Structured sessions for couples who want to argue less and understand each other more — including cross-cultural and bilingual partnerships, in İzmir or online.
Dr. Ömer Orhun Ercan offers couples and marriage therapy in English at his clinic in Güzelbahçe, İzmir, and online. Sessions are structured, practical, and open to married and unmarried couples alike — with particular experience supporting cross-cultural relationships where one partner is Turkish and the other is not, since sessions can bridge both English and Turkish. Common reasons couples come include communication breakdown, recurring conflicts, trust issues, and the strain that relocation places on a relationship. Therapy aims to change the patterns between partners, not to declare a winner.
Most couples do not struggle because they lack love; they struggle because they are stuck in a pattern. One partner pushes to talk, the other withdraws to keep the peace, and each response makes the other's worse. By the time couples seek help, the pattern usually has years of momentum, and both people are exhausted by it. Couples therapy works on the pattern itself — the cycle between two people — rather than treating either partner as the problem to be fixed.
Sessions are structured and active. Rather than refereeing arguments, the therapist helps both partners slow the cycle down, see what each is actually reaching for underneath the criticism or the silence, and practice different moves in real time. The aim is not to erase disagreement — healthy couples disagree — but to make conflict survivable and connection recoverable.
Couples therapy is not only for marriages in crisis. Many couples come earlier: before a wedding, before a move, before a first child, when the relationship is still fundamentally good but the friction is growing. Earlier is generally easier.
A significant portion of the couples seen at the Güzelbahçe clinic are cross-cultural: one partner Turkish, the other from abroad. These relationships carry rewards and pressures that same-culture couples rarely face. Disagreements about family involvement, holidays, money, religion or raising children are often not personality clashes at all — they are two cultural rulebooks colliding, with each partner convinced their version is simply 'normal.' Naming that honestly, without picking a side, changes the conversation.
Language sits at the center of this. When couples can only argue in one partner's second language, the fluent partner tends to win exchanges while the other feels reduced and unheard. Because Dr. Ercan works in both English and Turkish, sessions can bridge the two: each partner can express the difficult things in the language where they are most themselves, and nothing important is lost in translation.
Relocation adds its own weight. The partner who moved to Turkey may have given up a career, friendships and daily competence in exchange for dependence on the local partner — for paperwork, family relations, even ordering at a pharmacy. Resentment and guilt build quietly on both sides. Bringing this imbalance into the open, as a shared problem rather than an accusation, is often where real repair begins.
The process starts with a 75-minute initial assessment where both partners describe the relationship's history, its strengths, and where it hurts. From there, therapy sessions of 45 minutes follow at a rhythm agreed together — typically weekly or biweekly at first. Both partners attend; the therapist's commitment is to the relationship, not to either individual's case against the other. Between sessions, couples usually take home small, concrete things to try.
Because Dr. Ercan is a psychiatrist — a medical doctor — he can also recognize when something else is feeding the conflict. Untreated depression, anxiety, trauma or sleep problems in one partner routinely masquerade as relationship failure. When that is part of the picture, individual treatment, medication or EMDR can be arranged alongside the couples work rather than left undiagnosed. Sessions take place in person in Güzelbahçe — with free parking, 25 to 35 minutes by car from central İzmir and convenient for Urla, Seferihisar and Çeşme — or online via secure video, which suits couples who travel, live apart temporarily, or are based outside İzmir.
A 75-minute initial assessment followed by regular 45-minute sessions with both partners, focused on the cycle between you rather than on assigning blame.
Practical, in-session practice at de-escalating conflict, listening past the criticism, and repairing after arguments — skills couples take home and use.
When depression, anxiety or trauma in one partner fuels the conflict, individual treatment — therapy, medication or EMDR — can run alongside the couples work.
Secure video sessions for couples outside İzmir, temporarily living apart, or juggling demanding schedules — with both partners joining from one place or two.
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, fully. And for cross-cultural couples, sessions can bridge English and Turkish — each partner can speak in the language where they express themselves best, which often changes the quality of the conversation immediately.
It is one of the most common constellations at this clinic. Neither partner needs to operate in a foreign language, and cultural differences are treated as a real, workable dimension of the relationship rather than ignored or blamed on either side.
After the 75-minute initial assessment, sessions run 45 minutes, usually weekly or biweekly at the start. Many couples work together for a few months; the length depends on how entrenched the patterns are and what you want to achieve. Progress is reviewed openly along the way.
Yes. Secure video sessions are available across Turkey and abroad, and both partners can join from the same room or from two different locations — useful for couples separated by travel or living in different cities.
You can still start. Individual sessions focused on the relationship can clarify your own patterns and options, and sometimes shift the dynamic enough that the reluctant partner later joins. A relationship problem does not require both people in the room to begin working on it.
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.