Psychological therapy and consultation for adults navigating the interaction between mental and physical health, including chronic illness, heart and metabolic health, persistent physical symptoms, stress, and health anxiety. Sessions are available online and in person in Munich.
I am Dr. Seryan Atasoy, a clinical psychologist, researcher, and university lecturer working at the intersection of psychological science and physical health.
I hold the German academic title Privatdozent (PD), an academic status broadly comparable to associate professor.
My work is based on a simple principle: mental and physical health are deeply connected. When they are treated as separate problems, people can end up moving between disciplines without anyone fully understanding the whole picture. I work with adults living with chronic illness, persistent physical symptoms, health anxiety, stress-related difficulties, and the psychological impact of cardiovascular and metabolic conditions.
My clinical work is informed by research across psychosomatic medicine, health psychology, cardiology, and diabetology. Research and clinical practice are in constant dialogue, each sharpening the other in ways that matter to both.
I offer psychological therapy and consultation for adults whose mental and physical health are closely connected. Sessions are available online and in person in Munich. My work is structured, evidence-based, and tailored to your individual history, health context, and goals. I work particularly with chronic illness, cardiovascular and metabolic conditions, persistent physical symptoms, health anxiety, stress, and fatigue.
I also work with anxiety, stress, low mood, and adjustment difficulties, particularly when they are connected with physical health, illness, persistent symptoms, or major life changes.
I also work with expats and internationally mobile adults, including people navigating healthcare in another country, living away from familiar support systems, or managing illness while living abroad.
I work with the interaction between psychological, physical, and behavioural processes, rather than treating them as separate problems. Therapy can help reduce distress and health anxiety, make sense of persistent physical symptoms, support adjustment to chronic illness, improve coping and self-management, and change patterns that may be keeping symptoms or stress going. The aim is not to explain physical problems away as psychological, but to understand the full picture and identify where change is possible.
Enquire about a sessionInternational enquiries are welcome. The type of service I can offer depends on the laws and professional regulations applicable where you are located. Where psychotherapy cannot be provided, non-clinical psychological consultation may be available where legally permissible. Consultation is not psychotherapy and does not replace locally licensed mental health care.
Psychological support for people living with heart disease, cardiovascular risk, palpitations, blood pressure concerns, stress-related cardiovascular symptoms, or anxiety after cardiac events. This includes the effects of stress, fear, and mood on recovery and self-management.
Support for the psychological burden of chronic illness, including diabetes and metabolic conditions. This can include adjustment, uncertainty, fatigue, distress, motivation, and long-term behaviour change.
For symptoms that are real and distressing but not fully explained by routine tests, including fatigue, dizziness, pain, palpitations, gastrointestinal symptoms, and heightened bodily vigilance.
For stress, anxiety, depression, trauma-related patterns, and health anxiety when psychological processes are affecting the body, or when physical illness is affecting mental health.
Somatic symptom patterns tracked across a decade showed substantial stability over time, with different trajectories across groups. Persistent symptoms can remain clinically relevant even when no single underlying disease process fully explains them.
Persistent symptoms deserve careful assessment and appropriate treatment, even when routine investigations are reassuring.
Some people show a marked fall in blood pressure across repeated measurements during the same visit. In our research, this pattern was associated with later cardiovascular outcomes.
Patterns of cardiovascular reactivity may provide information beyond a single blood pressure value.
Our research examined how childhood adversity, later depression, and type 2 diabetes risk are connected over time. The findings suggest that psychological experiences across the life course may be relevant to metabolic health.
Psychological experiences can have long-term associations with physical health.
The study identified psychological, behavioural, and physical factors associated with persistent fatigue over seven years.
Persistent fatigue is shaped by multiple interacting factors, some of which may be modifiable.
Longer, evidence-based pieces on how psychological and physical health shape one another, written for anyone trying to make sense of what they are experiencing.
On the psychological impact of physical illness, and the concrete ways that addressing it can matter for physical health.
Read perspective →A plain-language guide to how chronic stress affects physical health over time.
Read perspective →On persistent physical symptoms, what tests can and cannot tell us, and what actually helps.
Read perspective →If you are looking for psychological therapy or consultation related to chronic illness, heart or metabolic health, persistent physical symptoms, stress, or health anxiety, you are welcome to get in touch.