Dr. Yıldız Burkovik

Dr. Yıldız Burkovik was born in Istanbul in 1962. She attended Osmangazi Elementary School (1968–1972) and then Kadıköy Kız Lisesi, a girls' secondary and high school in Kadıköy (1972–1978). In 1984 she graduated in psychology from the Faculty of Letters at Istanbul University.

Early career

Between 1985 and 1988 she trained in psychological testing at the Psychology Laboratory of Istanbul University's Çapa Faculty of Medicine. Over roughly the same period (1986–1988) she was a psychologist at the Çekirdek Children's Home and at the dialysis centre of Tepebaşı Vatan Hospital, providing individual psychotherapy under supervision.

From 1988 to 1998 she worked as a psychologist in the psychiatry clinic of GATA Haydarpaşa Training Hospital. There she set up the psychology laboratory and trained psychologists in training. Besides individual psychotherapy, she ran group sessions, and it was during these years that her psychodrama training began.

Psychodrama and postgraduate studies

Her psychodrama education started in 1990 at the Dr. Abdülkadir Özbek Institute of Psychodrama. After a training process lasting many years, she submitted her thesis and qualified as a psychodrama therapist.

From 1997 to 2000 she studied for a master's degree in the Department of Social Sciences at Istanbul University's Institute of Forensic Medicine. Her thesis evaluated WISC-R test results of runaway children living on the streets.

In 2021 she completed the doctoral programme in psychology at Üsküdar University's Institute of Social Sciences, presenting that year a dissertation entitled "The Effect of Respiratory Biofeedback on Disease Severity and Quantitative Electroencephalogram Parameters".

Clinical work

In 1998 she became head of the clinical psychology unit at Memory Center, where she focused on stress management, anxiety disorders, panic attacks and social phobia. She trained in, and applied, a range of techniques including neuro-biofeedback, Rehacom, EFT and therapeutic cards.

Since 2012 she has been General Coordinator of Psychotherapy Services at NPİSTANBUL Hospital, where she continues to see clients in both individual and group therapy.

Teaching, media and books

At Üsküdar University she has taught since the 2012–2013 academic year: "Group Psychotherapies" for undergraduates, "Advanced Group Therapies" for clinical psychology master's students, and "Psychodrama" for master's students in occupational therapy. She was also an instructor for the "Perseverance" module of the "New Youth Project", a collaboration between Üsküdar University and the Turkish Ministry of Family and Social Services.

Between 2004 and 2009 she presented "Psikoyorum", a programme broadcast on SkyTürk TV. She has written three books: "Social Phobia", "What's There to Be Afraid Of" and "What's There to Worry About".