The Dodo Bird Hypothesis

CBT Radio

This episode is primarily relevant to professionals.

In this episode, R. Trent Codd, III, Ed.S. interviews Rob DeRubeis, PhD about the Dodo Bird Hypothesis. Specifically, they discuss:

• What the Dodo Bird Hypothesis is
• The history of this research literature
• Whether all psychotherapies have roughly the same outcomes and where this notion comes from
• The role of allegiance in psychotherapy research
• And, more!

ROBERT J. DERUBEIS, PhD BIOGRAPHY

Dr. DeRubeis has been on the Penn faculty since his appointment as assistant professor in 1983 after receiving his doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Minnesota. He has served as associate dean for the Social Sciences in the School of Arts and Sciences, and director of Clinical Training in the Psychology Department’s doctoral training program in Clinical Psychology. He is currently chair of the Department of Psychology.

He has authored or co-authored more than 100 articles and book chapters on topics that center on the treatment of depression. He received the Academy of Cognitive Therapy’s Aaron T. Beck Award in 2004 for his contributions to research on cognitive therapy. His empirical research comparing the benefits of cognitive therapy and medications for severe depression, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry and the Archives of General Psychiatry, has been the subject of media reports in The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today. In 2010 he presented a briefing to the Congressional Biomedical Research Caucus on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

Research Interests and Current Projects

Dr. DeRubeis’s research focuses on the processes that cause and maintain disorders of mood, as well as the treatment processes that reduce and prevent the return of mood symptoms. The contexts for this work are randomized clinical trials in which the effects of antidepressant medications are compared with cognitive therapy in people with major depressive disorder. Along with his students and collaborators, he examines the data obtained in these trials to further an understanding of the mechanisms through which these treatments exert their effects. He also develops and refines the methods that are required for testing hypotheses with longitudinal data.