Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety

04/17/2026

STILL DOING EXPOSURE WORK ALONE?
You don’t have to anymore.

Learn more: https://linktr.ee/ctsaatpenn
👥 CTSA’s Online Group Consultation for Exposure Therapy is back this summer—and it’s your chance to get expert eyes on your real cases, not just theory.

✅ Present your exposure cases
✅ Get live feedback + clinical guidance
✅ Learn from other clinicians’ cases
✅ Build confidence using EX/RP & PE

🧠 What’s included:
• 6 weekly 90‑minute Zoom consultations
• Small group (up to 10 clinicians)
• Case discussion + video review
• Supportive, expert‑led environment

📅 Wednesdays | 1:00–2:30 PM EST
May 27 – July 1, 2026

🎓 Facilitated by:
Elizabeth Turk‑Karan, Ph.D.
Licensed Clinical Psychologist & Exposure Specialist
Director of Practicum & Internship Training at CTSA
Expert in EX/RP for OCD, PE for PTSD, panic, social anxiety, and phobias

👩‍⚕️ Who can join?
Licensed clinicians — and unlicensed clinicians practicing under supervision.
(All experience levels welcome.)

✨ Stop second‑guessing your exposure work.
✨ Start consulting with an expert + peers who get it.

👉 Spots are limited. Register now.

04/15/2026

🌱 CTSA Spring 2026 Training Series

Advance Your Skills in Exposure‑Based Treatment

This spring, the CTSA is offering a robust lineup of trainings designed for clinicians who want to deepen their expertise in exposure‑based, evidence‑driven care for anxiety‑related disorders.

Whether you’re building foundational skills or refining advanced techniques, our Spring 2026 offerings provide practical, clinically focused training led by experts in the field.

🧠 Why Train with CTSA?
~ Evidence‑based, exposure‑focused instruction
~ Practical tools you can use immediately in practice
~ Designed for psychologists, therapists, trainees, and allied professionals
~ Live trainings and extended consultation opportunities

📢 Registration is now open.
Join us this spring to strengthen your clinical skills and deliver more effective anxiety treatment.

🔗 Learn more and register at: https://linktr.ee/ctsaatpenn

04/13/2026

🧠 Imaginal Exposure & OCD Treatment: https://linktr.ee/ctsaatpenn

Imaginal Exposure is a cornerstone of Exposure and Response Prevention (EXRP)—yet many clinicians struggle with how to craft scripts that truly activate fear networks and drive meaningful change.

In this CTSA workshop, clinicians will learn how to develop high‑impact imaginal exposure scripts that go beyond surface‑level habituation to promote deep emotional processing and cognitive shifts.

✅ Identify and target clients’ core fears
✅ Structure narratives that maximize emotional engagement
✅ Adapt scripts as treatment progresses
✅ Avoid common imaginal exposure pitfalls
✅ Dismantle avoidance and obsessive fear responses

Through interactive exercises, case discussions, and expert feedback, participants will leave with practical tools and renewed confidence to individualize imaginal exposures and make EXRP as effective as possible for clients with OCD.

🔍 Perfect for clinicians looking to refine their exposure therapy approach and enhance treatment outcomes.

04/10/2026

💊🧠 Anxiety Medications: Helpful—but Not Without Questions

Medications like SSRIs (e.g., sertraline, fluoxetine) and benzodiazepines (e.g., Xanax, Ativan) are commonly used to treat anxiety. They can be life‑changing—but their long‑term use remains a major point of debate.

✅ What Medications Can Do Well

Reduce symptom intensity
Improve daily functioning
Help stabilize anxiety so therapy can work
Be effective as part of a broader treatment plan

⚠️ Ongoing Concerns

SSRIs: emotional blunting, sexual side effects, withdrawal challenges
Benzodiazepines: tolerance, dependence, cognitive effects with long‑term use
Risk of medications becoming a substitute for skill‑based treatment, rather than a support

🧠 What the Evidence Points To
Medication alone doesn’t address:

Avoidance patterns
Fear learning
Long‑term coping strategies

That’s why research consistently supports psychotherapy—especially exposure‑based treatments—as essential for lasting change.

💡 The Takeaway
Anxiety medications aren’t “good” or “bad”—they’re tools.

Best outcomes happen when:

Medication use is thoughtful and monitored
Combined with evidence‑based psychotherapy
Re‑evaluated regularly, not left on autopilot

Effective anxiety treatment isn’t about choosing meds OR therapy—it’s about using the right tool at the right time.

04/08/2026

🤖🧠 Can AI Replace Psychotherapy?

Short answer: No—and here’s why.

As AI‑based mental health tools become more common, it’s important to clarify what they can and cannot do—especially in the treatment of anxiety disorders.

🛑 What AI Therapy Can’t Replace

Psychotherapy involves more than skills and information. It requires:

Clinical judgment to assess risk, avoidance, and treatment fit
Therapeutic alliance, which predicts outcomes across therapies
Real‑time responsiveness to distress, safety behaviors, and subtle avoidance
Ethical responsibility for risk management and complex presentations

AI tools cannot observe, attune, or intervene with the nuance required for effective psychotherapy—especially for exposure‑based and trauma‑informed care.

📱 Where AI Fits (and Where It Doesn’t)

AI tools may help with:

Psychoeducation
Skills reminders and practice
Symptom tracking

But they do not provide psychotherapy and should not be framed as such.

At CTSA, psychotherapy—grounded in evidence‑based practice—remains essential.

Technology can support care, but it cannot replace the expertise, relationship, and accountability of a trained clinician.

The future of anxiety treatment isn’t automated therapy—it’s thoughtful integration without compromising standards of care.

