Alexis Matusiewicz
E-mail: amatusiewicz@psyc.umd.edu
    Curriculum Vitae
 Bio 

Background Info

I am a third year graduate student in clinical psychology. I received my BA in Psychology and Feminist, Gender and Sexuality Studies from Cornell University in 2005. From 2004 to 2007, I worked as a research assistant for the Cornell Research Program on Self-Injurious Behavior, focusing on psychosocial risk and protective factors associated with initiation, maintenance and cessation of self-harm among adolescents.

Research Interests

My current research interests are related to the mechanisms that underlie dysregulated, or "impulsive" behavior during periods of distress among individuals with borderline personality disorder. Specifically, I am interested in understanding the ways in which neurocognitive deficits observed in this disorder relate to engagement in dysregulated behavior. My current project examines the contributions of non-affective (i.e., stable) and affective ( i.e., transient, mood-linked) executive dysfunction to engagement in risk behavior on a laboratory-based behavioral measure (the Balloon Analogue Risk Task) in women with and without borderline personality disorder.
In addition, I serve as study coordinator for a randomized controlled trial examining the efficacy of a novel treatment aimed at reducing premature dropout, relapse and high risk sexual behavior among heroin users in residential treatment

Publications

MacPherson, L., Tull, M.T.,Matusiewicz, A.K., Rodman, S., Strong, D.R., Kalher, C.W., Hopko, D, Zvolensky, M., Brown, R.A., Lewinsohn, P & Lejuez, C.W. (in press). Randomized Trial of Behavioral Activation Smoking Cessation Treatment for Smokers with Elevated Depressive Symptoms. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.


Matusiewicz, A.K., Reynolds, B. & Lejuez, CW. (in press). Assessment instruments for impulsivity and impulse control disorders. In J.E. Grant and M.N. Potenza (Eds). The Oxford Handbook of Impulse Control Disorders. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc.


Reynolds, E.K., MacPherson, L., Matusiewicz, A.K., & Lejuez, C.W.(submitted for publication). Discrepancy between parent and adolescent perceptions of parental monitoring and adolescent risk behavior engagement.

In Preparation

Bornovalova, M.A., Matusiewicz, A.K., Francis, W., & Lejuez, C. (in preparation). Distress tolerance moderates the relationship between affect intensity and BPD.


Matusiewicz, A.K., Banducci, A., Hopwood, C.J. & Lejuez, C.W. (in preparation). Cognitive behavioral therapies for personality disorders.