Director: Alissa Ellis, PhD

DIRECTOR and CLINICAL NEUROPSYCHOLOGIST - PSY CA 26157 | PSY NY 025011

Dr. Alissa Ellis is the founder and director of Ellis Effect psychological group. She is a clinical neuropsychologist with expertise in psychodiagnostics and treatment for children, adolescents and adults with mood disorders, anxiety disorders, and ADHD. She offers a unique and empirically supported perspective to develop individualized treatment plans tailored to the client and the family.

Dr. Ellis is the founder of the thinkSMART® program, a novel treatment for weaknesses in executive functioning. 

She is currently a Health Sciences Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry in the Semel Institute of Neuroscience and Human Behavior, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA.  

Dr. Ellis is a prolific researcher in the area of mood disorders. She has received a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health examining the neurophysiological profile of reward and frustration in adolescents with mood difficulties. She hopes to use this research to aid in the development of novel, brain-based interventions.  ​

​TRAINING

• Post-Doctoral Fellowship (2012-2014): T32 Research Fellow, Child and Adolescent Mood Disorders, Semel Institute of Neuroscience and Human Behavior, UCLA
• Post-Doctoral Fellowship (2012-2015): Clinical Neuropsychology, Semel Institute of Neuroscience and Human Behavior, UCLA
• Pre-Doctoral Internship (2011-2012): Pediatric Neuropsychology Track, Semel Institute of Neuroscience and Human Behavior, UCLA

​EDUCATION

• PhD (2012): Clinical Psychology (Neuropsychology track), University of Texas at Austin
• MA (2007): Clinical Psychology, University of Texas at Austin
• BA (2004): University of Southern California

PUBLICATIONS

• Kellough, J. L., Beevers, C. G., Ellis, A. J., & Wells, T. T. (2008).  Sustained selective attention in clinically depressed young adults: An eye tracking study.  Behaviour Research and Therapy, 46, 1238-1243.
• Beevers, C. G., Wells, T. T., Ellis, A. J., & Fischer, K. (2009). Interpretation of emotionally ambiguous interpersonal stimuli among dysphoric and nondysphoric individuals.  Cognitive Therapy and Research, 33, 283-290.
• Beevers, C. G., Wells, T. T., Ellis, A. J., McGeary, J. E. (2009). Association of the serotonin transporter gene promoter region (5-HTTLPR) polymorphism with biased attention for emotional stimuli. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 118, 670-681.
• Ellis, A. J., Beevers, C. G. & Wells, T. T., (2009). Emotion dysregulation in depression—Support for emotion context insensitivity in response to performance based feedback. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 40, 443-454.
• Beevers, C. G., Ellis, A. J., Wells, T. T., and McGeary, J. E. (2010). Serotonin transporter gene and the selective processing of emotional cues. Biological Psychology, 83, 260-265.
• Wells, T. T., Beevers, C. G. Cherny, A. E., and Ellis, A. J. (2010).  Gaze behavior predicts memory bias for angry facial expressions in stable dysphoria. Emotion, 10 (6), 894-902.
• Ellis, A. J., Fischer, K. M., & Beevers, C. G. (2010). Is dysphoria about being red and blue?  Potentiation of anger and reduced distress tolerance among dysphoric individuals. Cognition and Emotion, 24, (4)596-608.
• Beevers, C. G., Lee, H., Wells, T. T., Ellis, A. J. & Telch, M. J. (2011). Eye gaze bias for emotion stimuli prospectively predicts PTSD, depression, and anxiety symptoms among soldiers deployed in Iraq. American Journal of Psychiatry, 168 (7), 735-741.
• Beevers, C. G., Ellis, A. J., & Reid, R. M. (2011). Heart rate variability predicts cognitive reactivity to a sad mood provocation. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 35(5), 395-403.
• Ellis, A. J., Beevers, C. G. & Wells, T. T., (2011). Attention allocation and incidental recognition of emotional information in dysphoria. Cognitive Therapy and Research. 35 (5), 425-433.
• Ellis, A. J., Beevers, C. G., Hixon, J. G.  & McGeary, J. E. (2011). Serotonin transporter promoter region (5-HTTLPR) polymorphism predicts resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia. Psychophysiology, 48 (7), 923-926.
• Clasen, P. C., Wells, T. T., Ellis, A. J., & Beevers, C. G. (2013). Attentional biases and the persistence of sad mood in major depressive disorder. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 122 (1), 74-85.
• Ellis, A. J., Vanderlind, M., & Beevers, C. G. (2013).  Enhanced anger reactivity and reduced distress tolerance in Major Depressive Disorder. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 37 (3), 498-509.
• Wells, T. T., Clerkin, E. M., Ellis, A. J., Beevers, C. G. (2014).  Effects of antidepressant medication use on emotional information processing in major depression. American Journal of Psychiatry, 171 (2), 195-200.
• Ellis, A. J., Wells, T. T., Vanderlind, W. M., & Beevers, C. G. (2014). The role of controlled attention on recall in major depression. Cognition and Emotion, 28 (3),520-529.
• Disner, S. G., McGeary, J. E., Wells, T. T., Ellis, A. J. & Beevers, C. G. (2014). 5-HTTLPF, HTR1A, and HTR2A cumulative cumulative genetic score interacts with mood reactivity to predict mood-congruent gaze bias. Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Neuroscience, 14 (4),1259-1270.
• Ellis, A. J., Portnoff, L. C., Axelson, D. A., Kowatch, R. A., Walshaw, P., & Miklowitz, D. J. (2014). Parental expressed emotion and suicidal ideation in adolescents with bipolar disorder. Psychiatry Research, 216 (2), 213-216.
• Wells, T. T., Judah, M., Ellis, A. J., McGeary, J. E., Beevers, C. G. (2016). Inhibition of Attention for Affective Material: Contributions by HOMER1 Gene Variation. Psychology & Neuroscience.
• Ellis, A.J., Schumake, J., Beevers, C.G. (2016). The effects of respiratory sinus arrhythmia on anger reactivity and persistence in major depression. Psychophysiology.​​
• Ellis, A.J,, Kinzel C., Salgari, G., & Loo, S.K. (2017) Frontal alpha asymmetry predicts inhibitory processing in youth with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Nueropsychologia. https://doi.org/10/1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.06.003

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