04/06/2026

Clinicians: Learn more at our next ARFID workshop on April 27!
https://linktr.ee/ctsaatpenn

🚨 “PICKY” ISN’T THE WHOLE STORY 🚨
Not every selective eater will “outgrow it.”
ARFID (Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder) is a real and serious feeding disorder—and it’s often misunderstood.

🍽️ This isn’t about control
🍽️ This isn’t about looks
🍽️ This is about fear, sensory overwhelm, and safety

For individuals with ARFID, food can feel:
⚠️ unsafe
⚠️ overwhelming
⚠️ impossible

And forcing “just one bite” can make things worse.

💡 Here’s what does help:

✔️ Understanding, not pressure
✔️ Structured, supportive care
✔️ A team approach that meets the individual where they are

At CTSA, we believe every child and family deserves support that’s informed, compassionate, and trauma‑aware—because eating is about more than food. It’s about trust.

🧡 Awareness is the first step.
🧡 Support is the next.

04/04/2026

Another tribute to Dr. Foa's life and legacy in the Wall Street Journal.

By helping patients confront their trauma, she developed a way to give them power over it.

04/03/2026

Myth: “Pure O” OCD means there are no compulsions—only obsessions.

Reality: Clients with “Pure O” OCD do engage in compulsions. These compulsions are often internal, mental, or subtle, which makes them easier to miss in assessment and harder for clients to identify as compulsive behavior.

When we conceptualize “Pure O” as obsession-only, we risk:

- Under-identifying compulsions
- Mislabeling rumination as insight or processing
- Missing key ERP targets
- Reinforcing reassurance-seeking within therapy

Common Mental Compulsions in “Pure O” OCD
These behaviors are performed to neutralize distress, reduce uncertainty, or regain a sense of certainty or safety:
1. Mental Rumination (Replaying intrusive thoughts or scenarios, Analyzing “what it means” about the self, Trying to solve or disprove the obsession, Asking internally: “Why did I think that?” “What if this means…”)

2. Mental Checking (Monitoring thoughts, feelings, or bodily sensations,
Checking for certainty “Do I feel anxious enough?” “Do I feel aroused?”, Scanning memory for evidence that disproves feared conclusions)

3. Reassurance-Seeking (Silently reassuring oneself, Repeatedly asking clinicians, loved ones, or the internet for validation, Interpreting therapist reactions as confirmation or disconfirmation)

4. Thought Neutralization (Mentally replacing a “bad” thought with a “good” one,
Praying, counting, or repeating phrases to cancel out thoughts, Using mantras to create certainty rather than tolerance)

5. Mental Review (Reviewing past events to ensure no harm, wrongdoing, or moral failure occurred, Replay conversations or interactions to confirm intent or accuracy)

Clinical Takeaway
Mental compulsions function no differently than observable rituals:
they maintain the obsession–compulsion cycle by teaching the client that relief comes from control, certainty, or neutralization.

Effective treatment requires:

- Explicit identification of mental rituals
- Clear distinction between rumination vs. treatment-relevant processing
- ERP that targets internal responses—not thought content
- Modeling uncertainty tolerance rather than reassurance

“Pure O” is not thought-only OCD—it’s OCD where the compulsions are easier to hide.

03/31/2026

Remembering Dr. Foa through her obituary in the Philadelphia Inquirer—an extraordinary individual whose contributions left an indelible mark on so many lives. Our thoughts continue to be with her family, friends, and all who were influenced by her work.

“Her work truly changed the field,” colleagues said. She “spent her career doing what she believed mattered most: studying what actually helps people get better."

03/30/2026

Fear is powerful—but it’s also treatable.

Specific phobias can quietly limit clients’ lives, reinforcing avoidance and distress.

Exposure therapy changes that—and it’s the gold standard for lasting improvement.

Learn more in our workshop: https://linktr.ee/ctsaatpenn

Join us for Overcoming Fear: Exposure Therapy for Specific Phobias, a beginner‑friendly, full‑day workshop designed to help clinicians confidently apply exposure‑based techniques in practice.

✅ Learn core principles of exposure therapy
✅ Build effective, step‑by‑step exposure hierarchies
✅ Troubleshoot common barriers to treatment success
✅ Earn 6 CE credits

📅 Monday, April 20, 2026
⏰ 9:30 AM–5:00 PM EST
💻 Live on Zoom

🎓 Presented by Dr. Sandy Capaldi, licensed clinical psychologist and nationally recognized expert in exposure‑based treatments.

👉 Register now and start helping clients face fear with confidence.

03/27/2026

In Tribute to Edna B. Foa, PhD

The Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety (CTSA) mourns the passing of our founder, mentor, and guiding force, Edna B. Foa, Ph.D.

Edna was far more than an internationally renowned scientist and clinician: she was the heart of CTSA. Through her brilliance, determination, and unwavering belief in the power of evidence-based care, she transformed the understanding and treatment of anxiety-related disorders and changed the lives of countless individuals and families around the world.

As a pioneer of exposure-based therapies, Edna was fearless in challenging convention, tireless in her pursuit of scientific rigor, and deeply compassionate toward those who suffered. She held us to the highest standards while inspiring curiosity, humility, and courage. For many of us, she was not only a teacher and supervisor, but a lifelong mentor whose influence shaped our careers, our clinical practice, and our values.

Edna built CTSA as a place where science and humanity coexist: where patients are treated with dignity, clinicians are trained with care, and research is conducted with integrity and purpose. That mission endures because of her.

We will honor Edna’s legacy by continuing the work she devoted her life to: advancing science, training future generations, and helping people reclaim their lives from fear.

She will be deeply missed and forever remembered.