first understand what they protect; letting go becomes both easier and more lasting after that.
Quick relief is not always good news.
Sometimes there is a clear easing in the first sessions, and it is real. But sometimes that easing comes from the actual matter withdrawing a little deeper. Telling those two apart is my job; I will not rush to tell you it has passed.
Insight alone is not enough.
Understanding why you are the way you are brings relief, but does not by itself change anything — which is why “I know, but I still can't” is such a common sentence. So alongside talking we make room for experiencing, trying, and work that continues outside the session.
I am not neutral, but I do not take sides.
Deciding who was right in a conflict you describe is not my job. But I am on the side of your wellbeing, and those two are not the same thing. At times this means saying something you would rather not hear.
No one is a diagnosis.
Diagnoses exist for clinical communication and they are useful. But they do not explain a person. In this room you are met through your own story, not through the features of a label.
This relationship should have an end.
The aim of therapy is not to create a lasting need for me. A process that goes well ends with you needing me less and less. That is why we talk from the beginning about where we are going and when we might stop.
Process
A calm and legible sequence, from the first message onward.
First contact
A short message is enough. You do not need to explain everything from the start; a few sentences make a fine beginning. We then find a day and time that works.
Getting to know each other
The early sessions cover what brings you here, how today connects to your history, and what you hope for. This is also a mutual introduction — a chance to sense whether we can work well together.
Working together
Through regular sessions we look at both the present difficulty and the patterns beneath it. The aim is not only relief, but hearing yourself more clearly and carrying yourself more steadily.
Practicalities
The frame is often what carries the work.
Being clear about duration, frequency, and limits is not bureaucracy; it is part of what makes a space feel safe. All of the following is settled in the first session.
- Length and frequency
- Individual sessions usually last 45–50 minutes and are most often held weekly. Frequency is reviewed together according to need and the stage of the work.
- Language
- Sessions can be held in English or Turkish. If English is a second language for you too, that is worth naming early — it shapes how easily some feelings reach words.
- In person and online
- Sessions take place at the practice in Suadiye or online. For online work, what matters is the frame: a room where you can be alone, an uninterrupted hour, and a secure connection.
- Cancellation
- A session can be rescheduled with at least 24 hours' notice. This is not strictness; it protects reserved time for both of us.
Confidentiality
What you share in sessions is held under professional confidentiality and is not shared with family, employers, or any third party. The fact that you came to therapy at all is itself confidential.
Its limits
Confidentiality has legally defined limits: serious and imminent danger to yourself or another person, a duty to report child neglect or abuse, and lawful requests from judicial authorities. These limits are explained to you in the first session.
Supervision
I attend regular supervision as part of ongoing professional development. Cases are discussed in a non-identifiable form, and the supervisor is bound by the same confidentiality. Sessions are never recorded without your explicit consent.
If this is an emergency
This website is not an emergency service and messages are not monitored in real time. If you are having thoughts of harming yourself or someone else, or are facing an urgent medical or psychiatric situation, please do not wait:
- 112 — Emergency Call Centre in Türkiye (24/7, free)
- 183 — Social Support Line (24/7, free)
- Go to the nearest hospital emergency department, or ask someone you trust to stay with you.
Nothing on this site substitutes for medical diagnosis, treatment, or assessment.
Mutuality
What you can expect from me, what I will ask of you.
Therapy is not a one-way service; it is work two people build together. So it feels honest to write down both sides.
What you can expect from me
- To arrive on time and prepared, and for that hour to be yours without interruption.
- To explain what I am doing and why, rather than saying “it is a technique” when you ask.
- To say when I do not know.
- To tell you early and plainly if I am not the right person, and to refer you on.
- Not to push you somewhere you are not ready for; the pace is yours to set.
- To hold the frame — time, confidentiality, boundaries — throughout.
What I will ask of you
- To come as regularly as you can; continuity is what really carries change.
- To try saying what comes to mind without filtering it as “silly” or “unimportant”.
- To say it in the room when something does not sit well, or when I have hurt you.
- To let me know in advance when you cannot come.
- When you want to stop, to talk that wish through once together rather than quietly drifting away.
And if something goes wrong between us?
It will. I will misunderstand something, say something too early, miss something. This happens in therapy, and it happening does not mean the work has broken down. What matters is that it can be spoken about.
Perhaps one of the most healing things about a therapeutic relationship lies exactly here: experiencing, once, that a hurt does not have to end the relationship.
Frequently asked
Before you begin.
Do you offer therapy in English?
Yes. Sessions can be held in English or Turkish. If English is not your first language either, that is worth naming early — working in a second language shapes how easily certain feelings reach words, and we can make room for that rather than working around it.
What happens in a first session?
We cover what brings you here, how long it has been going on, how it affects your daily life, and what you hope for. You do not need to arrive with a tidy or complete account.
It is also a mutual introduction. Practical matters are made clear too: session length, frequency, fee, cancellation terms, and the limits of confidentiality.
Is online therapy as effective as in-person?
When the frame is protected, online psychotherapy can offer a steady and effective working space. What matters is not the screen but the conditions: a room where you can be alone, an uninterrupted hour, a fixed day, and a secure connection. Some kinds of work suit in-person sessions better, and we assess that together.
What is schema therapy?
Schema therapy examines how emotional needs left unmet in childhood turn into repeating patterns of thought, feeling, and relating in adult life. It grew out of cognitive behavioral therapy and extends it with attachment theory and experiential methods. It suits long-standing patterns rather than a single recent difficulty.
How long does therapy take?
It varies with what is being worked on and how deep the work goes; naming a fixed number at the start would not be honest. Work focused on a specific current difficulty can be shorter, while patterns spanning many years ask for more time.
For most people the first relief arrives before the problem is solved — at the moment of feeling understood.
How is this different from talking to a friend?
Your friend loves you, and that is valuable. But for exactly that reason they cannot stay neutral, they will hold some things back to avoid upsetting you, and they have their own needs in the relationship too.
In therapy the relationship runs one way: that hour belongs entirely to you. Your friend is also inside the story; I can look at it from outside, trained to notice patterns as they repeat.
Won't what I bring be too heavy for you?
Many people ask this, and the asking itself says something — like having spent a lifetime trying not to be a burden.
No, it will not. I train for this, attend regular supervision, and consider protecting my own limits part of the job. Looking after me is not your work.
I am on medication — can therapy still help?
Yes. In many presentations psychotherapy and medication are not alternatives but complements; medication often provides the ground that makes the work possible.
Decisions to stop, reduce, or change medication rest with your doctor alone, and I make no recommendations there. With your consent, working alongside your doctor is possible.
What if I do not feel it is the right fit?
Ending the process is always your right, and you do not owe an explanation. Where possible it helps to talk the decision through in a session, because the wish to leave sometimes says something important about the work itself. A referral to a colleague can be arranged.
Contact
A space to look at yourself a little more closely.
The practice in Suadiye is arranged for quiet, privacy, and a clear frame. You do not need to feel ready in order to write — a few sentences are enough.
- AddressBağdat Caddesi No: 401, Cemile Apartmanı A Blok Kat: 4 Daire: 8, Suadiye — Kadıköy / Istanbul
- Phone—
- WhatsApp—
- Email—
- Response timeMessages are usually answered within 1–2 working days. This is not an emergency channel.
Share a few quiet details
You do not need to explain everything. The point here is simply to know enough to plan a good beginning.
This form is not suitable for emergencies. If this is an emergency, please call 112.