
Tessa Orellana, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at McGovern Medical School at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth Houston). She is a licensed psychologist and provides inpatient clinical services across The Dunn Behavioral Sciences Center. Her primary clinical interests include the treatment and assessment of borderline personality disorder and trauma. She is particularly passionate about education and providing clinical supervision and didactics to trainees.
Orellana earned her PhD in Clinical Psychology from Sam Houston State University. She completed her predoctoral internship at the University of Kansas Medical Center within the Underserved Populations track. She then completed postdoctoral fellowship at Baylor College of Medicine/Ben Taub Hospital. Orellana has experience working with children, adolescents, and adults within community mental health clinics, telehealth clinics, detention and probation centers, primary care clinics, inpatient medical hospitals, and inpatient psychiatric hospitals. Orellana is an active member of the Society for Personality Assessment (SPA).
Education
Doctoral Degree
Clinical Psychology. Sam Houston State University
Internship
Underserved Populations Track. University of Kansas Medical Center
Fellowship
Ben Taub Hospital, Baylor College of Medicine
Research
Clinical Interests
- Borderline Personality Disorder
- Trauma
- Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)
- Psychological Assessment
- Personality Assessment
Research Interests
- Personality Assessment
- Psychological Assessment
Publications
- Exploring Potential Ethnic Bias Among MMPI-3 Scales in Assessing Personality Psychopathology
- When the United States says you do not belong: Suicide-related thoughts and behaviors among immigrant young adults varying in immigration legal status
- Daily physical activity and alcohol use among young adults
- An Examination of the Reliability and Validity of the Comprehensive Assessment of Traits Relevant to Personality Disorder-Static Form (CAT-PD-SF)
- Attachment and loss in the context of US immigration: caregiver separation and characteristics of internal working models of attachment in high school students