The field of CBT loses a giant

Dr. Edna Foa, Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and Director of the Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety, died on Tuesday, March 24, at the age of 89. Her work transformed the lives of countless individuals, and her death is a profound loss to the fields of clinical psychology and cognitive and behavioral therapies.

Dr. Foa was a towering figure in clinical psychology and CBT and an internationally renowned authority on the psychopathology and treatment of anxiety disorders. She pioneered prolonged exposure, one of the most effective treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and helped shape modern evidence-based care for trauma survivors around the world. Building on Meyer’s seminal work with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), she further developed and refined exposure and response prevention, helping to establish it as a gold-standard treatment for OCD. The emotional processing theory she developed with Michael Kozak in 1986 continues to influence exposure-based treatment to this day. She published several books and more than 200 articles and book chapters and lectured extensively across the globe.

Dr. Foa received numerous honors and awards over the course of her extraordinary career, including being named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2010. Her list of awards include: the Distinguished Scientist Award from the Scientific section of the American Psychological Association; the First Annual Outstanding Research Contribution Award from the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy (now ABCT); the Distinguished Scientific Contributions to Clinical Psychology Award from the American Psychological Association; Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies; International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies and the Philadelphia Behavior Therapy Association; the Exemplary Contribution to the Field of Psychology and Humanity Award from the Philadelphia Society of Clinical Psychologists; the Exemplary Substance Abuse Prevention Program Award from SAMHSA/CSAP, CADCA, and NASADAD; the Annual Signature Service Award from Women Organized Against Rape; and an honorary Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Basel. 

Yet beyond her extraordinary scholarly and clinical contributions, she leaves a legacy in the generations of clinicians and researchers she trained, inspired, and mentored. Dr. Foa continued to conduct research and train therapists in both the United States and Israel until her final days.