The Science of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Stefan G. Hofmann, Ph.D. is an international expert on psychotherapy for emotional disorders. He is professor of Psychology at Boston University, where he is the Director of the Psychotherapy and Emotion Research Laboratory. Stefan was born and raised in Germany. He studied psychology at the University of Marburg, Germany, where he received his B.A., M.S., and Ph.D. He came to the US in 1991 and has been calling Boston his home since 1996. Prior to that, he was at SUNY Albany and before that at Stanford University. He has been President of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT; 2012-2013) and is presently president of the International Association for Cognitive Psychotherapy. He is presently editor-in-chief of Cognitive Therapy and Research and Associate Editor of Clinical Psychological Science and was formerly associate editor of many other journals, including the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. He is the recipient of ABCT’s Outstanding Service Award, the Aaron T. Beck Award for Excellence in Contributions to CBT by Assumption College and the Aaron T. Beck Award for Significant and Enduring Contributions to the Field of Cognitive Therapy by Academy of Cognitive Therapy. He was an advisor to the DSM-5 Development Process and was a member of the DSM-5 Anxiety Disorder Sub-Work Group, Stefan has published widely as an author of more than 300 peer-reviewed journal articles and 15 books, including An Introduction of Modern CBT (Wiley-Blackwell) and Emotion in Therapy: From Science to Practice (by Guilford Press). He is also the co-author (together with David Barlow and Mark Durand) of one of the best-selling Abnormal Psychology text books in the world, Abnormal Psychology: An Integrative Approach (8th Edition). His research focuses on the mechanism of treatment change, translating discoveries from neuroscience into clinical applications, emotion regulation, and cultural expressions of psychopathology. Stefan has been awarded generous research grants from the NIMH and NARSAD. He is a fellow of the Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Therapies and the Association for Psychological Science. He gave up his American Psychological Association fellowship status when he resigned in protest over the fact that APA was actively involved in torturing political prisoners. He lectures internationally, is a licensed psychologist, and is married with two children. Weblink: http://www.bostonanxiety.org/

Gordon J. G. Asmundson, Ph.D. is an international expert on psychopathologay and its overlap with chronic health conditions. He is a Registered Doctoral Psychologist and Professor of Psychology at the University of Regina. He was born in Zweibrucken Germany on a Canadian Air Force Base and was raised in Canada where he received his BA, MA, and doctorate in Psychology from the University of Manitoba. In 2005-2006 he trained as a Beck Scholar at the Beck Institute for Cognitive Therapy and Research in Philadelphia. He holds several editorial posts, including Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Anxiety Disorders, and serves on the editorial boards for nine other journals. His research and clinical interests are in assessment and basic mechanisms of fear, the anxiety and related disorders, and chronic pain, and the association of these with each other, maladaptive coping, and disability. His pioneering work on fear and avoidance in chronic pain and his shared vulnerability model of co-occurring PTSD and chronic pain have led to significant advances in understanding and treating these prevalent, disabling, and costly conditions. His empirical work on PTSD and other anxiety-related conditions has also influenced changes in the most recent edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Dr. Asmundson has published over 300 peer-reviewed journal articles, 60 book chapters, and 6 books. He is a Fellow of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies and of the Canadian Psychological Association. In addition to numerous prestigious awards received over the course of his career, in 2009 Dr. Asmundson received the highest accolade available to scientists and scholars in Canada – induction as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada – and in 2014 received the Canadian Psychological Association Donald O. Hebb Award for outstanding contributions to the science of psychology. Dr. Asmundson is married and has two children.