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.

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.