Dr. Lauren David

Current Position

Upon completion of her PhD, Dr. David completed a postdoctoral fellowship at St. Joseph’s Healthcare in Hamilton.  She is currently a Registered Psychologist with the Ontario Structured Psychotherapy Program at Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences and at North York General Hospital.   

Degrees

PhD in Clinical Psychology, Ryerson University

MA in Clinical Psychology, Ryerson University

BA (Honours) in Psychology, Queen’s University 

Research Interests

Lauren conducted psychosocial research on eating pathology across the weight spectrum. Her research interests broadly include the investigation of psychosocial factors, such as readiness for change, that predict positive outcomes for bariatric surgery patients, as well as the effectiveness of psychological interventions designed to improve outcomes for this patient population. Her Master’s thesis investigated the efficacy of Motivational Interviewing (MI) for improving motivation and self-efficacy for change for bariatric patients experiencing difficulties adhering to the post-operative dietary guidelines.  Her dissertation investigated the efficacy of various strategies, including self-compassion, for improving significant body image disturbances in individuals with excess weight.

Clinical Interests

Lauren has worked as a study therapist in numerous research settings, including a trial examining the efficacy of telephone-based cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for bariatric surgery patients and a trial examining the comparative efficacy of CBT versus MI for facilitating rapid treatment response in patients with bulimia nervosa. She has worked as a clinical assessor on a trial investigating the concurrent treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Eating Disorders. She also conducted MI with post-operative bariatric surgery patients for her Master’s thesis, and provided skills training in self-compassion and cognitive restructuring for her dissertation. Lauren completed her final clinical practicum placement at Humber River Regional Hospital Adult Mental Health Program, where she provided empirically driven assessment and treatment for individuals with a range of clinical presentations, including psychosis, personality disorders, and complex mood and anxiety diagnoses. She has also completed practica placements at St. Michael’s Hospital Department of Family and Community Medicine (Clinical Psychology Training Clinic) and at the Eating Disorder Day Hospital at Toronto General Hospital. Lauren’s primary theoretical orientation is cognitive behavioural; however, she values integrating other evidence-based approaches, such as mindfulness- and acceptance-based therapies, when they lend themselves to the case formulation.  Lauren completed her postdoctoral internship at St. Joseph’s Healthcare.

Research Support

Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) – Master’s Award

Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) – Doctoral Award 

Selected Publications

  • David, L. A., Sijercic, I., & Cassin, S. E. (2020). Pre- and post-operative psychosocial interventions for bariatric surgery patients: A systematic review.  Obesity Reviews, 21(4), e12926. https://doi.org/10.1111/obr.12926
  • David, L. & Cassin, S. E. (2018).  Motivational interviewing for behavioural and lifestyle changes in severe obesity.  In S. E. Cassin, S. Sockalingam, and R. Hawa (Eds.), Psychological care in severe obesity: A practical approach (pp. 79-104). Cambridge University Press.
  • Macdonald, D.E., McFarlane, T.L., Dionne, M.M., David, L., & Olmsted, M.P. (2017) Rapid response to intensive treatment for Bulimia Nervosa and Purging Disorder: A randomized controlled trial of a CBT intervention to facilitate early behavior change. Journal of Clinical and Consulting Psychology, 85(9), 896-908.
  • Taube-Schiff, M., David, L, & Cassin, S. E. (2017).  Motivational interviewing for severe obesity.  In S. Sockalingam & R. Hawa (Eds.), Psychiatric care in severe obesity: An interdisciplinary guide to integrated care (pp. 221-230).  Springer.
  • Atwood, M. E., David, L., & Cassin, S. E. (2016). Cognitive behavioural therapy for bariatric surgery patients. In R. Rajendram, C. Martin, & V. R. Preedy (Eds.), Pathophysiology of bariatric surgery: Metabolism, nutrition, procedures, outcomes and adverse effects. Academic Press.
  • David, L., Sockalingam, S., Wnuk, S., & Cassin, S.E. (2016). A pilot randomized controlled trial examining feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy of Adapted Motivational Interviewing for post-operative bariatric surgery patients. Eating Behaviors, 22, 87-92.
  • Cassin, S. E., & David, L. (2015). Binge eating disorder.  In R. Cautin & S. Lilienfeld (Eds.), Encyclopedia of clinical psychology.  Wiley-Blackwell.

Selected Conference Presentations

  • Cassin, S. E., David, L. A., & Sijercic, I. (2019, September). Pre- and post-operative psychosocial interventions for bariatric surgery patients: A systematic review [poster presentation].  Annual conference of the Eating Disorders Research Society (EDRS), Chicago, IL.
  • David, L., Choma, B., & Cassin, S. E. (2017, November).  Self-compassion and cognitive restructuring strategies for body dissatisfaction among women who are overweight or obese [poster presentation].  Annual conference of the Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT), San Diego, CA.
  • David, L., Brochu, P., & Cassin, S. E. (2017, June).  Exploring attitudes towards bariatric surgery patients and policies in Canada [poster presentation].  International Conference on Eating Disorders (ICED), Prague, Czech Republic.
    David, L., Cassin, S.E., Wnuk, S., & Sockalingam, S. (2016, Oct). Social desirability in bariatric surgery candidates. Poster presented at the 50th Annual Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies Convention, New York, NY.
  • MacDonald, D.E., McFarlane, T., Dionne, M.M., David, L., & Olmsted, M. (2016, Oct). The efficacy of an intervention to facilitate rapid response to intensive treatment: A randomized controlled trial. Invited talk at the Eating Disorder Research Society Conference, New York, NY.
  • David, L., Cassin, S.E., Wnuk, S., & Sockalingam, S., (2016, May). The effect of Adapted MI on disordered eating behaviours after bariatric surgery. Poster presented at the Academy for Eating Disorders’ International Conference on Eating Disorders, San Fransisco, CA.
  • David, L., Atwood, M., Cassin, S.E., Wnuk, S., & Sockalingam, S. (2015, April). Bariatric patients’ perceptions of post-surgical dietary changes: Content analysis of the decisional balance worksheet. Poster presented at the 4th Canadian Obesity Summit, Toronto, ON.
  • Lyons, K., David, L. , Meisner, B., Sockalingam, S., & Cassin, S.E. (March, 2014). Body image after bariatric surgery: A qualitative study. Poster presented at the International Conference on Eating Disorders, New York City, NY.
  • Cassin, S.E., David, L., Royal, S., Wnuk, S. & Sockalingam, S. (2013, November). Development of the Ontario Bariatric Eating Self-Efficacy (OBESE) Scale. Poster presented at the 48th Annual Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies Convention, Nashville, TN.