Clear diagnosis, evidence-based therapy and medication management for panic attacks and panic disorder — in İzmir or online.
If panic attacks have started shaping your life in İzmir, Dr. Ömer Orhun Ercan offers full psychiatric treatment for panic disorder in English: a careful diagnostic assessment, cognitive behavioral therapy aimed at breaking the panic cycle, and medication when it is appropriate. Care is available in person at the Güzelbahçe clinic or online across Turkey and abroad. Panic disorder is one of the most treatable psychiatric conditions, and many people regain the situations and freedoms they had given up.
A first panic attack rarely announces itself as a psychiatric event. The heart races, the chest tightens, breathing feels impossible — so people quite reasonably think heart attack and head to the emergency room. The tests come back clean, which is reassuring for an evening and confusing after that. Many patients arrive at a psychiatrist only after two or three of these episodes, still half-convinced something physical is being missed.
That medical concern deserves a real answer, not a shrug. As a physician, Dr. Ercan reviews your medical history and any cardiology or laboratory workups already done, and considers conditions that can imitate panic — thyroid problems, certain medications, excessive caffeine. Once the picture is clear, you get an honest explanation of what a panic attack actually is: a false alarm of the body's threat system, terrifying but not dangerous. Understanding this is not a consolation prize; it is the first working ingredient of treatment.
Panic disorder is less about the attacks themselves than about what grows around them. After a few episodes, attention turns inward: every skipped heartbeat or shallow breath gets scanned as a possible warning sign, and that scanning itself produces the sensations being feared. Meanwhile the map of daily life quietly shrinks — first the highway, then the ferry, then crowded supermarkets, then anywhere without an easy exit. This avoidance brings short-term relief and long-term captivity, and in some people expands into agoraphobia.
Living abroad can tighten the cycle further. For expats and international students in İzmir, panic often strikes in situations that already feel less controllable — a dolmuş with no obvious stop button, a hospital where you cannot explain your symptoms fluently, being hours by plane from your support network. The thought 'if it happens here, no one will understand me' is itself a panic amplifier. Treatment in English removes at least that layer: you can describe the fear precisely and be understood immediately.
Treatment begins with a 75-minute assessment that maps your attacks, the situations you have started avoiding, your health worries and your general history. Cognitive behavioral therapy for panic is one of the most extensively studied psychological treatments, and it is deliberately practical: you learn how the false alarm works, test catastrophic predictions against experience, and — gradually, with support — practice facing the sensations and places you have been avoiding until the alarm quiets down.
Medication has a well-defined role. Antidepressants used for panic disorder can reduce the frequency and intensity of attacks and are not habit-forming; they are typically continued for a period after improvement and then tapered slowly. Fast-acting sedatives are used cautiously if at all, because relying on a rescue pill can keep the fear of attacks alive. Therapy and medication are coordinated by one clinician, and where earlier frightening experiences feed the panic, EMDR can be added to the plan.
The leading evidence-based therapy for panic disorder — understanding the false-alarm cycle, testing feared predictions and gradually reclaiming avoided situations. In English, in person or online.
Non-addictive antidepressants selected and monitored by a medical doctor to reduce attack frequency, with a clear plan for duration and eventual tapering.
When panic is linked to frightening past experiences — medical scares, accidents, trauma — EMDR helps process those memories so they stop triggering the alarm.
Assessment, therapy and prescribing in one coordinated plan, with secure online sessions available across Turkey and abroad.
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.
You should not have to decide that alone. New chest pain or breathing difficulty deserves medical evaluation first — in an emergency in Turkey, call 112. If cardiac and other tests are normal and the episodes fit the panic pattern, a psychiatric assessment can confirm the diagnosis and explain why the symptoms feel so physical.
Yes. The full course — assessment, CBT sessions and medication follow-up — can be conducted in English. Panic treatment involves describing body sensations and fears in fine detail, which is far easier in your own language.
No. CBT alone is an effective treatment for many people with panic disorder. Medication becomes worth discussing when attacks are frequent or severe, or when avoidance has spread widely. If it is recommended, the reasoning, expected timeline and side effects are explained, and the decision is made together.
Yes. Online CBT for panic is well established, and sessions are structured so that even if anxiety rises during a call, it becomes usable material rather than a derailment. Online care also suits people whose avoidance currently makes traveling to a clinic difficult — though gradually expanding your range is part of the work.
Many people notice fewer and weaker attacks within the first weeks of structured treatment, with substantial improvement over roughly two to four months. Regaining avoided situations takes practice and continues after the attacks themselves subside. Follow-ups are spaced further apart as you improve.
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.