Menü

Prof. Dr.

Stefan G. Hofmann

Alexander von Humboldt Professor

Philipps-Universität Marburg FB 04 Psychologie
Schulstrasse 12
35037 Marburg

+49 6421 28-24209 Send e-mail Visit website

Short info

My research focuses on the mechanisms and processes of treatment change, translating discoveries from neuroscience into clinical applications, emotion regulation, and the cultural expressions of psychopathology, especially anxiety disorders. I am interested in predicting therapy outcome with brain imaging using machine-learning approaches. I have been developing Process-based Therapy, a transtheoretial model of psychotherapy based in evolutionary science using a complex network approach to target the fundamental processes of treatment change with simple core therapeutic principles. I am also interested in examining the therapeutic efficacy, moderators, and mechanisms of psychodelica, such as psilocybin, for treatment of anxiety problems.

 

 

Revolutionary in Anxiety Research | Stefan G. Hofmann is Humboldt Professor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Revolutionär der Angstforschung | Stefan G. Hofmann ist Humboldt-Professor

Open Science
Kheirkhah, M., Shariatpanahi, B., Hahn, T., Tiruvadi, V., Koppe, G., Nozari, E., Hofmann, S. G., & Jamalabadi, H. (2025).
Re-engineering the disordered mind: Clinical experimentation, dynamical systems, and AI for personalized psychiatry.
Neuropsychopharmacology
Articles
Akbari, M., Seydavi, M., Sheikhi, S., Hofmann, S. G., & Griffiths, M. D. (2024).
The Persian Tolerance of Uncontrollability Questionnaire and its Correlates: Reliability, Validity, and Measurement Invariance Across Gender.
Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 42(3), 1-19.
Andreoli, G., Kasch, C., Lindsay, C. E., & Hofmann, S. G. (2025).
Pharmacological strategies for treating social anxiety disorder in adults: a Systematic review of studies published since 2015.
Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics, 1-12.
Andreoli, G., Rafanelli, C., Gremigni, P., Hofmann, S. G., & Casu, G. (202$).
Positive sexuality, relationship satisfaction, and health: a network analysis.
Frontiers in Psychology, 15, 1420148.
DOI
Andreoli, G., Rafanelli, C., Hofmann, S.G., & Casu, G. (2025).
A systematic scoping review of fully idiographic network analysis in mental health.
Cognitive Therapy and Research.
Arens, E. A., Donnerstag, L., Hofmann, S. G., & Stangier, U. (2024).
Videobasierte Online-Metta-Meditations-Therapie bei Depression: Eine Pilotstudie zur Bewertung von Akzeptanz und Machbarkeit.
Verhaltenstherapie, 34(1), 32-43.
Asher, M., Barthel, A. L., Hofmann, S. G., Okon-Singer, H., & Aderka, I. M. (2021).
When two hearts beat as one: Heart-rate synchrony in social anxiety disorder.
Behaviour Research and Therapy, 141, 103859.
Benito, K., Pittig, A., Abramowitz, J., Arch, J. J., Chavira, D., de Kleine, R., ... & Smits, J. A. (2025).
Mechanisms of change in exposure therapy for anxiety and related disorders: a research agenda.
Clinical Psychological Science, 13(4), 687-719.
Bittermann, A., Petrule, C., Ritter, V., Haberkamp, A., Hofmann, S. G., & Rief, W. (2025).
Research on translational psychological treatment: A comprehensive bibliometric analysis.
Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice.
Bukhari, Q., Rosenfield, D., Hofmann, S. G., Gabrieli, J. D., & Ghosh, S. S. (2025).
Predicting treatment response to cognitive behavior therapy in social anxiety disorder on the basis of demographics, psychiatric history, and scales: A machine learning approach.
PloS one, 20(3), e0313351.
DOI
Chen, D., Feng, S., Leng Y., Zhou, G., Hofmann, S. G., & Liu, X. (2026).
Development and validation of the Engaging in Life Scale: Long and short forms among Chinese adults with emotional distress.
BMC Psychology.
DOI
Chen, M., Xin, Z., He, M., Wang, Z., Li, Y., Hofmann, S. G., & Liu, X. (2025).
Temporal Dynamics in the Early Stages of Mindfulness Intervention for Emotional Distress: A Network Analysis.
Mindfulness, 1-13.
DOI
Ciarrochi, J., Hernández, C., Hill, D., Ong, C., Gloster, A. T., Levin, M. E., Hofmann, S. G., ...& Hayes, S. C. (2024).
Process-based therapy: A common ground for understanding and utilizing therapeutic practices.
Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 34(3), 265-290.
Cushing, C. A., Lau, H., Hofmann, S. G., LeDoux, J. E., & Taschereau‐Dumouchel, V. (2024).
Metacognition as a window into subjective affective experience.
Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 78(8), 430-437.
de Kleine, R. A., Smits, J. A., & Hofmann, S. G. (2024).
Advancements in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.
Psychiatric Clinics, 47(2), xiii-xv.
Deisenhofer, A. K., Barkham, M., Beierl, E. T., Schwartz, B., Aafjes-van Doorn, K., Beevers, C. G., Hofmann, S. G., ... & Cohen, Z. D. (2024).
Implementing precision methods in personalizing psychological therapies: Barriers and possible ways forward.
Behaviour research and therapy, 172, 104443.
Diamond, D. M., Rosenfield, D., Kaiser, N., Baker, A. W., Hoge, E. A., Khalsa, S. B. S., Hofmann, S. G., ... & Simon, N. M. (2024).
Changes in mindfulness facets across yoga, CBT and stress education in individuals with generalized anxiety disorder.
Journal of Mood & Anxiety Disorders, 6, 100058.
Domschke, K., Seuling, P. D., Schiele, M. A., Bandelow, B., Batelaan, N. M., Bokma, W. A., Hofmann, S. G.,... & Baldwin, D. S. (2024).
The definition of treatment resistance in anxiety disorders: a Delphi method‐based consensus guideline.
World Psychiatry, 23(1), 113-123.
DOI
Dorigo, T., Brown, G. D., Casonato, C., Cerdà, A., Ciarrochi, J., Da Lio, M., ... & Yazdanpanah, N. (2025).
Artificial intelligence in science and society: The vision of USERN.
IEEe Access.
Feldman, B., Szuhany, K. L., Baker, A. W., Khalsa, S. B. S., Hoge, E., Bui, E., ... & Simon, N. M. (2025).
Therapeutic relationship in group cognitive behavior therapy, yoga, and stress education for generalized anxiety disorder.
Journal of psychotherapy integration.
Gorinelli, S., Sairanen, E., Hofmann, S. G., Ciarrochi, J., Tuomisto, M. T., & Keinonen, K. (2025).
A process-based competence evaluation for evidence-based dissemination (PROCEED): a study protocol.
BMC psychology, 13(1), 912.
He, M., Li, Y., Ju, R., Liu, S., Hofmann, S. G., & Liu, X. (2024).
The role of experiential avoidance in the early stages of an online mindfulness-based intervention: Two mediation studies.
Psychotherapy Research, 34(6), 36-747.
Heshmati, S., Westhoff, M., & Hofmann, S. G. (2024).
Novel approaches toward studying change: implications for understanding and treating psychopathology.
Psychiatric Clinics, 47(2), 287-300.
Hofmann, S. G. (2024).
Targeting perfectionism in social anxiety with social mishap exposures.
Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 31(3), 344–347.
Hofmann, S. G. (2025).
A network control theory of dynamic systems approach to personalize therapy.
Behavior Therapy, 56(1), 199-212.
Hofmann, S. G., & Hayes, S. C. (2024).
Process-Based Therapy as a Novel Treatment Approach and Framework for Classifying Psychopathology.
Clinical Psychology in Europe, 6(1), e13727.
Hofmann, S. G., Kasch, C., Pereira, B., Barbosa, C., & Andreoli, G. (2025).
The risks versus the benefits of pharmacological intervention in social anxiety disorder in children.
Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics, 25(3), 299-310.
Hubbard, N. A., Bauer, C. C. C., Siless, V., Auerbach, R. P., Elam, J. S., Frosch, I. R., Hofmann, S. G., ... & Ghosh, S. S. (2024).
The Human Connectome Project of adolescent anxiety and depression dataset.
Scientific Data, 11(1), 837.
Jacoby, R. J., Brown, M. L., Wieman, S. T., Rosenfield, D., Hoeppner, S. S., Bui, E., Hofmann, S. G., ... & Simon, N. M. (2024).
Effect of cognitive behavioural therapy and yoga for generalised anxiety disorder on sleep quality in a randomised controlled trial: the role of worry, mindfulness, and perceived stress as mediators.
Journal of sleep research, 33(1), e13992.
Keltz, S., Quintana, L., Szuhany, K. L., Adhikari, S., Twi-Yeboah, A., Baker, A. W., ... & Simon, N. M. (2025).
Impact of homework engagement on treatment response to group cognitive-behavioral therapy, yoga, and stress education for generalized anxiety disorder.
Cognitive behaviour therapy, 1-12.
Kohl, V., Ebert, M., Pahlen, L., Hufschmidt, B., Nemani, A., Müller, S., Hofmann, S. G., ... & Stangier, U (2026).
Measurement and Analysis of Situation as a Context Variable: A Feasibility Study using EMA and Network Modeling.
Cognitive Therapy and Research, 1-30.
DOI
Kredlow, M. A., Fitzgerald, H. E., Carpenter, J. K., Taghian, N. R., Otto, M. W., Hofmann, S. G., & Phelps, E. A. (2024).
Recurrent negative autobiographical memories and mental health.
Journal of Mood & Anxiety Disorders, 8, 100074.
Kreis, M., Arens, E. A., Hofmann, S. G., & Stangier, U. (2025).
Compassion-focused und metta-basiert Therapie: Ein systematisches Review.
