Christopher Martell is a psychologist and depression researcher in Seattle, Washington. Dr. Martell writes, consults and speaks internationally about Behavioral Activation Therapy and maintains a private psychotherapy practice in Seattle, Washington.

In his private practice, Dr. Martell is dedicated to applying empirically supported treatments for couples and individuals. Along with being an authority on Behavioral Activation, Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, and Behavioral Marital Therapy, Dr. Martell has in depth experience researching and helping lesbian, gay, and bisexual clients coping with depression, anxiety, relationship conflicts or other life problems.

You can find information about several of Dr. Martell's books on this site, including:

Just Released!
The Myth of Depression as Disease
  
Christopher Martell

Christopher Martell prepares for a talk on CBT with lesbian, gay, and bisexual clients at the University of Uppsala, Sweden, where he also conducted a two-day lecture on behavioral treatment of depression.

Upcoming events/presentations

Dr. Martell will conduct Workshops on "The Treatment of Depression: Behavioral Activation Theory and Practice" in the following five Australian Cities in June, 2010: Melbourne, 19 June 2010; Brisbane 21 June 2010; Perth 23 June 2010; Adelaide 26 June 2010; and Sydney 28 June 2010. Click here to download the brochure.

Dr. Martell will conduct two workshops at the ABPP Summer Workshop Series in Portland, Oregon. "Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Affirmative Cognitive-Behavior Therapy" Friday July 9, 2010 and "Behavioral Activation for Depression: Principles and Competencies" Saturday July 10, 2010. Registration at www.abpp.org

Recent presentations

Dr. Martell conducted the following workshop with Dr. Debra Hope at the Annual Convention of the Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT) in New York, NY, November, 2009:

"So What if My Client is Gay? Cultural Sensitive CBT with Clients who Identify as Lesbian, Gay, or Bisexual."

Dr. Martell attended the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP) annual convention. Edinburgh, Scotland. July 17th where he conducted a Behavioral Activation workshop, gave a keynote address and participated in a scientific panel debate.

Christopher Martell conducted a behavioral activation workshop and gave a keynote address at the Australian Association for Cognitive and Behaviour Therapy, Inc. annual convention. Adelaide, Australia, September, 2008.

Christopher Martell conducted a behavioral activation workshop in Christchurch, New Zealand, September 23, 2008.

What is Behavioral Activation Therapy?

Dimidjian, S., Hollon, S.D., Dobson, K.S., Schmaling, K.B., Kohlenberg, R., Addis, M., Gallop, R., McGlinchey, J., Markley, D., Gollan, J.K., Atkins, D.C., Dunner, D.L., & Jacobson, N.S. (2006). Randomized trial of behavioral activation, cognitive therapy, and antidepressant medication in the acute treatment of adults with major depression. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 74 (4), 658-670.

A recent issue of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology published the results of a remarkable clinical trial that showed that Behavioral Activation performed as well as a standard Cognitive-Behavior Therapy protocol. With these results, people want to know more about BA.

In 1996 the late Neil S. Jacobson and colleagues compared BA and cognitive-behavioral therapy for depression. While cognitive therapy was a much more complex treatment, the researchers found no significant differences in benefits between the treatments. Following that study Jacobson and colleagues launched the largest ever single site depression treatment study: they compared BA, Cognitive Therapy, and Antidepressant medications. The results: BA outperformed cognitive therapy in the acute treatment phase for moderately to severely depressed adults, and performed as well as antidepressant medication

To read more about BA and related topics please visit the behavioral activation page.