Dr. Kelsie Forbush
- CARE Director
- Professor, Department of Clinical Child Psychology
- Senior Scientist, Life Span Institute
Contact Info
Biography —
Dr. Kelsie Forbush has been conducting research and treatment in the field of eating disorders since 2000. She completed her undergraduate and graduate degrees at the University of Iowa under the mentorship of Dr. David Watson (Professor Emeritus at the University of Iowa and University of Notre Dame). She completed her internship/residency training at Western Psychiatric Hospital in Pittsburgh, PA, under the supervision and mentorship of Dr. Jennifer Wildes. Dr. Forbush has experience treating outpatients and inpatients with eating disorders, as well as experience working with families and individuals who have mood, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and personality disorders. She received Level 1 certification in Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT), which she has used with individuals who have perinatal mood, anxiety, harmful substance use, and eating disorders. In her spare time, Dr. Forbush enjoys spending time with her husband and daughter, reading sci-fi books, attending performing arts concerts, taking ballet classes, spending time with friends, and training her two adorable Havanese dogs, Gus and Peanut.
Education —
Research —
Dr. Forbush's research interest and lab involve examining the reasons for diagnostic co-morbidity among eating, mood, and anxiety disorders and explicating the internal structure of eating pathology through scale development and assessment. Additionally, our lab is conducting several research studies that are designed to understand the associations (both cross-sectional and longitudinal) between eating behaviors and various other types of psychological difficulties, as well as research designed to develop better ways of assessing, diagnosing, and treating abnormal eating behaviors. Finally, Dr. Forbush and her lab have an emerging area of interest in the development of m-health interventions for eating disorders.
Selected Publications —
Cicero, D. C., Ruggero, C. J., Balling, C. E., Bottera, A. R., Cheli, S., Elkrief, L., Forbush, K. T., … & Thomeczek, M. L. (in press). State of the Science: The Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP). Behavior Therapy.
Chen, Y., Forbush, K. T., & Pleskac, T. J. (2024). Bayesian Graded Response Models for Eating-Disorder Risk Estimation Using Screening Data. Computational Brain & Behavior, 1-19.
Johnson‐Munguia, S., Negi, S., Chen, Y., Thomeczek, M. L., & Forbush, K. T. (2024). Eating disorder psychopathology, psychiatric impairment, and symptom frequency of atypical anorexia nervosa versus anorexia nervosa: A systematic review and meta‐analysis. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 57(4), 761-779.
Forbush, K. T., Swanson, T. J., Gaddy, M., Oehlert, M., Doan, A., Morgan, R. W., O'Brien, C., Chen, Y., Christian, K., Song, Q. C., Watson, D., & Wiese, J. (2023). Design and methods of the Longitudinal Eating Disorders Assessment Project research consortium for veterans. International journal of methods in psychiatric research, 32(2), e1941. https://doi.org/10.1002/mpr.1941
Forbush, K. T., Chen, Y., Chen, P. Y., Bohrer, B. K., Hagan, K. E., Chapa, D. A., ... & Wildes, J. E. (2023). Integrating “lumpers” versus “splitters” perspectives: Toward a hierarchical dimensional taxonomy of eating disorders from clinician ratings. Clinical Psychological Science, 21677026231186803.
Negi, S., Thomeczek, M. L., Chen, Y., Sharma, A. R., & Forbush, K. T. (2023). Compensatory eating disorder and full threshold DSM eating disorders: A comparison of eating-disorder-related psychiatric impairment and symptomatology. Eating Behaviors, 51, 101823.
