A pioneer in the history of Turkish psychoanalysis: Prof. Dr. Ulviye Etaner

This dissertation examines the pioneering and eminent work of Prof. Dr. Ulviye Etaner in the the history of Turkish psychoanalysis. Etaner received her psychoanalytic formation in the Berlin Psychotherapy Institute and started her psychoanalytic work in the Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Psychiatry Department and at the very beginning aimed for a psychoanalytic training. Etaner established the first institution in the history of Turkish psychoanalysis aiming at psychoanalytic formation: MEPEV (Murat Şefik Etaner Psychotherapy Training Institute). MEPEV has been one of the main venues of organizational attempts related with the International Psychoanalytic Association (IPA) in 1990s. In the dissertation, the biography of Etaner is clarified focusing her significant contributions to the psychoanalysis in Turkey. Her peculiar position in the history of Turkish psychoanalysis is elobarated comparing to other pioneering figures in the context of historical perspective. In order to achieve this goal, first of all, the literature relating the history of psychoanalysis in general and the history of Turkish psychoanalysis are reviewed and then the psychoanalytic career and academic life of Etaner are examined through related literature resources, archives documenting her educational and professional life, data bases scanning her academic publications, verbal and written interviews conducted with Etaner and related persons. The data gathered verify the pioneering and eminent position of Etaner. This dissertation is deemed to be the first work in the Turkish literature which narrates the full the history of Turkish psychoanalysis in a relatively complete fashion from the beginning till now.