Metin Başoğlu, M.D., Ph.D. 

Metin Başoğlu, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Psychiatry, is founder and currently co-director of Istanbul Center for Behavior Research and Therapy (DABATEM) in Turkey. He has conducted extensive research to examine the parallels between animal models of learned helplessness and human experience under torture with a view to shedding light on potentially effective psychological interventions for survivors. Based on this work, he developed Control-Focused Behavioral Treatment (CFBT) - a brief and highly effective intervention specifically designed to reduce helplessness by enhancing sense of control over traumatic stressors - and a mental healthcare model that enables cost-effective dissemination of CFBT to mass trauma survivors on a largely self-administered basis. He also conducted work on definitional issues around torture and published research evidence showing that helplessness-inducing ill-treatments, such as “enhanced interrogation techniques,” do not differ from physical torture in their immediate and long-term psychological effects. He has recently completed an edited book on Torture and Its Definition in International Law: An Interdisciplinary Approach with contributions from prominent mental health, human rights, and international law scholars, aimed at facilitating a sound theory- and evidence-based understanding of torture in international law.