Dr. Kostara Spyridoula

Dr Spyridoula G. Kostara is an Associate Professor in Psychology of Communication in the Department of Pastoral Studies at the Supreme Ecclesiastical Academy of Athens (AEAA). She holds a ptychion (specialization in Psychology, First Class Honours, 9,4/10) and a Ph.D. in Psychology with distinction from the School of Philosophy (Department of Philosophy, Pedagogy and Psychology) of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. She is fluent in English and German and has graduated from the Higher School of Piano and Music Theory of the National Athens Conservatoire (First Class Honours). Her teaching experience includes teaching Psychology at the A.E.A.A. since 2007 (undergraduate level) and post graduate level courses at Harokopio University of Athens (since 2018), at University of West Attica and ASPETE (since 2019), at the Hellenic Police Academy: School of National Security (2004-2011) and at School of Retraining and Further Education (since 2010). And besides, at the Pastoral Training Institute of the Holy Archdiocese of Athens (Human Resources Development, Education and Lifelong Learning, since 2018) and at Apostoliki Diakonia of the Church of Greece. Her main research interests include Communication and its forms as a fundamental principle of individual and group life, Counseling Psychology as the ‟art of life” (ars vitae), the value of knowledge, deed, faith and hope in our daily lives and the effects of anxiety and phobias on interpersonal relationships. She is an active member of the Psychological Society of Northern Greece and the Hellenic Psychological Society (HPS) in the division of Social Psychology as well as Counselling and Positive Psychology. She is a licensed psychologist (since 2020). She has published three books and a fourth forthcoming, several papers in academic peer-reviewed journals and conferences proceedings.