The doctoral program in Clinical Psychology at American University reflects the scientist-practitioner model of training. The Clinical track within the Psychology doctoral program enables students to obtain intensive training in both research and applied clinical work. When a student enters our program, he/she is assigned to a faculty research mentor to begin learning about research design and methodology in areas of Psychology of interest to the student. This collaboration supports students' development of research questions that lead to thesis and dissertation projects. Faculty supervise students on topics such as Affective and Motivational Processes in Depression, Anxiety Disorders, African-American issues, Eating Disorders, Cognitive Assessment and Therapy, Smoking, Drug Expectancies, Child Clinical Issues, Sports Psychology, and Human Services Program Evaluation. We also equally emphasize clinical training. Beginning in the first semester of the program, students participate in an experiential psychotherapy practicum and receive supervision on their videotaped psychotherapy sessions with clients from the University Counseling Center; in the second and third years of the program, students participate in psychotherapy practica based on the object relations and cognitive behavioral theoretical traditions. The program's psychological assessment sequence also begins in the first year of the program. Our Department is a vital, interactive place. Students have a lot of access to faculty, input into Department decision making, and opportunities to gain expertise in research and clinical skills within the Department and in the Washington area research and clinical community.
The Clinical program is fully accredited by the American Psychological Association Committee on Accreditation (COA) and has been accredited since 1972. COA is part of the Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation (OPCA). OPCA contact information is as follows: Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation
750 First Street, NE • Washington , DC • 20002-4242
Phone: 202-336-5979 • TDD/TTY: 202-336-6123
Fax: 202-336-5978 Email: apaaccred@apa.org
http://www.apa.org/ed/accreditation/
PhD Requirements
Clinical students need to complete 72 credits of course work, 4 comprehensive exams, an ethics requirement, a predoctoral full-year internship, 2 tools, a master's thesis, and a doctoral dissertation. Students need to complete all requirements before the degree will be granted. Please note, clinical students need to complete their internship before being awarded the doctoral degree. Each requirement is explained in more detail below.
Course Work
Please see the General Information section of the graduate student handbook for more information about courses (prerequisites, testing out, etc.).
Clinical students must take 72 credits (24 courses), as follows:
1. Master's Thesis Seminar
2. Dissertation Seminar
3. Dissertation Research credits (3 credits minimum, can take up to 21)
4. History and Systems
5. Psychological Research
6. Psychopathology: Theory and Research
7. Psychotherapy: Theory and Research
8-13. A 3-year sequence of therapy practica, as follows:
(year 1) Experiential Psychotherapy Practicum I and II
(year 2) Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Practicum I & II
(Year 3) Behavior Therapy Practicum I & II
14-16. A clinical assessment sequence, as follows:
(A) PSYC-633, Psychological Assessment I (required, taken first)
(B) PSYC-652, Introduction to Objective Personality and Intelligence Testing (required, taken second)
(C) After 633 and 652 are completed, students must take at least one of the following testing courses. None of the courses is a prerequisite for any of the others.
PSYC-618 Principles of Neuropsychological Assessment.(Prerequisites: Neuroanatomy and Advanced Human Neuropsychology
PSYC-653 Advanced Assessment: Projective Personality
PSYC-654 Advanced Assessment: Integrative Battery Assessment
17-18. Statistics courses
Any two courses from Stat 515 through Stat 524 (must get B- or better to fulfill a requirement). Other courses may be substituted if approved by Scott Parker, the departmental statistician.
This requirement represents a minimum. Statistics courses 500 to 514 can be taken as electives. These courses, while they may not be used to fulfill the statistics requirement, may be used to fulfill the overall credit hour requirement.
19-22. Distribution Requirements
Clinical Ph.D. students must take one of the course options from each of the following four sections (I-IV):
I. Biological Bases of Behavior:
Advanced Human Neuropsychology
or
Neuropharmacology
or
Physiological Psychology
II. Cognitive Affective Bases of Behavior:
Conditioning and Learning
or
Advanced Memory and Cognition
III. Social Bases of Behavior:
Advanced Social Psychology
or
Ethnic and Minority Issues in Psychology
or
Psychology of Sex Similarities and Differences
*If you plan to be licensed in Massachusetts take Advanced Social Psychology NOT Psychology of Sex Similarities and Differences to fulfill the Social Bases of Behavior requirement. Also for Massachusetts, make sure you take Ethnic and Minority Issues in Psychology
IV. Individual Bases of Behavior:
Advanced Child Psychology
or
Advanced Personality Psychology
23-24. Two electives
At least 42 of students' credit hours, including the research requirement, must be completed in residence at American University. (Course credit earned towards a master's degree at American University may, if relevant, be counted towards the Ph.D. degree.) For students admitted with a master's degree earned elsewhere, the requirement is at least 42 credit hours of additional graduate work, of which 36 credit hours, including the research requirement, must be completed at American University.
