Edna Foa, Developer of Prolonged Exposure Therapy for PTSD, Dies at 88

Edna Foa, an Israeli American psychologist known for developing prolonged exposure therapy to treat post-traumatic stress disorder, died on March 24, 2026, at a hospital in Philadelphia. She was 88. Her death resulted from complications of pneumonia, as confirmed by her daughter Yael Foa.

Foa completed her clinical psychology training in the late 1960s, a period when treatments for severe anxiety disorders emphasized gradual exposure. Early methods, such as systematic desensitization, involved slow progression toward feared stimuli. Foa's experiences with patients led her to question the effectiveness of these cautious approaches.

One of Foa's initial patients had an intense fear of death-related objects and underwent systematic desensitization, which required daily visits with a small stone from a cemetery, gradually bringing it closer. Foa later recalled that progress was slow under this method. She shifted to a more direct approach by driving the patient to a funeral home for immediate confrontation with the fear.

Development of Prolonged Exposure Therapy In the 1980s, Foa developed prolonged exposure therapy, a protocol consisting of eight to 12 sessions, each lasting 90 minutes.

During these sessions, patients recount traumatic events in the present tense, focusing on vivid details, followed by real-life exposure to related reminders. The method aims to reduce sensitivity to trauma cues and address distorted beliefs about feared situations. Studies conducted over subsequent years demonstrated the therapy's effectiveness in treating PTSD.

The approach gained recognition for its structured format, which organized existing behavioral techniques into a replicable protocol. Foa tested the therapy with and without medication and authored manuals to facilitate its widespread use. In the early 1990s, Foa collaborated on testing the therapy with rape survivors, observing significant improvements.

This work contributed to the understanding that PTSD symptoms are similar across trauma types, including combat and assault. A manual co-authored by Foa on prolonged exposure therapy was translated into nine languages.

Adoption by Veterans Affairs and Broader Impact By the late 2000s, hundreds of thousands of veterans had returned from conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq with PTSD symptoms.

In 2007, the Department of Veterans Affairs adopted prolonged exposure therapy as a first-line treatment for the disorder. By 2010, more than 1,000 VA therapists nationwide had received training in the technique. Foa's academic career included positions at Temple University, the Medical College of Pennsylvania, and the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, where she directed the Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety starting in 1998.

She ceased full-time work in 2023 but continued lecturing. In 2010, Time magazine listed her among the world's 100 most influential people. Foa was born Edna Ben Jacob on December 28, 1937, in Haifa, in present-day Israel, to parents who had emigrated from Poland.

Her father worked as a manager for a construction company, and her mother managed the household. At age 10, she lost her older brother in combat during the 1948 war following Israel's declaration of independence, and her father died four years later. After training to teach on a kibbutz and working briefly at an institution for juvenile offenders, Foa pursued psychology.

She earned an undergraduate degree from Bar-Ilan University in Tel Aviv in 1962, a master's from the University of Illinois, and a doctorate from the University of Missouri, both in clinical psychology. Her early research focused on phobias and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

At Temple University, Foa worked with Joseph Wolpe, a pioneer in behavior therapy who emphasized empirical methods in psychotherapy.

She also studied under Victor Meyer, a British psychologist who researched fear extinguishment in animals through forced exposure. These influences shaped the development of prolonged exposure therapy. Foa had three daughters from her second marriage and was predeceased by her third husband, Charles H.

Kahn, a philosophy professor, who died in 2023. She is survived by daughters Dora, Yael, and Michelle; five grandchildren; and one great-grandchild. Her daughters described her as someone who openly addressed emotions and memories, aligning with her therapeutic principles.