Stefan G. Hofmann

Stefan G. Hofmann (born December 15, 1964) is a German-born clinical psychologist and researcher whose work focuses on emotion regulation, social and cultural influences on well-being, and the biopsychosocial processes of change in psychotherapy, including mindfulness-based interventions and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for mood, stress, and anxiety disorders. He is the Alexander von Humboldt Professor of Translational Clinical Psychology at Philipps-Universität Marburg, and was previously a professor at Boston University.

Hofmann's research includes studies on the personalization of psychotherapy, pharmacological augmentation of exposure therapy, and the development of process-based therapy (PBT). His work on social anxiety has been discussed in outlets including The Atlantic and The New York Times. He has authored more than 500 peer-reviewed articles and over 20 books, including a college textbook on psychopathology, and has been named a Highly Cited Researcher by Web of Science/Clarivate Analytics every year since 2016.

Hofmann was the editor-in-chief of the journal Cognitive Therapy and Research from 2012 to 2024. He is the incoming editor-in-chief of Psychological Bulletin, APA's flagship journal for research synthesis, beginning in 2026. the International Association for Cognitive Psychotherapy (2014–2017),

Education Hofmann began studying psychology in 1985 at Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany, where he earned his diploma in psychology (Dipl.-Psych.) in 1990 and his doctorate (Dr. rer. nat., magna cum laude) in 1993 under the supervision of Anke Ehlers and Walton T. Roth, who were based at Stanford University at the time.

In 2021, Hofmann received the Alexander von Humboldt Professor award and moved to Philipps-Universität Marburg in Germany, where he holds the LOEWE Spitzenprofessur for Translational Clinical Psychology and heads the division for translational clinical psychology.

Research

Clinical translational research Hofmann's research focuses on translating discoveries from emotion research and neuroscience into clinical applications, particularly in the treatment of anxiety disorders. He has published numerous studies on the mechanisms of mindfulness-based interventions and cognitive behavioral therapy, including large-scale meta-analyses of CBT efficacy across psychological disorders. Evidence suggests that d-cycloserine may improve outcomes when exposure sessions are well conducted but can worsen outcomes when exposure is poorly administered, though subsequent meta-analyses have produced mixed results: a Cochrane review found no evidence of benefit over placebo, a large individual participant data meta-analysis reported only a small augmentation effect, and later meta-analyses have questioned the usefulness of d-cycloserine augmentation altogether. The clinical significance of these effects remains debated. Hofmann has drawn an analogy to Schrödinger's cat, noting that d-cycloserine augmentation is "both dead and alive"—its effect uncertain until the quality of the exposure session determines whether it helps or harms.

Social anxiety disorder A substantial portion of Hofmann's research has addressed social anxiety disorder, including its maintaining mechanisms and treatment. In a 2007 theoretical paper, he proposed a comprehensive cognitive model of social anxiety identifying self-focused attention, post-event rumination, and perceived social cost as key maintenance factors, and outlined treatment implications of this model. Drawing on this model, Hofmann has studied social mishap exposures (also termed social cost exposures), in which patients with social anxiety deliberately commit minor social violations during structured exposure exercises—for example, asking a stranger an overly personal question or intentionally making a minor mistake during a public task. The rationale, grounded in the cognitive model, is that such exercises directly test patients' beliefs about the catastrophic consequences of social errors; by observing that feared outcomes typically do not occur or are tolerable, patients may revise inflated estimates of social cost and reduce reliance on safety behavior. His work on social anxiety has received media attention, including coverage in The Atlantic He has also proposed an interpersonal emotion regulation model of mood and anxiety disorders. Hofmann's work on interpersonal emotion regulation argues that emotions are often regulated through relationships, and understanding these social regulatory processes is essential for understanding psychopathology and therapeutic change. He has developed the Interpersonal Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (IERQ). Among his other contributions to emotion research, Hofmann has investigated the role of intranasal oxytocin in psychiatric symptoms; a 2015 meta-analysis on this topic was retracted and replaced in 2016 after coding errors were identified, and the corrected analysis found no evidence of efficacy over placebo.

