In my lab we focus on the processes and outcomes of treatments for depression with the goal of understanding the mechanisms of effective treatments and improving the delivery of these treatments to the patients who are most likely to benefit from them. Currently we are developing methods to identify, for a given patient, which of two or more potentially effective treatments (e.g., medications vs. cognitive therapy for depression) is most likely to lead to symptom improvement. We use a variety of information (demographic, personality, genetic, neuropsychological) to generate differential predictions of response, based on models developed with data from randomized trials. We also are working to identify the specific elements or techniques of cognitive therapy that are most likely to be helpful for a given patient (e.g., with or without personality disorder, co-morbid anxiety) from the discovery of process-outcome relationships that vary across patients who present with different profiles.
Professor Robert DeRubeis is no longer accepting new graduate students.
Keefe, J. R., Wiltsey Stirman, S., Cohen, Z. D., DeRubeis, R. J., Smith, B. N., & Resick, P. A. (2018). In rape trauma PTSD, patient characteristics indicate which trauma‐focused treatment they are most likely to complete. Depression and Anxiety, doi: 10.1002/da.22731.
Lorenzo-Luaces, L., DeRubeis, R. J., Van Straten, A., & Tiemens, B. (2017). A prognostic index (PI) as a moderator of outcomes in the treatment of depression: A proof of concept combining multiple variables to inform risk-stratified stepped care models. Journal of Affective Disorders, 213, 78-85.
Lorenzo-Luaces, L., German, R.E., & DeRubeis, R.J. (2015). It’s complicated: The relation between cognitive change procedures, cognitive change, and symptom change in CBT for depression. Clinical Psychology Review, 41, 3-15.
Fournier, J. C., DeRubeis, R. J., Amsterdam, J., Shelton, R. C., & Hollon, S. D. (2015). Gains in employment status following antidepressant medication or cognitive therapy for depression. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 206, 332-338.
DeRubeis, R.J., Cohen, Z.D., Forand, N.R., Fournier, J.C., Gelfand, L.A., Lorenzo-Luaces, L. (2014) The Personalized Advantage Index: Translating research on prediction into individualized treatment recommendations. A demonstration. PLoS ONE, 9(1), e83875. doi: e83875.
DeRubeis, R. J., Gelfand, L. A., German, R. E., Fournier, J. C., & Forand, N. R. (2014). Understanding processes of change: How some patients reveal more than others—and some groups of therapists less—about what matters in psychotherapy. Psychotherapy Research, 24, 419-428.