Thomas Ollendick awarded honorary doctorate from Stockholm University
University Distinguished Professor of Psychology Thomas H. Ollendick has received an honorary doctorate from Stockholm University. He is one of 10 individuals internationally who will receive the honor.
An honorary doctorate is one of the university’s most coveted recognitions and is an expression of the university’s appreciation of outstanding academic contributions.
Ollendick has collaborated with Stockholm University’s Lars-Göran Öst, professor of psychology, and his students on various projects funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, which examine the development, assessment, course, and treatment of childhood phobias and anxieties. He and Öst have published several papers together and, along with Ollendick’s former student, Thompson Davis III, are publishing a book entitled “Intensive Treatments of Specific Phobias” to be released in 2012.
“Receiving this award from Stockholm University for my lifetime work with children and adolescents is a distinct honor,” Ollendick said. “I am humbled by this award and truly appreciative of this recognition.”
Ollendick’ s career has been devoted to psychiatric illnesses in children and adolescents, ranging from developmental disabilities and behavioral disorders such as ADHD and Oppositional Defiant Disorder, to eating disorders and problems such as childhood anxieties and phobias, for which Ollendick is considered one of the world’s leading researchers in the field. Ollendick has used a broad approach in his research, from studying fundamental psychopathology to developing and testing different treatment alternatives from a social cognitive theory framework.
He received his Ph.D. from Purdue University in 1971 and has been with the university for 30 years.
In another note, Ollendick recently presented the opening keynote address at the Romanian Society of Clinical Psychology and the closing keynote address at the 41st Annual Congress of the European Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies in Reykjavik, Iceland.
With over 50,000 undergraduate and master’s students and 1,800 doctoral students, Stockholm University is the largest university in Sweden. It offers distinguished programs in law, social sciences, humanities, and science, among others.
