David Clinton

David Clinton

Lecturer | Docent
Visiting address: Nobels väg 12a, 17165 Solna
Postal address: C8 Medicinsk epidemiologi och biostatistik, C8 MEB Bulik Projektgrupp, 171 77 Stockholm
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About me

  • I am an Associate Professor of Psychological Medicine at Karolinska
    Institutet where I work with research and teaching. I am also a licensed
    clinical psychologist, psychotherapist and psychoanalyst involved in clinical
    practice and supervision. I have been working in the field of eating
    disorders since the 1980’s, and I was one of the founders of the Resource
    Centre for Eating Disorders. I believe that research on eating disorders and
    clinical work can enrich one another and that it is essential to spread
    knowledge and understanding of eating disorders to clinicians and the general
    public. I have been responsible KI’s course on Background and Treatment of
    Eating Disorders since its start in 2002 and have led the development of
    internet-based education at the Resource Centre for Eating Disorders. For
    nine years I was chairman of the patient eating disorder advocacy group Frisk
    &
  • Fri, which gave me important insights into eating disorders from the
    perspective of patients and their families. Presently I am working with the
    publisher Studentlitteratur and Assoc. Prof. Rasmus Isomaa in Finland on a
    book about understanding and dealing with eating disorders that is planned
    for publication toward the end of 2020.
    * M.A. (Hon.) in Psychology, Edinburgh University, 1981.
    * M.App.Sci. in Clinical Psychology, Glasgow University, 1983.
    * Ph.D. in Psychology, Stockholm University, 1994.

Research

  • Over the years my research has focused mainly on psychological factors in
    eating disorders. I have been interested in how self-image, attachment,
    affect regulation and mentalization affects the development of and recovery
    from eating disorders. I have even been interested in questions about
    expectations and experiences of treatment, classification, pregnancy and
    eating disorders, as well as drop-in services for eating disorders and mobile
    acute teams of responders. Here at CEDI I am working on an interdisciplinary
    project called Polygenic Risk of Anorexia Nervosa and its Clinical Expression
    (PACE), which aims to explore the relationship between genetic factors in
    anorexia nervosa and patients’subjective experiences of their disorder.
    PACE builds on genetic research at CEDI that suggests that a tendency to
    react positively to ”negative energy balance” (i.e. starvation and
    hunger) can increase the risk of developing anorexia nervosa. PACE uses
    polygenic risk scores of anorexia nervosa to define four groups of patients:
    1) high risk and still ill, 2) high risk and healthy, 3) low risk and still
    ill, 4) low risk and healthy. These groups are interviewed about their
    experiences of negative energy balance, eating disorder symptoms, family
    relationships and experiences of treatment. Qualitative analysis is used to
    identify and contrast themes in the different groups. Results will be used to
    understand the challenges that arise in the treatment of anorexia nervosa and
    develop new treatment interventions and educational programmes that can
    contribute to better long-term outcome.
    *Selected publications*
    * Clinton, D. N. &
  • Norring, C., red. (2002) Ätstörningar: Bakgrund och
    aktuella behandlingsmetoder, Stockholm, Natur &
  • Kultur.
    * Clinton, D. (2010). Towards an ecology of eating disorders: creating
    sustainability through the integration of scientific research and clinical
    practice. European Eating Disorders Review, 18, 1-9.
    * Clinton, D., Almlöf, L., Lindström, S., Manneberg, M. &
  • Vestin, L.
    (2014). Drop-in access to specialist services for eating disorders: A
    qualitative study of patient experiences. Eating Disorders: The Journal of
    Treatment and Prevention, 22, 279-291.
    * Brundin Pettersson, C., Zandian, M. &
  • Clinton, D. (2016). Eating disorder
    symptoms pre- and postpartum. Archives of Women’s Mental Health, 19,
    675-80.
    * Clinton, D. &
  • Birgegård, A. (2017). Classifying empirically valid and
    clinically meaningful change in eating disorders using the Eating
    Disorders Inventory, version 2 (EDI-2). Eating Behaviors, 26, 99-103.
    * Holmqvist, R. &
  • Clinton, D., red. (2018). Relationella perspektiv på
    handledning. Stockholm: Liber.
    * Forsén Mantilla, E., Clinton, D. &
  • Birgegård, A. (2019). The unsafe
    haven: Eating disorders as attachment relationships. Psychology and
    Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 92: 379-393.
    DOI:10.1111/papt.12184.
    * Levallius, J., Clinton, D., Högdahl, L. &
  • Norring, C. (2020). Personality
    as predictor of outcome in internet-based treatment of bulimic eating
    disorders. Eating Behaviors, 36:
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eatbeh.2019.101360

Articles

All other publications

Employments

  • Lecturer, Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, 2020-2024

Degrees and Education

  • Docent, Karolinska Institutet, 2008

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