David Tolin

David Tolin, Ph.D., ABPP, is an Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine and Director of the Anxiety Disorders Center at the Institute of Living. He specializes in cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), anxiety disorders, hoarding disorder, and suicide prevention. With an h-index of 101, he has authored over 200 scientific articles and books, including Doing CBT and Buried in Treasures. His research focuses on psychological treatments, implicit association tests, and neurobiological mechanisms of mental health conditions. Tolin has received prestigious awards such as the Connecticut Psychological Association’s Lifetime Contribution to Psychology and served as President of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies and the APA’s Clinical Psychology Division.

Education:

• PhD in Clinical Psychology, University of Arkansas (1996)
• Psychology Internship, VA Medical Center, Boston (1997)
• BA in Psychology, University of Washington (1990)

Research Interests: Dr. Tolin’s work emphasizes evidence-based therapies, particularly CBT, for anxiety, hoarding, and suicide prevention. He explores neural correlates of decision-making in hoarding disorder and develops tools for assessing treatment outcomes. His recent studies investigate the predictive validity of the Death-Implicit Association Test (D-IAT) and the efficacy of brief CBT in inpatient settings.

Awards:

• Award for Outstanding Lifetime Contribution to Psychology (2014)
• Fellow, Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (2015)
• President, Society of Clinical Psychology (2014)
• New Investigator Prize (2005)

Advising & Grants: Tolin collaborates with researchers like Michael Stevens and Gretchen Diefenbach on NIH-funded projects. He has led studies on suicide prevention, hoarding treatment, and CBT enhancements. His work has been featured on TV shows like Hoarders and The OCD Project.

Labs/Teams: Directs the Anxiety Disorders Center at the Institute of Living, focusing on translational research and clinical innovation in mental health treatment.