Bohrer, B. K., Chen, Y., Christensen, K. A., Forbush, K. T., Thomeczek, M. L., Richson, B. N., Chapa, D. A. N., Jarmolowicz, D. P., Gould, S. R., Negi, S., Perko, V. L., & Morgan, R. W. (2023). A pilot multiple-baseline study of a mobile cognitive behavioral therapy for the treatment of eating disorders in university students. The International journal of eating disorders, 56(8), 1623–1636. https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.23987
Christensen Pacella, K. A., Chen, Y., Forbush, K. T., Cushing, C. C., & Swinburne Romine, R. (2023). Prospectively predicting naturalistic exposure to fitspiration and thinspiration in young women with disordered eating by leveraging an ecological momentary assessment design. Eating behaviors, 50, 101767. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eatbeh.2023.101767
Forbush, K. T., Richson, B. N., Swanson, T. J., Thomeczek, M. L., Negi, S., Johnson, S. N., Chapa, D. A. N., Morgan, R. W., O'Brien, C. J., Gould, S. R., Christensen, K. A., & Chen, Y. (2022). Screening for eating disorders across genders in college students: Initial validation of the brief assessment of stress and eating. The International journal of eating disorders, 55(11), 1553–1564. https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.23815
Christensen, K. A., Hagan, K. E., & Forbush, K. T. (2022). Clinical science can address rising eating disorder psychopathology during the COVID-19 pandemic: Comment on Gruber et al. (2020). The American psychologist, 77(1), 140–142. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000765
Bjorlie, K., Forbush, K. T., Chapa, D. A. N., Richson, B. N., Johnson, S. N., & Fazzino, T. L. (2022). Hyper-palatable food consumption during binge-eating episodes: A comparison of intake during binge eating and restricting. The International journal of eating disorders, 55(5), 688–696. https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.23692
Richson, B. N., Johnson, S. N., Swanson, T. J., Christensen, K. A., Forbush, K. T., & Wildes, J. E. (2021). Predicting probable eating disorder case-status in men using the Clinical Impairment Assessment: Evidence for a gender-specific threshold. Eating behaviors, 42, 101541. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eatbeh.2021.101541
Christensen, K. A., Forbush, K. T., Richson, B. N., Thomeczek, M. L., Perko, V. L., Bjorlie, K., Christian, K., Ayres, J., Wildes, J. E., & Mildrum Chana, S. (2021). Food insecurity associated with elevated eating disorder symptoms, impairment, and eating disorder diagnoses in an American University student sample before and during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The International journal of eating disorders, 54(7), 1213–1223. https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.23517
Richson, B. N., Forbush, K. T., Schaumberg, K., Crosby, R. D., Peterson, C. B., Crow, S. J., & Mitchell, J. E. (2020). Are the Criterion B binge-eating symptoms interchangeable in understanding binge-eating severity? An item response theory analysis. The International journal of eating disorders, 53(12), 1983–1992. https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.23383
Forbush, K. T., Chen, P.-Y., Hagan, K. E., Chapa, D. A. N., Gould, S. R., Eaton, N. R., & Krueger, R. F. (2018). A new approach to eating-disorder classification: Using empirical methods to delineate diagnostic dimensions and inform care [Journal Articles]. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EATING DISORDERS, 51(7), 710–721. DOI:10.1002/eat.22891
Wildes, J. E., Forbush, K. T., Hagan, K. E., Marcus, M. D., Attia, E., Gianini, L. M., & Wu, W. (2017). Characterizing severe and enduring anorexia nervosa: An empirical approach [Journal Articles]. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EATING DISORDERS, 50(4), 389–397. DOI:10.1002/eat.22651
Hagan, K. E., Forbush, K. T., & Chen, P.-Y. (2017). Is Dietary Restraint a Unitary or Multi-Faceted Construct? [Journal Articles]. PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT, 29(10), 1249–1260. DOI:10.1037/pas0000429
Bohrer, B. K., Carroll, I. A., Forbush, K. T., & Chen, P.-Y. (2017). Treatment seeking for eating disorders: Results from a nationally representative study [Journal Articles]. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EATING DISORDERS, 50(12), 1341–1349. DOI:10.1002/eat.22785
Forbush, K. T., Wildes, J. E., Pollack, L. O., Dunbar, D., Luo, J., Patterson, K., Petruzzi, L., Pollpeter, M., Miller, H., Stone, A., Bright, A., & Watson, D. (2013). Development and Validation of the Eating Pathology Symptoms Inventory (EPSI) [Journal Articles]. PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT, 25(3), 859–878. DOI:10.1037/a0032639