Comprehensive Exams
Clinical students must pass four comprehensives: two parts of the general written comprehensive exam, one specialty comprehensive, and one other. For students admitted Fall 2000 or later the dissertation orals cannot count as a comprehensive.
General Written Comprehensive
Please see the General Information section at the end of the graduate student handbook for details of the scheduling, content, format, and grading of the general written comprehensive exam.
Specialty Comprehensive
The format for the required specialty comprehensive exam for clinical doctoral students will be modeled on the colloquia presented by faculty job candidates as follows: The student will prepare a presentation of approximately 45 mins. demonstrating advanced, specialized competence in clinical practice. A committee of two faculty members, one of whom must be full-time (not on reduced load) in the department, will conduct a 2 hour oral exam, starting with the student's 45-min presentation and proceeding with questions from the faculty. A written product (e.g., detailed outline of the presentation, psychotherapy report, testing report, and other supporting materials, or data etc.) must be made available to the committee at the time of the oral. The presentation might also include an audio or videotape of a therapy session, as well as slides or transparencies.
Please see: Specialty Comprehensive
"Other" Comprehensive
There are many ways to fulfill the last comprehensive requirement. The idea is to encourage students to engage in the types of activities required of professional psychologists. Two faculty members will serve as readers. One must be from within the AU psychology department; the second may be from outside the department. The comprehensive will be evaluated as satisfactory (pass) or unsatisfactory (not pass).
Possible formats include:
Literature review paper (a la Psychological Bulletin) B not same topic as thesis or dissertation
writeup of an existing data set
grant proposal submission
cost effectiveness analysis (consult Dr. Yates for specifications)
convention symposium or poster presentation or journal article submission (readers must verify that the work was done well and is not overlapping thesis or dissertation)
Ethics
Clinical Ph.D. students must pass the Ethics examination (offered at least twice per year, reading list available from the department office -- changes in the reading list take effect one year after they are made).
1) The examination will be given two times a year-during Spring semester and during the summer.
2) Questions will be designed from the content of course-related ethics issues and the reading list.
3) Students will answer six of seven possible exam questions. To pass, a student's overall grade must be B-, with no grade on any individual question lower than a C.
Students in the Clinical Program can also fulfill the Ethics requirement by taking a course in Ethics at another APA accredited clinical program and receiving a B or better grade. The syllabus for the course must be approved by the GCC.
Matters of ethics will be covered in courses such as Psychopathology, Psychological Assessment I, Psychotherapy, Psychological Research, Assessment of Intellectual Function and Personality and the clinical practica.
Internship
Clinical Ph.D. students may apply for internships only if 1) thesis orals have been passed, 2) final copy of the M.A. thesis has been submitted to the library with the signatures of all members on the committee, 3) the dissertation proposal has been signed by three members of the committee supervising the research, and 4) two areas of the general written comprehensive examination have been passed. Students who have not fulfilled all these requirements may not apply for internships; faculty members are not to write letters of recommendation for such students.
Clinical students must complete 400 hours of practicum experience before beginning the internship.
Clinical Ph.D. students are required to serve a one year internship prior to the completion of the Ph.D. Information regarding the availability of these internships is available from the Director of Clinical Training.
A psychology internship is an organized training program which, in contrast to supervised experience or on-the-job training, is designed to provide the intern with a planned, programmed sequence of training experiences. The primary focus and purpose is assuring breadth and quality of training.
The internship agency must have a clearly designated doctoral level staff psychologist who is responsible for the integrity and quality of the training program, actively licensed (certified or registered) by the State Board of Examiners in the jurisdiction where the program exists, and present at the training facility for a minimum of 20 hours a week.
The internship agency training staff should consist of at least two full time equivalent doctoral level psychologists who serve as primary supervisors, who are actively licensed (certified or registered) as psychologists by the Board of Examiners in the jurisdiction where the program exists.
Intern supervision is provided by staff members of the internship agency or by qualified affiliates of that agency who carry clinical responsibility for the cases being supervised. At least 2 hours per week of regularly scheduled individual supervision are provided by one or more doctoral level licensed psychologists (regardless of whether the internship is completed in one year or two). Supervision is provided with the specific intent of dealing with psychological services rendered directly by the intern.
