Daniel David

Daniel David (born November 23, 1972, in Satu Mare, Romania) is an "Aaron T. Beck" professor of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy at the Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. He was the head of the Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy^[1] of the Babeş-Bolyai University beteween 2007 and 2012. Daniel David is also an adjunct professor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and is the head of the Research Program at Albert Ellis Institute in New York.

National achievements

David created the first school of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) in Romania, based on international principles, recognized as such by the founders of this field such as Albert Ellis and Aaron T. Beck; he and his trainee also extended the application of CBT in education (e.g., rational-emotive & cognitive-behavioral education) and organizational fields (e.g., cognitive-behavioral coaching). He is a Fellow in the Academy of Cognitive Therapy, USA and the national representative in the Social Sciences Standing Committee at the European Science Foundation. He is among those who introduced in Romanian academic psychology the evolutionary psychology and genetic counseling as modern interdisciplinary approaches between psychology and biology. David recently reintroduced and up-dated the Retman concept, and is the coordinator of the team that created the comics and stories with this character.

He has promoted the reform of Romanian clinical psychology and psychotherapy based on modern principles.^[2] This reform was fundamental taking into account that during the communist period of Romania both clinical psychology and psychotherapy were practically forbidden by the communist regime, and thus, the field was basically almost frozen in time (e.g., Szondi and Lusher tests were the "golden standard" for clinical testing). As one of the leaders of the first generations of psychologists after the anticommunist revolution of 1989 (i.e., in a Romanian survey he was named as a main representative of the "Next Generation of Romanian Psychologists",^[3]) David, who studied abroad (for both his doctoral and postdoctoral studies) at prestigious universities in USA, was the one who, by his professional stature (e.g. he is the most cited Romanian psychologist in the international literature^[4]), and his Governmental and professional positions/leadership, marked the reform of the clinical field in Romania, helping in moving the field from a '70s style approach to the modern one.^[5] For his merits in research and education he was knighted in 2008 by the President of Romania (17/01/2008), in the National Order of Knights for Merit.^[6] Also, for the advanced research programs that he has initiated, in 2014, together with other important contemporary researchers, he received the innovation award, part of the "Foreign Policy Romania" Gala.^[7]

International achievements

He has contributed to the assimilation of cognitive science principles in the clinical field. A more specific contribution was focused on developing the theory and practice of rational-emotive and cognitive-behavioral therapies (CBT/REBT), which brought him both the Aaron T. Beck Award and the Albert Ellis Award of the International Institute for the Advanced Study of Psychotherapy and Applied Mental Health. In 2004 he was invited as "Guest Editor" by the Journal of Clinical Psychology to organize a special issue titled: "Cognitive revolution in clinical psychology: Beyond the behavioral approach" in order to present the state-of-the-art regarding the impact of the cognitive revolution on the clinical field. As founding editor of the Journal of Cognitive and Behavioral Psychotherapies (abstracted: SSCI/Thomson ISI Web of Science; SCOPUS; PsycInfo; IBSS and full text: EBSCO; ProQuest), a Journal focused on evidence-based practice, he has supported the evidence-based approach in the clinical field. At this moment, is co-editor of the prestigious Journal of Rational-Emotive and Cognitive-Behavior Therapy. For his merits in research and education he was knighted in 2008 by the 201 Decree of the President of Romania (17/01/2008), in the National Order of Knights for Merit.^[8] In 2013, the two research platforms, The SkyRa Platform for Clinical Cognitive Neurosciences and the PsyTech-Matrix Platform in Robotics/Robotherapy and Virtual Reality Psychotherapy, that he is coordinating as part of the International Institute for the Advanced Study of Psychotherapy and Applied Mental Health, have both been included in Mapping of the European Research Infrastructure Landscape (MERIL database).^[9]

Selected publications

• David, D., Matu, S.-A., & David, O. A. (2013). New Directions in Virtual Reality-Based Therapy for Anxiety Disorders. International Journal of Cognitive Therapy, 6(2), 114-137. doi: 10.1521/ijct.2013.6.2.114
• David, D., & Montgomery, G. H. (2011). The scientific status of psychotherapies: A new evaluative framework for evidence-based psychosocial interventions. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 18(2), 89-99. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2850.2011.01239.x
• David, D., Lynn, A., & Ellis, A. (Ed.) (2010). Rational and irrational beliefs in human functioning and disturbances; Implication for research, theory, and practice. New York: Oxford University Press.
• David, D., Szentagotai, A., Lupu, V., & Cosman, D. (2008). Rational emotive behavior therapy, cognitive therapy, and medication in the treatment of major depressive disorder: a randomized clinical trial, posttreatment outcomes, and six-month follow-up. J Clin Psychol, 64(6), 728-746. doi: 10.1002/jclp.20487
• David, D. (2003). Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT); The view of a cognitive psychologist. In W. Dryden (Ed.). Theoretical developments in REBT. London: Brunner/Routledge.
• David, D., Brown, R., Pojoga, C., & David, A. (2000). The impact of posthypnotic amnesia and intentional forgetting on implicit and explicit memory. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 48 267-289
• David, D. et al. (2002). Romanian psychology on the international psychological scene: A preliminary critical and empirical approach. European Psychologist, 7, 153-160.
• David, D., Schnur, J., & Belloiu, A. (2002). Another search for the "hot" cognition: Appraisal irrational beliefs, attribution, and their relation to emotion. Journal of Rational-Emotive and Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 20, 93-131
• David, D. et al. (2002). The case of behavior therapy in Romania. Behavior Therapist, 21, 181-186.
• David, D., & Brown, R. (2003). The impact of different directed forgetting instructions on implicit and explicit memory: New evidence from a modified process dissociation procedure. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 56A, 211-233.
• David, D., Montgomery, G., & Holdevici, I. (2003). Romanian norms for the Harvard group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 51, 66-77.
• David, D. (2004). Special issue on the cognitive revolution in clinical psychology: Beyond the behavioral approach-Introductory remarks. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 4, 351-353.
• David, D. (2004). Special issue on the cognitive revolution in clinical psychology: Beyond the behavioral approach-Conclusions: Toward and evidence-based psychology and psychotherapy. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 4, 447-451.
• David, D. et al. (2004). The information-processing approach to the human mind: Basic and beyond. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 4, 353-369.
• David, D., Montgomery, G. et al.. (2004). Discrimination between hopes and expectancies for nonvolitional outcomes. Psychological phenomenon or artifact? Personality and Individual Differences, 36, 1945-1952.
• David, D., Schnur, J., şi Birk, J. (2004). Functional and dysfunctional emotions in Ellis’ cognitive theory; An empirical analysis. Cognition and Emotion, 18, 869-880.
• David, D., Montgomery, M., Macavei, B., & Bovbjerg, D. (2005). An empirical investigation of Albert Ellis’ binary model of distress. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 61, 499-516.
• David, D., & Szentagotai, A. (2006). Cognition in cognitive-behavioral psychotherapies (CBT); Toward an integrative model. Clinical Psychology Review, 3, 284-298.

References

External links

• Romanian Association of Cognitive and Behavioral Psychotherapies
• International Institute for the Advanced Studies of Psychotherapy and Applied Mental Health
• Journal of Cognitive and Behavioral Psychotherapies
• / Major Books Publications
• Dr. Daniel David in conversation with Dr. Windy Dryden: REBT/CBT Research (audio file - Media Section)