Rachel Liebman

Dr. Rachel Liebman is a Clinical Psychologist within the Eating Disorder Program at Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network, Assistant Professor at University of Toronto, and Adjunct Professor at Toronto Metropolitan University in Toronto, CA. Dr. Liebman specializes in the treatment of disorders of high emotion dysregulation, including co-occurring trauma-related disorders and high-risk problem behaviours such as eating disorders, self-harm, and suicide. Her research on development and adaptation of treatments for high-risk trauma-related conditions has been awarded multiple federal and institutional grants and she has published widely on mechanisms and processes associated with these conditions. She is a board member of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, served on the Task Force for the Ontario Structured Psychotherapy Program for Gender Based Violence, and provides workshops, trainings and consultation on the assessment and treatment of trauma-related conditions internationally. 

Appointments

Adjunct Professor, Department of Psychology, Toronto Metropolitan University

Research Interests

The primary aim of my research program is to examine the longitudinal externalizing sequalae (e.g., self-harm, suicidality, eating disorders) of trauma in order to inform the development of optimally effective treatments for comorbid trauma-based conditions. I am interested in research focused on 1) mechanisms of symptom change and 2) optimizing and adapting gold-standard interventions to serve complex and traditionally difficult to treat populations using longitudinal designs and dyadic methodologies. My research examines interpersonal factors that predict, maintain and exacerbate posttraumatic stress and the conditions that commonly co-occur with it including eating disorders, borderline personality disorder, self-harm, and suicidality. My clinical research draws from developmental psychopathology to inform the development of interpersonally-oriented individual, dyadic, and family-based treatments for multi-problem forms of psychopathology. 

Recent Publications

Fitzpatrick, S., Liebman, R. E., Varma, S., Norouzian, N., Chafe, D., Traynor, J., Goss, S., Earle, E., Di Bartolomeo, A., Latham, M., Courey, L. & Monson, C. M. in press, Protocol development of Sage: A novel conjoint intervention for suicidal and self-injuring people with borderline personality disorder and their significant others. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice. 

Liebman, R. E., Schumm, J. A., Bartasch, A., Pukay-Martin, N. D., Crenshaw, A. O. Hart, T. L., Koerner, N. & Monson, C. M., in press. Actor and Partner Effects of PTSD and Relationship Functioning in a Recently Traumatized Sample. Journal of Family Psychology.
 

Fitzpatrick, S., Liebman, R. E., & Monson, C. (2021). The BIAS Model: The Borderline Interpersonal-Affective A conjoint formulation of borderline personality disorder: Theorizing a couple-based maintenance model. Clinical Psychology Review, 84, 101983, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2021.101983 Impact Factor 10.255

Sijercic, I., Liebman, R. E., Whitfield, K., Ennis, N., Ip, J., Sippel, L., & Monson, C. M., 2022, A Meta-analysis of couple and family interventions for PTSD. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 91, 102613.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2022.102613 Impact Factor 5.264 

Liebman, R. E., Becker, K. R., Smith, K., Cao, L., Keshishian, A., Crosby, R. Eddy K. E.*, & Thomas J. J.* (2020). Network analysis of PTSD and eating disorder symptoms in a community sample, Journal of Traumatic Stress, 0, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.22644 Impact Factor 2.217 

Liebman, R. E., Whitfield, K., Sijercic, I., Ennis, N., & Monson, C. M. (2020). Harnessing the healing power of relationships in trauma recovery: A review of Cognitive-Behavioral Conjoint Therapy for PTSD. Current Treatment Options in Psychiatry, 7, 203-220. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40501-020-00211-1 Impact Factor 1.1 

Liebman R. E.*, Coniglio K. A.*, Becker K. R., Tabri N., Keshishian A. C., Wons O., Keel P. K., Eddy K. E., & Thomas J. J., (2019). Body dissatisfaction predicts non-compensatory purging among individuals with eating disorders who have greater intolerance of negative moods, International Journal of Eating Disorders, 53(1), 143-148. doi: https:///10.1002/eat.23195Impact Factor 3.523