Accurate diagnosis, mood stabilizer management and steady long-term follow-up for adults — in İzmir or online.
If you are an English speaker in İzmir living with bipolar disorder — or wondering whether your mood episodes point to it — Dr. Ömer Orhun Ercan provides full psychiatric care in English: careful diagnosis, mood stabilizer management and structured long-term follow-up in one coordinated plan. The initial evaluation takes place in person in Güzelbahçe whenever feasible, with online follow-up available across Turkey and abroad. With accurate diagnosis and consistent treatment, mood episodes can be managed effectively and many people maintain stable, full lives.
Everyone's mood moves with circumstances. Bipolar disorder is something else: distinct episodes, lasting days to weeks, in which mood, energy, sleep and judgment shift together — and noticeably away from your usual self. In a manic or hypomanic episode, sleep shrinks without fatigue, thoughts race, plans multiply, and decisions get made that later feel like someone else made them. Depressive episodes bring the opposite: heaviness, slowed thinking, and a hopelessness that can be indistinguishable from major depression from the inside.
Hypomania — the milder form seen in bipolar II disorder — is easy to miss precisely because it can feel good. A few days of unusual productivity, confidence and sociability rarely send anyone to a doctor. That is why the diagnosis so often hides for years: the person seeks help only during depressions, and the high periods never enter the conversation unless someone asks about them specifically.
Bipolar disorder is one of the most frequently missed diagnoses in psychiatry, and the most common mislabel is straightforward depression. The distinction is not academic: antidepressants prescribed alone, without a mood stabilizer, can destabilize mood in people with bipolar disorder — triggering a switch into mania or a pattern of rapid cycling. If you have been treated for depression repeatedly and the results were short-lived, erratic or strangely activating, a careful screen for bipolar disorder is a reasonable next step.
The 75-minute initial assessment, conducted in English if you prefer, maps your full mood history rather than just the current episode: high periods as well as low ones, what family members observed, sleep patterns, substance use, and any family history of mood disorders. Collateral history matters here more than in most conditions — with your consent, a partner or relative's perspective can be genuinely diagnostic, because hypomania is often clearer from the outside than from within.
For internationals, relocation adds a specific risk factor: disrupted sleep, jet lag, irregular routines and the stress of rebuilding a life are among the better-known triggers of mood episodes. Expats managing an existing bipolar diagnosis after moving to İzmir benefit from establishing local psychiatric care before a crisis, not after — bringing previous records and current prescriptions to the first appointment makes the handover of care much smoother.
The foundation of bipolar treatment is mood-stabilizing medication — options such as lithium, certain anticonvulsants and some newer agents — chosen according to your episode pattern, medical history and preferences. Some of these medications require periodic blood tests to monitor levels and organ function; as a medical doctor, Dr. Ercan manages this monitoring as part of routine care, and every choice is explained: what the medication does, what to watch for, and why consistency matters even when you feel entirely well.
Medication does the heavy lifting, but it is not the whole plan. Psychoeducation — learning your personal early-warning signs, protecting sleep, and building a written plan for what to do when warning signs appear — measurably reduces relapse risk. Supportive psychotherapy helps with the harder, quieter work: coming to terms with the diagnosis, repairing what an episode may have damaged, and staying motivated for long-term treatment.
Because bipolar disorder is managed over years rather than weeks, continuity is the real treatment. The initial evaluation is strongly preferred in person at the Güzelbahçe clinic; once treatment is stable, 30-minute follow-up appointments can often move online, which suits patients across Turkey and abroad who want to keep the same psychiatrist rather than restarting care with every move.
Careful selection, dosing and monitoring of mood-stabilizing medication — including the blood tests some options require — by a medical doctor.
A structured review of your full mood history, especially valuable when repeated depression treatment has produced short-lived or unstable results.
Learning your early-warning signs, protecting sleep and rhythm, and building a concrete plan for acting early when an episode threatens.
Regular 30-minute reviews to keep treatment on track — in Güzelbahçe or by secure video once care is established and stable.
In-person in Güzelbahçe, İzmir — on the western coast, with free parking. Around 25–35 minutes by car from central districts such as Alsancak and Konak, and convenient for Urla, Seferihisar and Çeşme.
Online consultations in English are available across Turkey and abroad via secure video — see online psychiatry.
Yes. The assessment, medication follow-up and psychoeducation can all be conducted in English. Describing mood episodes precisely — and understanding exactly how your medication works — is central to bipolar care, and doing it in your own language removes real room for error.
The depressive episodes can look identical; the difference is the history of manic or hypomanic periods — stretches of elevated mood, reduced need for sleep and driven behavior. The distinction changes treatment fundamentally, because antidepressants alone can destabilize mood in bipolar disorder, whereas mood stabilizers address both poles.
Bipolar disorder is typically a long-term condition, and for most people ongoing mood-stabilizing medication is the most reliable protection against relapse. That said, treatment is reviewed regularly rather than assumed permanent — dose, medication choice and monitoring all evolve with your course and your life.
Book an initial evaluation and bring your previous psychiatric reports and current prescriptions. Many commonly used mood stabilizers are available in Turkey, sometimes under different brand names, and an equivalent plan can usually be arranged — but this requires a local psychiatric evaluation first, ideally before your current supply runs out.
Yes. An in-person initial evaluation in Güzelbahçe is strongly preferred so the diagnosis and baseline are solid, but once treatment is stable, follow-up by secure video works well for many patients — including those elsewhere in Turkey or abroad. Appointments that involve blood-test reviews are coordinated around the online schedule.
The first session is used to understand your situation and agree on a personalized plan — in person in Güzelbahçe, or online from wherever you are.
This page was prepared and reviewed by Ömer Orhun Ercan, MD — Psychiatrist (Uzm. Dr.). It is for informational purposes only and does not replace a medical examination, diagnosis or treatment.