It is my pleasure to announce the addition of Kimberly Dienes as one of our weekend guest bloggers. Kimberly is a terrific writer and a young brilliant academic in Chicago (yes, another Chicago connection but I swear it is entirely coincidental!). Kimberly is going to Ireland for her wedding (where her family owns a home) and she may not be able to post a great deal at the start. (She had a civil ceremony with Simon Williams last year in Las Vegas). However, she adds a unique perspective to the blog and I am very excited to have her posts added to our wonderful team on the weekends.

Kimberly is an assistant professor of clinical psychology at Roosevelt University in Chicago, and also has a part time private therapy practice. Kim received her B.A. in Human Biology and M.A. in Psychology from Stanford University, and her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from UCLA. Her research focuses on stress sensitivity, psychoneuroendocrinology, and depression, and her clinical work centers on relational issues and stress. She has published in the areas of bipolar disorder, depression, cognitive therapy, behavioral therapy, relational therapy, and psychoneuroendocrinology. Kim received her B.A. in Human Biology and M.A. in Psychology from Stanford University, and her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from UCLA. She completed her internship and postdoctoral fellowship at Northwestern University.

Kimberly was born in Maryland and lived for 12 years in California. She now resides in the Midwest so she has covered the country geographically. Kim says that she spends her free time reading, watching terrible reality TV, and lifting heavy weights in the gym with her husband. In the last year Kim has lived in Chicago, Cambridge, Cardiff, and Bethesda. She is about to take part in probably the only Welsh-American wedding in Northern Ireland (the civil ceremony was last year in Las Vegas).

You get a master’s if you simply understand all of the titles of Kimberly’s major writings:

Dienes, K.A., Hazel, N.A., & Hammen, C.L. (2013) Cortisol secretion in depressed and at-risk adults. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 38 (6), 927-940. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2012.09.019
Dygdon, J.A. & Dienes, K.A. (2013) Behavioral Excesses in Depression: A learning theory hypothesis. Depression and Anxiety, 00:1-8.
Dienes, K.A., Torres, Harding, S., Reinecke, M.A., Freeman, A., and Sauer, A. (2011). Cognitive Therapy. In S.B. Messer and A.S. Gurman (Ed.s) Essential Psychotherapies: Theory and practice, Third Edition (pp. 143-183). New York, London: Guilford.
Dienes, K.A., Hammen, C.L., Henry, R.M., Cohen, A.N. & Daley, S. (2006). The stress sensitization hypothesis: Understanding the course of bipolar disorder. Journal of Affective Disorders, 95(1-3), 43-49. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2006.04.009.
Chang, K.D., Adleman, N., Dienes, K., & Reiss, A.L. (2004). Prefrontal-limbic anomalies in pediatric bipolar disorder: a fMRI investigation. Archives of General Psychiatry, 61, 781-792. doi: 10.1001/archpsyc.61.8.781.
Chang, K.D., Dienes, K., Blasey, C, Adleman, N., Steiner, H., & Ketter, T.A. (2003). Divalproex in the treatment of bipolar offspring with mood and behavioral disorders and at least moderate affective symptoms. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 64, 936-942.
Chang, K.D., Adleman, N., Dienes, K., Reiss, A.L., & Ketter, T.A. (2003). Bipolar offspring: A window into bipolar disorder evolution. Biological Psychiatry, 53, 941-945. doi: 10.1016/S0006-3223(03)00061-1.
Chang, K.D., Adleman, N., Dienes, K., Reiss, A.L., & Ketter, T.A. (2003). Decreased N-acetyl aspartate Levels in Pediatric Bipolar Disorder, Biological Psychiatry, 53, 1059-1065. doi: 10.1016/S0006-3223(02)01744-4.
Dienes, K.A., Chang, K.D., Blasey, C., Adleman, N.E. & Steiner, H. (2002) Characterization of bipolar offspring by parent report CBCL. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 36, 337-346. doi: 10.1016/S0022-3956(02)0001.