Joan Davidson, Ph.D.

oan Davidson, Ph.D. (14532) is a licensed psychologist and Co-Director of the San Francisco Bay Area Center for Cognitive Therapy. Dr. Davidson is Assistant Professor in the Clinical Sciences Program at the University of California, Berkeley, Founding Fellow of the Academy of Cognitive Therapy, and an Academy of Cognitive Therapy Certified Trainer/Consultant.

She is one of the founding members of the Northern California CBT Network and has served on its steering committee for over 13 years. She serves on the Board of Directors for OCD SF Bay Area, an affiliate of the International OCD Foundation (IOCDF), and on the Professional Education Committee for the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA).

For over twenty-five years she has worked as a cognitive-behavioral clinician specializing in treating adults with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), anxiety disorders (panic disorder and agoraphobia, phobias, social anxiety, generalized anxiety and worry), mood disorders, and problems with body focused repetitive behaviors such as trichotillomania (hair pulling) and skin picking. She is a graduate of the Trichotillomania Learning Center’s Professional Training Institute on Trichotillomania and Related Behaviors.

Dr. Davidson teaches, writes, and provides clinical consultation and supervision to students and licensed professionals. She presents workshops for consumers and professionals both locally and nationally. She has trained therapists, medical residents, and graduate students on topics such the fundamentals of CBT, treatment for specific disorders, transdiagnostic case formulation and treatment planning, and creatively blending elements of empirically supported treatments.

Dr. Davidson is the author of Daring to challenge OCD: Overcome your fear of treatment and take control of your life using exposure and response prevention (2014) and co-author of A Transdiagnostic road map to case formulation and treatment planning: Practical guidance for clinical decision making (2014) both published by New Harbinger Publications. She has co-authored book chapters on cognitive behavioral case formulation, and with her colleagues at the Center, Dr. Persons and Dr. Tompkins, she published a videotape series used for training clinicians to conduct cognitive-behavior therapy for depression and a book, The Essential Components of Cognitive-Behavior Therapy for Depression (American Psychological Association, 2001).