Contact
Information
- Sona Dimidjian
- Assistant Professor
- Ph.D. 2005, University of Washington
University of Colorado at Boulder
Boulder, CO 80309
E-mail address: sona.dimidjian@colorado.edu
Phone: 303-492-3485
Fax: 303-492-2967
Awards and
Honors
| 2005 | Student Research Award; American Psychological Association Division 12 |
| 2004-2005 | Beck Institute Scholar; Beck Institute for Cognitive Therapy and Research |
| 2004-2005 | Huckabay Teaching Fellowship; University of Washington |
| 2003-2004 | Wagner Memorial Award; University of Washington |
Research
Interests
My research focuses on the nature and treatment of depression. I am particularly interested in the development of new treatments and the investigation of treatment outcome, process, and dissemination. Specific areas of focus are described in greater detail below.
Treatment Development, Outcome, and Dissemination
The main focus of my treatment development and outcome research efforts has centered on newer behavioral treatments for depression (behavioral activation). Behavioral Activation (BA) is based on the idea that helping clients to increase pleasurable or productive experiences and move in the direction of important life goals will improve depression. BA assumes that problems in vulnerable individuals' lives, and their behavioral responses to such problems, reduce the ability to experience positive reward from the environment. BA seeks to increase activation in structured ways that help people connect directly with sources of reward in their lives and solve life problems. Activation, avoidance, and rumination are key areas of focus in BA. The BA approach was developed in collaboration with my graduate mentor, Neil Jacobson, and colleagues Christopher Martell and Michael Addis. Contemporary work on BA is also rooted in the early work of behavioral pioneers, such as Peter Lewinsohn and Charles Ferster, and in the development of cognitive therapy by Beck and colleagues.
In a recent study, conducted at the University of Washington, BA was found to be comparable in efficacy to pharmacotherapy and superior to cognitive therapy for more severely depressed patients. My current work seeks to build upon the findings from this study, with efforts to examine both the generalizability of these findings and the extension of BA to novel populations (including studies focusing on depressed adolescents in partnership with colleagues at the University of Washington and Children’s Hospital in Seattle and veteran populations with colleagues at the Seattle and Portland VA). In addition, part of the promise of BA lies in its potential to be more easily disseminated in real world clinical settings. Testing this assumption will be an important focus of future work as well.
Process of Change
The investigation of the process of change in the treatment of depression is also a primary area of focus. This work includes attention both to potential moderators and mediators of change. I am interested in questions relating to patient characteristics that may moderate response to treatment (e.g., what characteristics predict who does well in treatment in general and who does well in specific types of treatment). I am also interested in the question of “how” therapy works. For instance, what are the active ingredients of therapy for depression? What specific therapist behaviors mediate response to treatment? Do changes in clients’ approach and activation behaviors mediate outcome in BA? Current work on these types of questions includes coding treatment sessions both from the earlier study at the University of Washington and from a recently funded treatment development study utilizing an adapted version of BA with adolescents.
Clinical Application of Mindfulness
A final major interest concerns the clinical application of mindfulness strategies. I have a strong background in both mindfulness-based cognitive therapy and dialectical behavior therapy, and am interested in the outcome and process of these approaches and the application to vulnerable or currently depressed populations.
Selected
Publications
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.
Coffman, S.J., Dimidjian, S., & Baer, R.A. (2006). Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for prevention of depressive relapse. In R. Baer (Ed.), Mindfulness-based treatment approaches: A clinician’s guide to evidence base and applications (pp. 31-50). Elsevier Press.
Dimidjian, S. & Linehan, M. M. (2003). Defining an agenda for future research on the clinical application of mindfulness practice. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 10, 166-171.
Schmaling, K.B., Dimidjian, S., Katon, W., & Sullivan, M. (2002). Response styles among patients with minor depression and dysthymia in primary care. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 111, 350-356.
Jacobson, N.S., Martell, C. R., & Dimidjian, S. (2001). Behavioral activation therapy for depression: Returning to contextual roots. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 8, 255-270.
Coffman, S., Martell, C.R., Dimidjian, S., Gallop, R., & Hollon, S.D. (2006). Extreme non-response to cognitive therapy: Patient characteristics and treatment factors. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. Manuscript under review.