Andrew Gloster wanted to become a psychologist. Along
the way to receiving his Ph.D., he also became part of
Eastern Michigan University's
history.
Gloster is the first to earn his Ph.D. in the University's
doctoral program in clinical psychology, which originated
here in 2001.
Gloster defended his doctoral dissertation, "An Ecological
Momentary Assessment of Retrospective Memory Accuracy in
Patients With Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder" May 26. Looking
at a number of various obsessive-compulsive disorder symptoms
in 43 test subjects from the University of Michigan's Anxiety
Disorders Clinic, Gloster examined the subjects' ability
to recall their OCD symptoms.
 |
DISSERTATION DEFENSE: Andrew
Gloster gives
his dissertation defense
in 205 Welch May 26. Gloster
is the
first EMU student to receive his
doctorate
in the Ph.D. program in
clinical psychology. Photo by Ward
Mullens |
"I believe I felt a little bit of extra pressure.
I know people in the administration were more interested
because it was the first one," said Gloster, a native of
Westland and currently a psychology resident in the department
of psychiatry and behavior sciences at the University of
Texas' Health Science Center at Houston. "The first is
always a milestone. I ultimately felt more pressure to
do a good job."
EMU's doctoral program is a full-time, five-year program
that culminates in the Ph.D. after completion of 90 graduate
credit hours. Students in the doctoral program must complete
a master's thesis and earn a master's degree enroute to
completing the doctorate.
The doctorate program offers two tracks, either the clinical
behavior or the general clinic program. While the program
emphasizes classroom training, EMU's on-campus clinic helps
students develop their clinical skills with clients from
the community. The faculty is composed of active researchers
with broad interests in posttraumatic stress disorder,
substance use and abuse, exposure therapy, functional analysis,
personality assessment, clinical health systems, computerized
assessment, behavioral medicine and other specialty
areas.
"Andrew Gloster's thesis and presentation were exceptional,
and set the standard for future Ph.D. candidates," said
Hartmut Hoft, interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.
"Each of the committee members felt extremely good about
the quality of Andrew's work, the product he produced and
the presentation," said John Knapp, head of the department
of psychology and who also sat on the dissertation committee. "Doing
research on clinical populations is very difficult and
his research makes an important contribution to the literature
on obsessive-compulsive disorders. Those who are involved
in the treatment of these individuals will certainly consider
the implication of his work. His research meets the goal
of the program in that it is methodologically sophisticated,
yet has an applied focus that has clinical relevance."
Gloster's dissertation focused on three hypotheses. In
the first, Gloster anticipated OCD patients would have
trouble recalling the frequency and duration of symptoms
they experienced and inputted into a hand-held computer.
Based on his analysis, that was not the case, which he
said made the study more interesting.
The second hypothesis explored looking at whether subjects,
by virtue of using the handheld computers to record OCD
symptoms, changed their symptoms. It did not, which
was consistent with previous research literature, Gloster
said.
The third hypothesis centered on how accurately patients
recalled their symptoms, such as sleep, mood, anxiety,
loneliness and stress following a fight.
"They were not good at knowing how stressed they were
when doing that. They were not good at knowing how their
other symptoms varied at the time they were experiencing
OCD symptoms," Gloster said.
The purpose of the doctoral program, which was recently
accredited by the American Psychological Association, is
to graduate fully licensable clinical psychologists with
state-of-the-art knowledge relating to the psychological
practice of assessment, therapy, research, and program
development and evaluation. A primary program objective
is the preparation of clinical psychologists who will be
effective in supervising and managing therapists in multidisciplinary
mental healthcare delivery systems in a diverse society.
Gloster has accepted an assistant professor position at
the University of Dresden in Dresden, Germany this fall.
He will teach clinical psychology.
"This is what we hoped for in our program," Knapp said. "We
are hopeful that we can continue to produce individuals
who display clinical skill in helping individuals overcome
problems in their lives, and whose contribution to the
clinical literature will enable others to better understand
the complexity of clinical cases and, thereby, facilitate
the treatment of those whose lives are difficult for a
variety of reasons."
All accepted applicants receive a full four-year stipend,
tuition waiver and fellowship to cover their expenses,
which is typical of Ph.D. programs so that students can
complete their degrees in a timely manner, Hoft said. When
students complete their third year, they typically teach
undergraduate courses and pay back some of their financial
support through their teaching hours. Currently, there
are approximately 45 students in the program. Typically,
only 10 candidates per year are accepted and the program
is very selective, Hoft said.
"The national average is seven years" for completing a
doctorate in clinical psychology, Gloster said. "Without
that (financial support), it would have been impossible.
I had doubts about completing it. It's incredibly difficult.
As long as you know why you're doing it, you can get through
it."
Gloster also credited his fianceé and family, as
well as members of the committee for their support and
encouragement.
"I was confident when I started (my dissertation) and
confident when I left the room," Gloster said. "But, you're
never sure until you go back into the room and are greeted
with a handshake and being called 'doctor' for the first
time."
For further information about the program, please call
487-0047 or e-mail psygrad@emich.edu.
