Robert D. Friedberg, PhD, ABPP, ACT

Position:

Head, Child and Family Emphasis Area

Core Full Professor

Director and Research Group Advisor, Center for the Study and Treatment of Anxious Youth

Contact Information:

rfriedberg@paloaltou.edu
408-775-4904

Faculty Status:

Core Full Professor

Programs:

PsyD and PhD

Education:

Diplomate, American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP), Cognitive and Behavioral Therapy (2005)

Diplomate and Founding Fellow, Academy of Cognitive Therapy (1999)

Post Doctoral: Center for Cognitive Therapy-Beach, 1987-1989

PhD, Clinical Psychology, California School of Professional Psychology-San Diego (1987)

MA, Clinical Psychology, University of Dayton (1980)

BA, cum laude, Psychology, Hiram College (1977)

Biography:

Dr. Robert Friedberg’s professional passion is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) with children, adolescents, and families. He is recognized as one of the leading experts in applying Aaron T. Beck’s model of cognitive therapy to children. He completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the Center for Cognitive Therapy-Newport Beach under the mentorship of the noted cognitive therapist, Dr. Christine A. Padesky. Following his postdoctoral fellowship, Friedberg joined the staff of Mesa Vista Hospital (MVH) where he was the lead clinical psychologist on the Adult Cognitive Therapy Unit, developed the inpatient CBT program for children and adolescents, and collaborated on the launch of CBT programming in the residential treatment program. While at MVH, he began a successful clinical and research partnership with Raymond A. Fidaleo, M.D. which led to many publications and the formation of the Cognitive Therapy Institute of San Diego.

After leaving MVH in 1992, Dr. Friedberg became the Clinical Director of the Brief Therapy Program (BTP) at Methodist Hospital of Indiana. The BTP was a computer-assisted therapy program which was embedded in an Internal Medicine Clinic. Pursuing interests in integrating clinical practice, training, and research, Friedberg joined the faculty at the Wright State University School of Professional Psychology (SOPP). From 1994-2003, Friedberg directed the APA-accredited predoctoral internship program and the Preventing Anxiety and Depression in Youth (PANDY) program, receiving the Omintha Petrie Diversity award in 2001 and the teaching excellence award in 2003.

Immediately prior to coming to PAU, Dr. Friedberg was an Associate Professor in the Division of Child Psychiatry, Penn State University Milton Hershey Medical Center/College of Medicine. At PSU-Hershey, Friedberg built the first Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Clinic which cared for young patients and their families. Moreover, he launched the first Psychology Post-doctoral Fellowship Program in division history. He is especially proud to have been awarded the teaching excellence prize twice from the Child Psychiatry Division, as he was the first psychologist to be so honored. In 2005, Dr. Friedberg was invited to be an Extramural Scholar at the Beck Institute for Cognitive Therapy and Research where he has remained on training faculty supervising professionals from all over the world. During the course of his tenure at PSU, he co-authored Child and Adolescent Therapy: Science and Art, Cognitive Techniques for Children, a follow up from the best-selling and widely adopted Clinical Practice of Cognitive Therapy with Children and Adolescents, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for the Busy Child Psychiatrist and other Mental Health Professionals. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (Clinical Child Psychology, Div.53) and the Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies. In the 2017, he was honored by receiving the Spotlight on Mentorship award from the Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy.

Areas of Interest:

Training clinicians for the next generation in behavioral health care with youth; dissemination of empirically based approaches; integrated pediatric behavioral health care school mental health; innovative cognitive behavioral treatment/prevention delivery models & systems; collaborative care model

Talks and Lectures:

Friedberg, R. D. (2013, December). Cognitive-behavioral therapy with anxious youth in the era of health care reform. Webinar presented for Palo Alto University.

Friedberg, R. D. (2013, November). Helping others and yourself improve as a cognitive behavioral therapist. Keynote address delivered at the annual meeting of the Norwegian Association of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Oslo, Norway.LinkedIn: Robert Friedberg, Ph.D., ABPP, ACT

Selected Publications:

Books (2017-present)

Friedberg, R.D., & Paternostro, J.K. (Eds.) (In preparation). Cognitive behavioral therapy for pediatric medical conditions. New York: Springer Nature (contract awarded).

Friedberg, R.D., & Nakamura, B.K. (Eds). (In preparation). Tradition and innovation in CBT with youth. New York: SpringerNeuro

McClure, J.M., Friedberg, R.D., Thordarson, M.A., & Keller, M. (In press). CBT-Express. New York: Guilford

Chapters (2017-present)

Friedberg, R. D.(In Press). Chasing Janus: Opening perceptual doors and windows through Socratic dialogue with children. In C. A. Padesky & H. Kennerley (Eds.), The Oxford guide to socratic methods, in cognitive behavioral therapy. Oxford, England: Oxford University.

Friedberg R.D., & Thordarson, M.A. (In Press). Suite lessons: Points for private practitioners. In T.H. Ollendick, B. White, S. White, & (Eds). Oxford Handbook of Clinical Child Psychology. Oxford, England: Oxford Press

Friedberg, R.D. & Thordarson, M.A. (2018). Cognitive behavioral therapy with youth. In J. Matson (Ed.). Handbook of Child Psychopathology and Developmental Disabilities Treatment (pp. 43-62). New York: Springer.

Friedberg, R.D. & Friedberg, R.J. (2017). Marketing and business strategies to propel dissemination of evidence based psychosocial treatments for youth. In W.D. Nelson (Ed.), Advances in Business and Management Vol. 11. New York: Nova Science

Rozbruch, E.V., Mosley, C., Ghosh, S., & Friedberg, R.D. (2017). Innovative behavioral health services for youth: Ready-to-use economic and business knowledge for professional psychologists. In N. Columbus (Ed). Advances in Psychology Research Vol. 122 (pp. 141-159). New York: Nova Science.

Selected Articles (2017-present)

Friedberg, R.D., Bearman, S.K., Miller, A., Mason, E., & Walkup, J. (In Press). 21^st century skills for cognitive-behavioral clinicians interested in leading behavioral health care staffs: The importance of TEAM. The Behavior Therapist.

Friedberg, R.D., Nakamura, B.K., Miller, A., Winkelspect, C., Tebben, E., & Beidas, R.S. (2018). Disruptive innovations to facilitate better dissemination and delivery of evidence-based practices: Leaping over the tar-pit. Evidence Based Practice in Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 3, 57-69.

Wilberding, N. & Friedberg, R.D. (2018). The case for integrated pediatric behavioral health care:

translating research into policy and practice Journal of Translational Science, 4, 1-2

Paternostro, J.K., Rozbruch, E.V., & Friedberg, R.D. (2018). Integrating psychosocial interventions with pediatric patients with gastrointestinal disorders in primary care and specialty care Services, Internal Medicine Review, 4, 1-18

Friedberg, R.D. (2018). Best practices in supervising cognitive behavioral therapy with youth. World Journal of Clinical Pediatrics, 7, 1-8

Friedberg, R.D. (2017). Care for a change: Tiered CBT for youth. Journal of Rational-Emotive and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, 35, 296-317.

Friedberg, R.D., & Bayar, H. (2017). If it works for pills, can it work for skills?: Direct-to-consumer social marketing of evidence based psychosocial treatments. Psychiatric Services, 28, 621-623