About the Institute
Sixteen years of building the bridge between Bulgarian clinical psychology and modern global practice.
Founded in Sofia in 2009 by Dr. Elena Vlahova, former head of clinical psychology at Sofia University, the Bulgarian Psychology Institute is the country's leading independent hub for evidence-based clinical psychology — translating peer-reviewed research into practical tools for working therapists across 42 countries.
Dr. Elena Vlahova, Founder & Editor-in-Chief · Sofia, 2009
Editorial Team · Four Featured Clinicians
A 14-person editorial team of licensed psychologists, EMDR and schema therapy practitioners, and PhD researchers — every article passes named peer review before publication.
Below, four named clinicians you will encounter across our research, training and weekly briefing. The full masthead includes section editors for CBT, trauma, child & adolescent, and neuropsychology.
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01
Founder & Editor-in-Chief
Dr. Elena Vlahova, PhD
Clinical Psychology · Sofia University (1994) · Former Head, Clinical Psychology Department, Sofia University · EMDR Europe Consultant · Sofia
Founded the Institute in 2009 after twelve years leading clinical psychology training at Sofia University. Edits the weekly briefing personally and chairs the editorial board. Author of Cultural Adaptation of CBT in Post-Transition Bulgaria (2021).
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02
Section Editor, Research
Dr. Stefan Marinov, PhD
Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy · BAS Institute of Psychology · 38 peer-reviewed publications · Sofia
Coordinates the peer-review pipeline for all 1,240+ articles in the archive. Lead investigator on the 2023 cross-cultural attachment study featured in Nature Human Behaviour.
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03
Section Editor, Training
Dr. Mihaela Todorova, PhD
EMDR & Schema Therapy · Plovdiv Medical University · 3,800+ clinicians trained since 2012
Designs the accredited CBT, EMDR and schema therapy certification tracks. Supervises the cohort of 217 private practices using our ISO-certified clinical records platform across Sofia, Plovdiv and Varna.
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04
Section Editor, Child & Adolescent
Dr. Iskra Dimitrova, PhD
Child & Adolescent Clinical Psychology · Varna Medical University · APA Monitor contributor
Edits the child and adolescent section and coordinates the institute's school-based screening programme. Co-author of the Bulgarian adaptation of the SDQ used in 140+ state schools.
The Charter · Three Pillars
Three commitments, kept since 2009.
The institute operates as a three-publisher — a research translation desk, a clinician training college, and an ISO-certified practice infrastructure — under one editorial roof. Each pillar has a written charter, an accountable editor, and a public record of work shipped.
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I.
Translate peer-reviewed research into tools a working therapist can use on Monday morning.
We monitor the Bulgarian-language clinical literature — Sofia State University, BAS Institute of Psychology, and partner clinics across Plovdiv and Varna — and translate findings from Nature Human Behaviour, The Lancet Regional Health — Europe, and the APA corpus into case studies, decision aids, and supervision handouts. 1,240+ peer-reviewed articles published since 2009, every one with a named author and a DOI.
Browse the Research Archive → -
II.
Train clinicians to a measurable standard, not a marketing promise.
Our accredited CBT, EMDR and schema therapy certification tracks are delivered in cohorts of 24, supervised by nine certified supervisors, and graduate with a public certificate number. 3,800+ clinicians trained since 2012, with a published 12-month post-graduation retention audit (Q1 2025).
See the Training Tracks → -
III.
Hold the practice infrastructure to ISO 27001 — because clinical notes are not marketing data.
Our clinical records platform is ISO 27001-certified and serves 217 private practices across Sofia, Plovdiv and Varna. The institute does not provide therapy to the public — we build the secure rails the clinicians you trust run on, and we publish our security posture annually.
Read the Trust Report →
Institutional Trust Strip
Partner institutions, peer-reviewed media features, and certifications — verified and current.
Partner Institutions
- Bulgarian Psychological AssociationMedia partner since 2014
- Union of Bulgarian PsychiatristsEditorial board seat
- Sofia University — Clinical PsychologyFounder lineage
- Bulgarian Academy of SciencesInstitute of Psychology
Featured In
- Nature Human BehaviourCross-cultural attachment, 2023
- The Lancet Regional Health — EuropeBriefing cited, 2024
- APA MonitorCo-author interview, 2023
- BAP AwardsBest Specialist Publication 2022 & 2024
Certifications
- ISO 27001Information security, since 2020
- GDPR & Bulgarian DPACompliant clinical records
- BPA Continuing EducationAccredited provider
- EMDR EuropeApproved consultation hours
Editorial independence statement: The Institute maintains full editorial control over the weekly briefing. Partner institutions are named for context; they do not approve individual articles and do not provide financial support for content production.
Founder's Letter
We started the Institute in 2009 with a single conviction: that Bulgarian clinical psychology had a body of work worth making visible, and that working therapists — in Plovdiv as in Plovdiv as in Prague — deserved research translated into something they could use on a Tuesday afternoon.
I left the chair of clinical psychology at Sofia University that year not because the work was finished, but because it needed a different container. The Institute is that container. We are independent of any university, any hospital group, any pharmaceutical sponsor. We are accountable, instead, to the clinicians who read us every week and to the patients they will never see but whose care depends on the standard we set.
Sixteen years on, that independence is the thing I defend most carefully. It is also the thing that lets us publish the work that matters — the cross-cultural attachment study, the school-based screening programme, the ISO-certified platform for 217 practices. We do this work because the editorial team of fourteen clinicians and PhD researchers believes it must be done. We will keep doing it.
By the Numbers · Audited
Six institutional figures, every one sourced.
We publish the numbers because credentialed clinicians read them. Where an audit exists, we name it.
- Verified clinical readership
- 18,400+
- Verified clinicians, double opt-in · Q1 2026
- Peer-reviewed articles
- 1,240+
- Archive since 2009 · every article DOI-indexed
- Clinicians trained
- 3,800+
- CBT, EMDR & schema tracks · since 2012
- Countries reached
- 42
- EN + RU mirror editions
- Monthly reader retention
- 94%
- Audited by Similarweb · Q3 2024
- BPA media partnership
- since 2014
- Bulgarian Psychological Association
All figures are drawn from our audited institutional record (Q1 2026) and the verified facts of the Bulgarian Psychology Institute. The institute does not provide therapy to the public; clinician training and research translation are the only services we offer.