Edna B. Foa, psychologist who transformed PTSD treatment, dies at 88

Edna B. Foa spent decades urging trauma survivors to face what terrified them, and in doing so she helped transform post-traumatic stress disorder treatment from a cautious idea into mainstream practice. Foa, a professor of clinical psychology in psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania and director of its Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety, died in Philadelphia on March 24, 2026, at 88.

Her prolonged exposure therapy, developed in the 1980s and 1990s, asked patients to revisit memories, feelings and situations tied to trauma rather than avoid them. The approach was initially met with skepticism, but it became widely used as clinicians saw that gradual confrontation could reduce fear and restore functioning. It is now regarded as one of the most effective interventions for trauma-related disorders, and its influence has reached veterans’ care, specialty trauma clinics and everyday psychotherapy.

Penn described Foa as a foundational force in psychology and a renowned scientist, colleague, mentor and friend. The International OCD Foundation said she was a central figure in the development of cognitive-behavioral models and treatments for PTSD, including prolonged exposure therapy. Her career made her unusual in modern mental health: one researcher who reshaped both PTSD care and obsessive-compulsive disorder treatment.

Foa was born in Israel and later built her professional life in Philadelphia. Penn records show that she received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology and personality from the University of Missouri in 1970 and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Psychiatry at Temple University Medical School in 1971-72. From there, she developed a long publication record and became a major authority on obsessive-compulsive disorder as well as trauma-related illness.

Her work mattered far beyond academic psychology because it changed what clinicians considered possible. Before exposure-based treatment became widely accepted, many patients with severe trauma symptoms were left with limited options and poor remission rates. Foa’s research helped move the field toward structured, evidence-based care that asked patients to confront, rather than continually flee, the memories that controlled their lives. By the end of her career, that once-controversial method had become a standard part of treatment for PTSD and a defining contribution to modern psychotherapy.