The internship provides training in a range of psychological assessment and intervention activities conducted directly with recipients of psychological services. At least 25% of the trainee's time is in face to face psychological services to patients/clients.
The internship must provide at least two hours per week in didactic activities such as case conferences, seminars, in service training, or grand rounds. Internship programs have documented due process procedures for interns which are given to interns at the beginning of the training period.
The internship experience must be completed in at least one year full time or two years half time. The agency issues a certificate of internship completion which includes the word "Psychology" to all interns who have successfully completed the program.
Students are strongly encouraged to serve internships accredited by the American Psychological Association or Canadian Psychological Association.
Tools
Clinical students must complete two tools. For detailed information on tools, please see the General Information section at the end of the graduate student handbook.
Master's Thesis and Doctoral Dissertation
Please see the General Information section at the end of the graduate student handbook for details of the master's thesis requirement and doctoral dissertation requirement.
Cognitive Behavioral Training
One area of emphasis available to students in our clinical program is cognitive behavior therapy (CBT). Several members of our faculty (Drs. Ahrens, Carter, Gray, Gunthert, Haaga, and Juliano) are actively involved in the major professional organization in this subspecialty, the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT), and conduct research on cognitive and behavioral factors in the causes and treatment of mood, anxiety, eating, and substance use disorders.
The CBT emphasis in the clinical program is not a formal "track" and does not entail requirements. As general guidelines, a student wishing to emphasize training in CBT while enrolled at AU would do well to pursue some or all of the following opportunities:
1. Conduct CBT-relevant research in collaboration with departmental faculty and/or off-campus collaborators.
2. Take the two semester PSYC-533 Cognitive Behavior Therapy as the third practicum, following two semester practica in experiential and object relations practica.
3. Work in the department's James J. Gray Psychotherapy Training Clinic above and beyond the one-year required Behavior Therapy Practicum course. As soon as the Summer after the first year in the program, students can gain CBT experience under the supervision of Drs. Carter, Gray, and Haaga.
4. Fulfill "tool" requirements by gaining expertise in skills relevant to CBT research and practice. Past examples include training in structured diagnostic interviewing, in applying panic control treatment in a group format, and in leading smoking cessation groups using behavioral techniques.
5. Base the presentation in one's specialty comprehensive exam on CBT expertise.
6. Select externships and internships on the basis of their providing CBT training and an empirical, scientific orientation to clinical work. Recent AU students have, for example, completed internship training at McLean Hospital in Massachusetts, the Palo Alto VA Medical Center, Brown University, the Medical College of Pennsylvania, Temple University, and Massachusetts General Hospital.
7. Familiarize yourself with CBT-relevant professional organizations, which are an excellent source of career development information. Many of our students have presented their research at the annual convention of ABCT, for instance.
Alumni
Some students who have emphasized CBT training while at AU have gone on to secure faculty positions in Psychology departments at:
William Paterson University (Wilson McDermut)
Williams College (Ari Solomon)
University of Cincinnati (Giao Tran)
and psychiatry departments at:
Harvard University (Ellen Burgess)
Tulane University (Alison Edwards Laster)
Often these positions are obtained subsequent to completion of postdoctoral clinical research fellowships such as our students have obtained at:
Stanford University (Ari Solomon)
Brown University (Wilson McDermut, Ellen Burgess)
Providence VA (Jennifer McDermut)
Boston VA National Center for PTSD (Dana Rabois)
Johns Hopkins University (Giao Tran).
Students emphasizing CBT and electing to pursue applied positions have also fared well in the job market, securing staff positions at (among others):
Georgetown University (Elisha Tarlow Friedman)
St. Joseph's Hospital Center for Eating Disorders (Sarah Hubbard)
Catholic University of America Counseling Center (John Chamberlain)
Whether or not students aspire to careers in clinical research, our faculty strongly encourage students to publish the results of their research and thereby contribute to the scientific basis of the field. Recent publications first-authored by AU students include:
Friedman, E. T., Schwartz, R. M., & Haaga, D. A. F. (2002). Are the very happy too happy? Journal of Happiness Studies, 3, 355-372.
Gore, K. L., Carter, M. M., & Parker, S. (2002). Predicting anxious response to a social challenge: The predictive utility of the social interaction anxiety scale and the social phobia scale in a college population. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 40, 689-700.
Hartman-Hall, H. M., & Haaga, D. A. F. (2002). College students' willingness to seek help for their learning disabilities. Learning Disability Quarterly, 25, 263-274.
Leit, R. A., Gray, J. J., & Pope, H. G. (2002). The media's representation of the Ideal Male Body: a Cause for Muscle Dysmorphia (2002). International Journal of Eating Disorders, 31, 334-338.
