Thomas A. Fergus, Ph.D.
Associate Chair Associate Professor of Psychology
Psychology & Neuroscience
Education
Ph.D., Northern Illinois University, 2012
B.A., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2006
Biography
Dr. Fergus received his doctorate in clinical psychology from Northern Illinois University (NIU) and completed his clinical internship at the University of Illinois-Chicago, Department of Psychiatry. Dr. Fergus joined the Baylor faculty in 2012.
Research
Dr. Fergus's research interests relate to gaining a better understanding of anxiety disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). He is also interested in examining variables that might span across psychological disorders, such as metacognitive beliefs.
For more information, please click here.
Representative Publications:
Fergus, T. A., & Bardeen, J. R. (2019). The Metacognitions Questionnaire-30: An examination of a bifactor model and measurement invariance among men and women in a community sample. Assessment, 26, 223-234.
Fergus, T. A., Kelley, L. P., & Griggs, J. O. (2019). The combination of health anxiety and somatic symptoms: A prospective predictor of healthcare usage in primary care. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 42, 217-223.
Fergus, T. A., & Spada, M. M. (2018). Moving toward a metacognitive conceptualization of cyberchondria: Examining the contribution of metacognitive beliefs, beliefs about rituals, and stop signals. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 60, 11-19.
Fergus, T. A., & Wheless, N. (2018). Examining incremental explanatory power in accounting for worry severity: Negative metacognitive beliefs uniquely predict worry severity following a worry episode. Anxiety, Stress, & Coping, 31, 514-525.
Fergus, T. A., & Bardeen, J. R. (2016). The attention training technique: A review of a neurobehavioral therapy for emotional disorders. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 23, 502-516.
See my Google Scholar page for a complete list of publications.
Current Psy.D. Students
Brad Sievers, Iowa State University
Lindsey Hernandez, Colby College
Allison Heinrich, University of Houston
Alyssa Hartley, University of Arkansas
Jack Journeycake, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
Graduate Student Recruitment
Dr. Fergus anticipates recruiting a Psy.D. student with a start date of Summer 2025.
Courses taught at Baylor
- PSY 3330 - Psychopathology
- PSY 4327 - Theories of Personality
- PSY 5423 - Psychotherapy II: Advanced Cognitive-Behavior Therapy
- PSY 5432 - Psychological Assessment II: Personality