About Christopher Martell

Christopher Martell

Curriculum vitae (PDF)

Background

After graduating magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from St. Michael's College in Winooski, Vermont (1983) Christopher Martell left the beautiful green mountains for the suburbs of New York City for graduate education in psychology. He received his Ph.D. in Clinical and School Psychology from Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York, in 1988. His graduate clinical training was oriented to cognitive-behavioral therapy with adults, behavior management procedures with children, and psychological assessment, as well as research. Dr. Martell's doctoral dissertation was an applied study of factors affecting generalization of social skills training with developmentally disabled adults living in community group homes after having spent the greater parts of their lives in large institutions. A post-doctoral year at the New York University Medical Center - Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine - Head Trauma Program followed.

Initially Dr. Martell's professional practice focused on working with adults with life-threatening illnesses or chronic disabilities. Most of his clients either had suffered a head injury or were living with illness such as HIV/AIDS. He also had a general practice working with adults with a variety of psychological problems including depression, anxiety disorders and relationship difficulties. Dr. Martell has maintained a passion for practicing empirically supported psychotherapy, particularly behavioral and cognitive-behavioral interventions. Furthermore he conducts affirmative CBT with lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults.

Early in his career Christopher Martell became active in professional associations. He has been a member of The American Psychological Association (APA) and The Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy (now known as The Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy - ABCT) since he was a graduate student. He became involved with the Washington State Psychological Association (WSPA) in 1989 and has held a number of leadership positions through the years in APA and WSPA, as well as other organizations.

In 1996 Dr. Martell became acquainted with Robert Kohlenberg, Ph.D., and Mavis Tsai, Ph.D., the developers of Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP) at the University of Washington, and became a research therapist in their study comparing standard cognitive therapy (CT) for depression to FAP-enhanced cognitive therapy (FECT). That same year he was hired to work as a research therapist on a couples' therapy study comparing Integrative Behavioral Couples Therapy (IBCT) with Traditional Behavioral Couples Therapy (TBCT) conducted by the late Neil S. Jacobson, Ph.D. at the University of Washington in collaboration with Andrew Christensen, Ph.D. at UCLA. Neil Jacobson also invited Dr. Martell to work as a therapist on his Treatments for Depression Study at the University of Washington. Dr. Martell conducted therapy in the behavioral activation (BA) condition of the study. Dr. Martell and Dr. Jacobson, along with Michael Addis, Ph.D. of Clark University, wrote a book for therapists on BA, Depression in Context: Strategies for Guided Action the book was published by W. W. Norton in 2001 after Neil Jacobson's untimely death.

Dr. Martell has authored several books since that time. In 2004 he joined with Steven Safren, Ph.D. and Stacey Prince, Ph.D., and wrote Cognitive-Behavioral Therapies with Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Clients, published by Guilford. That same year Michael Addis and Christopher Martell wrote a client workbook for BA, Overcoming Depression One Step at a Time: The New Behavioral Activation Approach to Getting Your Life Back, published by New Harbinger. He has also written a number of chapters for edited books on IBCT, BA and applying these techniques with LGB individuals and couples. Please see Dr. Martell's CV for a complete list of publications. Dr. Martell has conducted workshops on BA in the U.S. and Europe.

Dr. Martell occupies his time writing, consulting on research projects and public speaking. However, he is primarily a practitioner and maintains a private practice in Seattle with several office partners at Associates in Behavioral Health.

Awards and Honors

Professional Affiliations

American Board of Professional Psychology

American Psychological Association (APA)

Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT). Formerly Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy

Washington State Psychological Association (WSPA)

Academy of Cognitive Therapy