Prof. Dr. Ertuğrul Köroğlu

Prof. Dr. Ertuğrul Köroğlu

Prof. Dr. Ertuğrul Köroğlu

He was born in Izmir. After graduating from Bornova High School (Izmir College), he studied as an exchange student at Gymnasium Celeanum in Zwolle, Netherlands for one year with an international scholarship (AFS-EFIL, European Federation for Intercultural Learning). He graduated from Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine. He participated in the pharmacology doctorate training program during his Public Service Obligation which after was fulfilled, he entered Gazi University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry as a research assistant. Between 1988 and 1989, he worked as a “postdoctoral fellow” in the field of clinical psychiatry, sleep physiology and disorders at Baylor College of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry in Houston, USA. He became an associate professor in 1991 and worked as a faculty member at Gazi University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry until 1997; he became a professor at the age of 39 and was a lecturer at Kocaeli University, Faculty of Medicine. In this faculty, he was the head of the psychiatry department, the internal medical sciences department, as well as the founding dean of the Faculty of Communication of the University.

He was elected as a founding member on behalf of Turkey in the Asian Sleep Research Society in Tokyo, Japan, and was appointed as a board member.

            He gained qualification for membership in Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT) by taking the instructor training, Motivational Interviewing (MI), which plays a significant role in addiction treatments. He completed the Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) certified psychotherapy training programs of the Albert Ellis Institute of Psychotherapy (New York, USA) as “associate fellow” and Turkey’s first international-level “certified supervisor” and thus “became a psychotherapist”. In addition, he participated in training programs on Linehan Institute Interventional (Dialectical) Behavior Therapy and Beck Institute Cognitive Behavior Therapy in Philadelphia. He would later on study Well-Being Therapy in the field of positive psychology, integrating and overlapping methods of motivational enhancement therapy, cognitive behavioral psychotherapy (Albert Ellis, Beck, and Linehan approaches), and well-being therapy training programs organized in Turkey, together with related institutes. Furthermore, as a member of MINT, he has also undertaken training for psychiatrists and psychologists on motivational interviewing (DİGY) in Alekseeva Psychiatric Hospital, Russia’s largest psychiatric clinic located in Moscow. In a training by the Caspian University in Baku, Azerbaijan, DİGY gave integrated therapy training at the State Pedagogical University in Baku. He continues to teach as a visiting lecturer at the Caspian University.

            He has established the BOYLAM PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL—Turkey’s best-equipped private psychiatric hospital (with 49 beds) of forty-thousand square meters with a campus that covers over twelve-thousand square meters—as well as the BOYLAM PSYCHIATRY AMATEM (Alkol ve Madde Bağımlılıkları Tedavi Merkezi: Alcohol and Substance Addiction Treatment Center) with 76 beds in single rooms. In addition to these inpatient treatments, he has also established outpatient therapy, education, research, and spiritual counseling centers (BOYLAM PSYCHIATRY Kavaklıdere and BilkentAnkaraLevent and Ataşehir, İstanbul). He continues his duty as the chairman of the board of directors and sees his patients and clients in these centers. In addition to clinical practice, he continues to work at BOYLAM PSYCHIATRY INSTITUTE, which organizes continuous training activities, conducts scientific research design, management and supervision, printing and publishing activities, and provides corporate consultancy services. Moreover, he also conducts studies on the prevention and treatment of alcohol, substance, and other addictions at the KOL KOLA BAKSEV (Bağımlılıktan Kurtarma Sağlık ve Eğitim Vakfı’nda: Rescue from Addiction, Health and Education), which he is one of the founders and heads of.

            He continued as the chairman of the Congress of Continuing Education in Psychiatry (Psikiyatride Sürekli Eğitim KongresiPESKON) organized by the Boylam Psychiatry Institute and the Postgraduate Continuing Medical Education Association (Mezuniyet Sonrası Sürekli Tıp Eğitimi Derneği: MESTED), and contributed to the studies of other “Continuing Medical Education” congresses and courses organized by MESTED as a member of the board of directors, as well as giving intensive psychiatry training (AHEPSI) to family physicians. All these trainings continued without interruption for more than 20 years in the field of continuing medical education. Moreover, he is also the chairman of the Clinical Psychology and Psychiatry Symposium (Klinik Psikoloji ve Psikiyatri Sempozyumu: KLİPPS), organized by the Mental Health, Education and Research Association (Ruh Sağlığı, Eğitim ve Araştırma Derneği: RUHSAD)

            In Turkey, he has published PSİKİYATRİ TEMEL KİTABI (BASIC PSYCHIATRY BOOK) and PSİKOTERAPİ YÖNTEMLERİ (PSYCHOTHERAPY METHODS), a multi-authored book prepared with the participation of over one hundred lecturers. He has brought the DSM-5 to Turkey, the latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) which was published by the American Psychological Association and is the world-wide accepted basic diagnostic book of the psychiatry discipline.           

He has served as chairman for the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5 (SCID-5)—the most widely used clinical scale in psychiatry around the world—and has translated it to Turkish, establishing its validity and reliability in Turkey. He was the research director of by far the most comprehensive epidemiological study conducted in Turkey—“Prevalence of Chronic Diseases in Children” epidemiology studies (Ro-CODEC)—where approximately forty thousand children were examined at their homes with hundreds of doctors.

            He has published over 40 original books, book translations, and editorial books, notably KLİNİK PSİKİYATRİ (CLINICAL PSYCHIATRY) and KİŞİLİK BOZUKLUKLARI (PERSONALITY DISORDERS), and others such as Psychiatry Bulletin, Depression Bulletin, Contemporary Psychology, and Psychiatry Journal (“Psychology Today” in Turkish). He also worked as the editor of the magazines and managed the publications for a long time.

            His books in the field of psychiatry are “bibiliotherapy (resource and supplementary books in psychotherapy), self-development, inspirational resources, relationships (marriage therapy), sexual life and education, parent and child education”, published by Hekimler Publishing Union, HYB and Esenkal Publishing

                  He has been the editorial consultant of over three hundred books in their respective fields.

He is the author of the “Sleep Disorders” section of the Encyclopedia of Human Biology, published in the USA. He organizes courses on Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy (REBT), which is the starting point of Cognitive-Behavioral Psychotherapies based on epistemology, as well as a life counseling program called “I Can’t Make Myself Sad!” and “Invest in Yourself, Mental Health Education and Screening in the Workplace” programs, along with the books he wrote of the same name to individuals and institutions, and provides corporate consultancy on this subject.

                  The American Psychiatric Association has recognized him as an “international fellow” for his contributions to the field of psychiatry. He is a member of the National Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies of America. He is the founding co-chairman and board member of the Cognitive Behavioral Psychotherapies Association, and was also elected as a member and representative for Turkey in the European Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (EABCT).

                  In addition to English, he also speaks Dutch, though not as well as when he was a student.

                  He is married and his wife is an English language instructor and a publisher. He is a proud father of two young people namely Gönenç and Kutalp, who continue their doctoral education in business administration for the former, and the latter in clinical psychology after the field of health institutions management.

                  His greatest pastimes are cycling and motocross on an Enduro motorcycle in spring and winter, boating and water skiing in summer, tending his garden, traveling to different countries and experiencing new cultures with their different music, dance, food, traditions and lifestyles. He has had the opportunity to take photographs and films in over ninety countries. He takes great pleasure in seeing the values and judgements of different cultures, and trying to understand different perspectives on events.