Elif Kaya

Elif Kaya is a writer who completed her undergraduate education with high honors through a double major in Pharmacy and Psychology. She has developed an integrative mode of thinking that allows her to consider human behavior through biological, psychological, and social layers simultaneously. Throughout her education, she worked on projects situated at the intersection of neuroscience, mental health, and pharmaceutical care; these experiences laid the foundation for her holistic approach, which addresses psychological knowledge in both its bodily and subjective dimensions. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Neuroscience at İzmir Katip Çelebi University. Her clinical observations in hospital settings within the context of clinical psychology, along with her engagement with art- and play-based therapeutic approaches, have deepened her interest in conceptualizing the therapeutic relationship not merely as a technical intervention, but as an ethical, emotional, and narrative space. At the same time, her clinical experience as a pharmacist has enabled her to develop a perspective that evaluates psychological processes through both pharmacological and behavioral dimensions. Her academic interests are shaped around clinical psychology, neuroscience, psychopharmacology, art therapy, and health literacy. Within a TÜBİTAK-funded multidisciplinary project, she worked on medication adherence among older adults living alone. In her writings, she aims to approach psychology not solely through clinical classifications and interventions, but through themes such as engaging with uncertainty, relational dynamics, and the human effort to construct meaning. Elif Kaya writes for Psychology Times, bringing together contemporary research, clinical observation, and lived human experience in a way that opens up a space for critical reflection within the science of psychology.