Clinical Psychologist Enes KARTAL delivered a seminar titled “Understanding and Working on Addiction” in the “2nd Career Days in IMU Psychology” jointly organized by the Psychology Department and Psychology Application and Research Center of Istanbul Medeniyet University on April 25, 2022.
KARTAL started his speech by addressing the basic concepts of addiction and DSM-5 criteria for addiction. He mentioned that addiction is a biopsychosocial disorder rather than a matter of willpower and thus genetical, psychological and sociological factors apply for both the causes and treatment of addiction. He explained which parts of the brain are affected by various substances with different depressant, stimulant and hallucinogenic properties and emphasized that substance use damages the prefrontal cortex and stimulates the pleasure regions. Recovery periods and stages of change were mentioned, and the necessity of establishing different types of relationships with the client at different stages was emphasized for a healthy and quality life. He stated that one of the most important purposes for fighting against addiction is to support the client to discover natural sources of pleasure such as doing sports instead of the pleasure provided by the substance. Enes KARTAL ended his speech by talking about the various difficulties of working in the field of addiction, and noted that there is an open field in terms of career as there is a need for psychologists in this field.
The seminar ended with a question and answer session.
