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:

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 presentations

Christopher Martell will conduct workshops on behavioral activation in the following places this summer and early fall:


The British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP) annual convention. Edinburgh, Scotland. July 17th. Information at www.babcp.com. Dr. Martell will also give a keynote address at this conference and participate in a scientific panel discussion.

The Australian Association for Cognitive and Behaviour Therapy, Inc. annual convention. Adelaide, Australia, September, 2008. Further details at www.gtp.com.au/aacbt. Dr. Martell will give a keynote address at this conference also.

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

Recent presentations

Barcelona, Spain

Dr. Martell was a presenter in a Symposium entitled "Further Frontiers in CBT for the Presention of RElaps and Recurrence of Depression". His presentation with co-author Sona Dimidjian, Ph.D., was "Can Activation Alone Prevent Relapse in the Treatment of Depression?" This symposium took place at the 2007 Annual Convention of the World Congress of Behavioural and Cognitive Therapy, in Barcelona, Spain.

Stockholm, Sweden

Dr. Martell was a keynote speaker and conducted a full-day Behavioral Activation Workshop with colleague Sona Dimidjian at the Annual Conference of the Behavior Therapy Association in Stockholm.

During his stay in Sweden Dr. Martell also spoke at Stockholm University and in Uppsala. The book Overcoming Depression One Step at a Time by Michael Addis and Christopher Martell recently translated and is now being published in both Swedish and Danish.

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.

Originally, Behavioral Activation Therapy for Depression was developed in the early 1970s. But in the 1990s Dr. Martell was part of a team of scientists who sought to enhance BA as a contextual treatment for depression. In particular, 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.