Process-based therapy In collaboration with Steven C. Hayes, Hofmann has been developing process-based therapy (PBT), an idiographic treatment approach based on cognitive behavioral therapy that integrates insights from evolution theory and complex network theory to target the processes underlying effective psychological treatments. Together with David Sloan Wilson, they have also argued that clinical psychology should be grounded in an evolutionary framework. PBT conceptualizes psychopathology as maladaptation to a given context, rather than as an expression of a latent disease entity. PBT views the person as a dynamic system of biopsychosocial processes that requires healthy flexibility to adapt to an ever-changing context. These processes interact to form a complex network. The structural and dynamic features of this network are the foundations for developing a personalized, process-focused approach to psychotherapy. Effective treatment targets the underlying core processes driving psychopathology rather than relying on diagnostic categories. Although PBT is rooted in CBT and other evidence-based treatments, it rejects the contemporary therapy protocol-for-syndrome approach and advocates for a functional-analytic and idiographic approach to therapy.

PBT has attracted some criticism. Paul M. G. Emmelkamp questioned whether a process-based approach is necessary, arguing that existing evidence-based treatments already incorporate process considerations and that the empirical support for PBT remains limited.

Selected works

Books Hofmann, S. G. (2011). An introduction to modern CBT: Psychological solutions to mental health problems. Wiley-Blackwell. . Hofmann, S. G. (2016). Emotion in therapy: From science to practice. Guilford Press. . Barlow, D. H., Durand, V. M., & Hofmann, S. G. (2022). Psychopathology: An integrative approach to mental disorders (9th ed.). Cengage Learning. . Hayes, S. C. & Hofmann, S. G. (Eds.) (2018). Process-based CBT: The science and core clinical competencies of cognitive behavioral therapy. New Harbinger. . Hofmann, S. G. & Doan, S. N. (2018). The social foundations of emotion: Developmental, cultural, and clinical dimensions. American Psychological Association. . Hayes, S. C. & Hofmann, S. G. (Eds.) (2020). Beyond the DSM: Toward a process-based alternative for diagnosis and mental health treatment. Context Press. . Hofmann, S. G. (2020). The anxiety skills workbook: Simple CBT and mindfulness strategies for overcoming anxiety, fear, and worry. New Harbinger. . Hofmann, S. G., Hayes, S. C., & Lorscheid, D. (2021). Learning process-based therapy: A skills training manual. New Harbinger. . Hofmann, S. G. (2023). CBT for social anxiety. New Harbinger. .

Selected articles Hofmann, S. G. (2007). Cognitive factors that maintain social anxiety disorder: A comprehensive model and its treatment implications. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, 36, 195–209. Hofmann, S. G., Sawyer, A. T., Witt, A. A., & Oh, D. (2010). The effect of mindfulness-based therapy on anxiety and depression: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 78(2), 169–183. Hofmann, S. G., Asnaani, A., Vonk, I. J., Sawyer, A. T., & Fang, A. (2012). The efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy: A review of meta-analyses. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 36(5), 427–440. Hofmann, S. G., Sawyer, A. T., Fang, A., & Asnaani, A. (2012). Emotion dysregulation model of mood and anxiety disorders. Depression and Anxiety, 29(5), 409–416. Hofmann, S. G. (2014). Interpersonal Emotion Regulation Model of Mood and Anxiety Disorders. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 38(5), 483–492. Whitfield-Gabrieli, S., Ghosh, S. S., Nieto-Castanon, A., Saygin, Z., Doehrmann, O., Chai, X. J., Reynold, G. O., Hofmann, S. G., Pollack, M. H., & Gabrieli, J. D. E. (2016). Brain connectomics predict response to treatment in social anxiety disorder. Molecular Psychiatry, 21(5), 680–685. Hofmann, S. G. (2016). Schrödinger's cat and d-cycloserine to augment exposure therapy – both are dead and alive. JAMA Psychiatry, 73(8), 771–772. Hayes, S. C. & Hofmann, S. G. (2017). The third wave of CBT and the rise of process-based care. World Psychiatry, 16(2), 245–246. Hofmann, S. G. & Hayes, S. C. (2019). The future of intervention science: Process-based therapy. Clinical Psychological Science, 7(1), 37–50. Phelps, E. A. & Hofmann, S. G. (2019). Memory editing from science fiction to clinical practice. Nature, 572, 43–50. Hofmann, S. G. (2020). The age of depression and its treatment. JAMA Psychiatry, 77(7), 667–668. Hayes, S. C. & Hofmann, S. G. (2021). "Third-wave" cognitive and behavioral therapies and the emergence of a process-based approach to intervention in psychiatry. World Psychiatry, 20(3), 363–375. Hofmann, S. G. (2024). Targeting perfectionism in social anxiety with social mishap exposures. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 31, 344–347.

Awards and recognition Aaron T. Beck Award for Significant and Enduring Contributions to Cognitive Therapy, Academy of Cognitive Therapy (2015) Alexander von Humboldt Professor (2021)