Yanni Malliaris, BSc., PhD

Dr Yanni Malliaris is a psychologist, and a Bipolar disorders specialist. He is the founder and clinical director of BipolarLab.com, and leads a team of psychologists, psychiatrists and other mental health professionals who provide highly specialised care to patients with mood disorders. He has over two decades of “formal” clinical experience. 

Early on he trained as a behavior therapist at UCLA under the supervision of Professor Ivar Lovaas, and was introduced to the academic field of mood disorders and Dr Beck’s work by Professor Constance Hammen at UCLA and later on Professor Chris Brewin at UCL. He later pursued doctoral training at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London where he specialised in bipolar disorders, depression and related personality disorders. 

His research work has been funded by many esteemed UK funding bodies but the greatest reward has always been the benefits of his clinical work with his patients.  

In his work he practices both behavior and cognitive therapy within the framework of integrative therapy (psychotherapy + psychopharmacology). He is a firm believer of evidence-based clinical practice but he also places great emphasis on the therapeutic relationship that he considers the foundation for all effective mental health interventions.  

He is also the founder of the Hellenic Bipolar Organisation, a small non-profit organisation, founded in his father’s memory and bipolar illness.

He honours his father’s memory and struggles with his bipolar illness by working well with all his patients to help them recover, and stay well. His father’s early experiences have transformed from a source of pain to a source of knowledge and wisdom that continue to provide meaning and strength to his work. 

His message to all people affected by Bipolar disorder is that this is a serious and complex condition indeed, but we can now treat it, help you befriend it, and also help you stay well with it. Bipolar disorder can be a friend, and not a foe. A friend that requires special life long care like all important friendships in life. 

Dr Beck’s work and Cognitive Behavior Therapy has given us both the knowledge, and effective tools to design effective interventions that can treat even the most complex mood disorders.