Thomas A. Fergus, Ph.D.

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

Lindsey Hernandez, Colby College
Allison Heinrich, University of Houston
Alyssa Hartley, University of Arkansas
Jack Journeycake, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
Brianne Moore, George Fox University

Graduate Student Recruitment

Dr. Fergus anticipates recruiting a Psy.D. student with a start date of Summer 2026.

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