Rabois, D., & Haaga, D. A. F. (2002). Facilitating police-minority youth attitude change: The effects of cooperation within a competitive context and exposure to typical exemplars. Journal of Community Psychology, 30, 189-195.
Terrill, D. R., Friedman, D. G., Gottschalk, L. A., & Haaga, D. A. F. (2002). Construct validity of the Life Orientation Test. Journal of Personality Assessment, 79, 550-563.
Tran, G. Q., & Haaga, D. A. F. (2002). Coping responses and alcohol outcome expectancies in alcohol abusing and nonabusing social phobics. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 26, 1-17 [abstracted in Alcohol Research, 7, 128-129].
Gore, K. L., & Carter, M. M. (2003). Incorporating the family in the cognitive behavioral treatment of an African-American female suffering from panic disorder with agoraphobia. Journal of Family Psychotherapy, 14, 73-92.
Rabois, D., & Haaga, D. A. F. (2003). The influence of cognitive coping and mood on smokers' self-efficacy and temptation. Addictive Behaviors, 28, 561-573.
Solomon, A., & Haaga, D. A. F. (2003). Reconsideration of self-complexity as a buffer against depression. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 27, 579-591.
Chamberlain, J. M., Haaga, D. A. F., Thorndike, F. P., & Ahrens, A. H. (2004). Metatraits and assessment of attributional style. Journal of Psychology, 138, 521-531.
Freedman, R. E. K., Carter, M.M., Sbrocco, T., & Gray, J. J. (2004). Ethnic preferences for female weight and waist-to-hip ratio: A comparison of African-American and White-American college and community samples. Eating Behaviors, 5, 191-198.
Friedman, S. R., & Weissbrod, C. S. (2004). Gender differences in the continuation of family rituals. Sex Roles, 50, 277-284.
Pearlman, M. Y., Wernicke, R., Thorndike, F. & Haaga, D. A. F. (2004). Stages of change in smoking cessation: A comparison of expectancies among precontemplators and contemplators. Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 22, 131-147.
Sypeck, M.F., Gray, J.J., & Ahrens, A. H. (2004). No longer just a pretty face: Fashion magazines' depictions of ideal female beauty from 1959-1999. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 36, 342-347.
Cintron, J. A., Carter, M. M., Suchday, S., Sbrocco, T., & Gray, J. (2005). Factor structure and construct validity of the anxiety sensitivity index among island Puerto Ricans. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 19, 51-68.
Hill, L. D., Gray, J. J., Carter, M. M., & Schulkin, J. (2005). Obstetrician-gynecologists decision making about the diagnosis of major depressive disorder and premenstrual dysphoric disorder. Journal of Psychosomatic Obstetrics and Gynecology, 26, 41-51.
Admissions Information
In making our admissions decisions, we consider applicants' grades and academic record, GRE's, statement of purpose, letters of recommendation, and programmatic fit. We select a subset of approximately 40 applicants for interviews and make final decisions after considering the interviews. We typically conduct these interviews on two separate dates, one in mid-February, the other in late February.
Students need to submit transcripts, results from both the General and Psychology GRE's, a statement of purpose, three letters of recommendation, and the university application form. A link to the application form is located on the right side links tab on this page.
Minimum requirements for admission include a 3.0 grade point average (GPA; on a 4-point scale) in the undergraduate program, calculated on the last 60 credit hours of course work completed and available at the time of consideration of application for admission. Also, students must have maintained a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0 (on a 4.00 scale) in all relevant graduate work for which a grade has been awarded. An applicant may be admitted without the 3.0 undergraduate GPA if he or she (a) has maintained either a 3.3 cumulative GPA in a master's degree program at an accredited institution; or (b) has maintained a 3.5 cumulative GPA in the last 12 credit hours which are part of a master's or doctoral program still in progress at such an institution at the time of evaluation of the application or in graduate work taken in nondegree status at American University and applicable to the degree program for which he or she is applying. This GPA is a minimum requirement. Typically admission to the clinical program requires a higher GPA. Data on those admitted in recent years is available at the Full Disclosure Data link on this page.
The following link is to a site that describes suggestions from the American Psychological Association for those admitted to doctoral programs as they make their decisions about whether to accept the offer:
http://www.apa.org/ed/accept.html
The availability of financial aid for incoming students is determined each year. In recent years, we have been able to fund 3-4 members of the incoming class. This funding has included tuition remission and a stipend, renewable for four years, contingent upon maintaining good academic standing.
