Prof. Nevzat Tarhan: It is necessary to interpret freedom correctly in this age
Prof. Nevzat Tarhan stated that "Learning personal boundaries is also a maturation process. Therefore, it is necessary to interpret freedom correctly in this age. That is, we are free, however, we are not irresponsible.".
Prof. Nevzat Tarhan, who is professor of psychiatry, retired colonel, writer, president of Üsküdar University, pointed out that those who are prejudiced against psychology look at it within ideological boundaries and stated that "If you do not look at psychology within ideological boundaries, if you look at it with the motivation of searching for truth, you will find the truth almost immediately.".
Prof. Nevzat Tarhan was a guest of the “Türkiye’nin Çınarları” (Türkiye's Plane Trees) project and made statements to the AA correspondent on psychology as well as academicians and psychiatrists for the project in which Anadolu Agency photographed the doyennes of culture, art, science, sports, politics and business world.
Born in Merzifon in 1952, Tarhan graduated from Kuleli Military High School in 1969 and Istanbul University Cerrahpaşa Faculty of Medicine in 1975. After his internship at Gülhane Military Medical Academy (GATA) and his continental service in Cyprus and Bursa, he became a psychiatrist at GATA in 1982. After becoming an associate professor at GATA Haydarpaşa in 1990 at the end of his duty at the hospital in Erzincan and Çorlu, Tarhan worked as a clinical director. Nevzat Tarhan, who was promoted to colonel in 1993 and professor in 1996, worked as a lecturer at Yüzüncü Yıl University and as an expert at the Forensic Medicine Institute between 1996 and 1999, and retired voluntarily.
Tarhan, who transferred his knowledge in psychiatry to more than 200 research articles and nearly 80 books and book chapters, founded NPİSTANBUL Hospital in 2006 and Üsküdar University in 2011 by donating all his assets.
"The young people of today will mature in wealth"
Stating that there are currently 24 thousand students at Üsküdar University and that they have graduated 29 thousand students so far, Prof. Nevzat Tarhan said that "I am trying to analyze young people, and we have seen the youth who are criticized as Generation Z, bought water, diapers and basic necessities from the markets with their pocket and worked money day and night after the earthquakes. They packaged the relief materials and they worked in the field for days.”.
Stating that the criticisms of Generation Z are also valid for other generations, Tarhan continued his remarks as follows:
"Generational conflicts exist even in the Egyptian papyrus. There are two facts in Egyptian papyri and Hittite tablets. One is generational conflict, and the second is the bride-in-law issues. Even Socrates complains about generational conflict. This is a natural thing. We have matured in poverty, and the young people of today will mature in wealth. It is more difficult to mature in existence than in absence. It happens little bit later. When they start losing what they have, they start learning lessons. For example, this pandemic has been a great resilience training for them.".
"A child will be the captain of their own ship"
Highlighting that the understanding of justice and libertarian sides of today’s youth, Tarhan said "There is a balance of freedom and responsibility. Young people will learn the balance of freedom and responsibility by experience. Young people have the most natural right for a child to want to be free. Learning personal boundaries is also a process of maturation. Therefore, it is necessary to interpret freedom correctly in this age. So, we are free, but we are not irresponsible.".
Underlining that parents should be a companion to the child and a guide on the path of life, Tarhan said:
"The child will be the captain of their own ship. However, they will ask their mother and father that 'What should I do, how should I do it?' We do not give children the opportunity to use their own ship. We are being overprotective. We have a lot in our culture. As such, if the child has a sense of autonomy, the child feels both love and anger towards the mother. If there is no sense of autonomy, the child obeys to their parent like a lamb. The opposite happens in the adolescence. Therefore, we should not approach the younger generations with pressure, threats and intimidation.".
"I hope that these associations will be written in our dead book as our spiritual trade"
Prof. Tarhan also touched upon the work of non-governmental organizations and said that they established the Association of Justice Defenders in 2000 while the effects of February 28 continued.
Nevzat Tarhan, who stated that he was forced to retire voluntarily during this period, said that "I did not have any personal grievances. However, we had friends who were very miserable. In such a situation, we have somehow become an association by saying 'we need to seek our rights' within the framework of the law. Although I personally had no expectations or needs, I was involved in the foundation of the association just because I felt responsible for such a plague. I am currently continuing as the president of the association.".
Tarhan shared the information that they helped more than a thousand people from the Turkish Armed Forces who were victims of the February 28 process as an association and stated that he was prosecuted for criticizing the Turkish Armed Forces between 2001 and 2004 and that he wrote a book on these issues called "Psychological Warfare".
Tarhan stated that they established the "Haydi Tut Elimi Association" (Hold my Hand Association) in the 2010s for the children who were taken under the protection of the state and that he was the president of this association for a while, and said that "As an association, everything is registered and open. A serious group of volunteers was formed for young people who were scattered all over Türkiye and who could not get a job after the age of 18 in order to marry and receive treatment. That volunteer group is helped by everyone and is distributed immediately. The association is still actively working.".
On behalf of the orphan children taken under the protection of the state, Tarhan also mentioned the " Mutlu Yuva Association" (Happy Home Association), of which he was the founder and president, and said that "Here, we also took the children, we educated them again, we hired foster mothers in the houses, they were directed to psychologists and those children were brought into society. This association is also continuing at the moment. I hope that these associations will be written in our dead book as our spiritual trade. We have no other expectations.".
"Managing human psychology is managing our brain"
Emphasizing that many prejudices are questioned in his studies on psychology and religion, Nevzat Tarhan said, "Some people think of life only as the life of the world, only with material sharpness, and think of psychology in a certain reductionism or in the reductionism of some schools. However, the sciences are a whole. Religion is also a science. Life sciences are also a science. Everything that is confirmed and proven is science. Human is also a spiritual being. If you ignore the spiritual dimension of the human being, there is no science there.”.
Noting that psychology is no longer just a social science, but also a neuroscience, Tarhan said, "Managing human psychology is actually managing our brain. It means that a person who is in good mental health is also in good brain health because there is a mind, or rather consciousness, above our brains. This can also be shown experimentally.".
Pointing out that psychology that ignores spiritual values is a crippled psychology, Tarhan said "Those who look at psychology with prejudice are those who look at it within ideological boundaries. If you do not look at psychology within ideological boundaries, if you look at it with the motivation to search for the truth, you find the truth in wherever it is.".
In the book titled "Ezber Bozan Hayat" (A Life Breaking the Mold), which was written about Prof. Nevzat Tarhan, his experience of 70 years, his family, his education life, his university and military years, his journey from the military to the first private psychiatric hospital and the first thematic university of the country after his retirement from the military are told.
Üsküdar News Agency (ÜNA)