Psychiatric Hospital Sv. Ivan – Psychotherapeutic treatment of affective, anxiety and dissociative disorders and personality disorders
I was in Zagreb for two weeks between 26 November and 8 December 2018. During that time, I had the opportunity to discover the Psychiatric Hospital Sveti Ivan and a chance to visit different departments:
- Department of psychotherapeutic treatment of affective, anxiety and dissociative disorders and personality disorders with daily hospital for non-psychotic disorders (Department IX)
- Department of psychotherapeutic and sociotherapeutic treatment of psychotic disorders and borderline conditions and early intervention with daily hospital for treatment of psychotic and borderline disorders ( Department X)
- Department of integrative psychiatry (Department XI)
- Department for alcoholism and other addictions
All doctors and staff I met were really kind to me, taking time to explain or translate information about patients, diseases and treatments. I thought language would be a major problem, but it wasn’t; I did clinical interviews with some patients in English and we understood each other very well. It was interesting to confront the medical practice in Turkey to the Croatian one. I noticed some important differences: the medication is more or less the same, but I was surprised about the psychotherapies and social cognitive rehabilitation in the Psychiatric Hospital Sveti Ivan. The investment is not only in pharmacotherapy but also in other aspects very important: psychoeducation, group therapies, cognitive and social rehabilitation and anti-stigma approaches. These activities start in the inpatient department and continue after the outpatient clinic. This was a very positive aspect of my exchange.
A great plus for this particular exchange programme was accommodation and meals for lunch during the stay, which was an amazing help. The accommodation offered everything that I might have needed.
Zagreb is a very pleasant and alive city. It has lots of green areas. When I visited Zagreb, there was Christmas Market, which is one of the most popular in Europe. This was a great chance for me. I also visited Split in Croatia – a beautiful city! This is a must place to visit, I believe.
I highly recommend that young trainees take into account this wonderful programme. It has been a great opportunity and an amazing challenge that I believe that it will contribute my professional career goals.
Dr. Özlem Baş Uluyol