Dr. Dana Thordarson, R.Psych.

Dr. Dana Thordarson is a registered psychologist with the College of Psychologists of BC, and certified in cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) by the Canadian Association of Cognitive & Behavioural Therapies.

In her private practice, she focuses on assessment and therapy for adults with anxiety (including perinatal anxiety), posttraumatic stress, habit disorders, stress, and depression. She helps clients take practical and active approaches to their problems, learn ways to handle difficult thoughts and feelings more effectively, and ultimately have richer and more meaningful lives. She uses evidence-informed approaches including CBT (cognitive behaviour therapy) and ACT (acceptance and commitment therapy). She’s happy to see clients even for one or two sessions so that they can formulate a plan and be directed to evidence-based self-help resources, with occasional follow-up sessions if desired.

Dr. Thordarson completed her Ph.D. in clinical psychology at UBC in 2000. Her doctoral research focused on anxiety disorders, particularly thoughts and beliefs associated with OCD. She completed her predoctoral internship at UBC Hospital, working primarily in the (now defunct) Anxiety Disorders Unit and Health Psychology Clinic. She was a postdoctoral fellow in the UBC Psychiatry department, where she was the main therapist for a randomized trial of exposure therapy, EMDR, and relaxation training in the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder, and she helped develop a telephone treatment program for adults with OCD.

Dr. Thordarson has previously worked as a psychologist for people with chronic illness at the Heart Centre at St. Paul’s Hospital, as a research associate in behavioural genetics in UBC Psychiatry, as a Sessional Lecturer in the UBC Psychology department, and as an Instructor in the UBC Midwifery program, where she taught a class on principles of evidence-based medicine and critical appraisal of research literature, and supervised student research. She has previously practiced at Boreal Wellness Centre and TELUS Health Care Centre. She has been a co-author on numerous journal articles and book chapters on anxiety, perinatal anxiety, OCD, and PTSD, and contributed to a section on perinatal anxiety for Anxiety BC (now Anxiety Canada).

In addition to her private practice at NSSAC, Dr Thordarson practices at Equilibrium Behavioural Health in downtown Vancouver. She serves on the UBC Behavioural Research Ethics Board, and the Scientific Committee of Anxiety Canada. She still collaborates with UBC faculty on research in perinatal OCD. She is also the mother of three teenagers.