Verhaltenstherapie, 36 (2-3), 78-90.
Leehr, E. J., Groß, J., Hofmann, S. G., Kanske, P., Kircher, T., Nenadić, I., ... & Förster, K. (2025).
What to target? Interventions to modulate key mechanisms underlying the trajectories of affective disorders in the transregional collaborative research center 393.
Der Nervenarzt, 1-7.
Li, W., Gleeson, J., Fraser, M. I., Ciarrochi, J., Hofmann, S. G., Hayes, S. C., & Sahdra, B. (2024).
The efficacy of personalized psychological interventions in adolescents: a scoping review and meta-analysis.
Frontiers in Psychology, 15, 1470817.
Li, Y., Hu, A., Ding, Y., Tang, X., Jiang, X., Leng, Y., ... & Liu, X. (2025).
Temporal Precedence of Distress Tolerance in Predicting Anxiety and Depression: A Daily Diary Approach during Mindfulness-Based Intervention.
Behavior Therapy.
Li, Y., Zhang, Y., Wang, C., Luo, J., Yu, Y., Feng, S., ... & Liu, X. (2025).
Supported mindfulness-based self-help intervention as an adjunctive treatment for rapid symptom change in emotional disorders: A practice-oriented multicenter randomized controlled trial.
Psychotherapy and psychosomatics, 94(2), 119-129.
Matsingos, A., Wilhelm, M., Noor, L., Yildiz, C., Rief, W., Hofmann, S. G., ... & Kircher, T. (2024).
Hype or hope? High placebo response in major depression treatment with ketamine and esketamine: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Frontiers in psychiatry, 15, 1346697.
DOI
Moskow Diamond, D., Curtiss, J., Ito, M., & Hofmann, S. G. (2025).
Influence of anxiety sensitivity on the observe facet of the five facet mindfulness questionnaire: differential item functioning in a clinical population.
BMC psychiatry, 25(1), 312.
Nemani, A., Hufschmidt, B., Kohl, V., Sendig, L., Ebert, M., Bonarius, D., ... & Stangier, U. (2025).
Bipolar vs. unipolar scaling in dynamic network analyses of ecological momentary assessment data.
PloS one, 20(3), e0314102.
Noda, S., Kasch, C., Lindsay, C. E., & Hofmann, S. G. (2025).
Cross-cultural network structures of social anxiety, body dysmorphic, and major depressive disorder symptoms in individualistic vs. collectivistic societies: a comparison between American, German, and Japanese populations.
Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 103090.
DOI
Noda, S., Nishiuchi, M., Andreoli, G., & Hofmann, S. G. (2025).
Examining the Psychometric Network Structure of Social Anxiety: A Scoping Review.
Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 32(1), e70032.
Noda, S., Nishiuchi, M., Kobayashi, M., & Hofmann, S. G. (2025).
Network structure of common mental health problems and life satisfaction in a Japanese population.
Scientific Reports, 15(1), 12325.
Noda, S., Okawa, S., Kasch, C., Vogelbacher, C., Lindsay, C. E., Nishiuchi, M., ... & Hofmann, S. G. (2024).
Development and validation of the Japanese version of the Auckland individualism and collectivism scale: relationship between individualism/collectivism and mental health.
Frontiers in Psychology, 15, 1448461.
Noda, S., Okawa, S., Nishiuchi, M., Kobayashi, M., Weeks, J. W., & Hofmann, S. G. (2026).
Examining the Psychometric Properties and Network Structures of the Bivalent Fear of Evaluation Model of Social Anxiety Disorder in a Japanese Population.
Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 103128.
Ong, C. W., Barthel, A.L., Hofmann, S.G. (2024).
The relationship between psychological inflexibility and well-being in adults: A meta-analysis of the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (AAQ).
Behavior Therapy, 55,26-41.
DOI
Ong, C. W., Ciarrochi, J., Hofmann, S. G., Karekla, M., & Hayes, S. C. (2024).
Through the extended evolutionary meta-model, and what ACT found there: ACT as a process-based therapy.
Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 32, 100734.
Pedroza‐Sotelo, K., Schwarb, H., Auerbach, R. P., Ghosh, S. S., Henin, A., Hofmann, S. G., ... & Hubbard, N. A. (2025).
Evidence of Disrupted Hippocampal Gray‐and White‐Matter Development in Adolescent Anxiety Disorders, Independent From Early‐Life Stress.
Hippocampus, 35(5), e70028.
DOI
Reis, A., Westhoff, M., Quintarelli, H., & Hofmann, S. G. (2024).
Mindfulness as a therapeutic option for obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Expert review of neurotherapeutics, 24(8), 735-741.
Rief, W., Asmundson, G. J., Bryant, R. A., Clark, D. M., Ehlers, A., Holmes, E. A., ... & Hofmann, S. G. (2024).
The future of psychological treatments: The Marburg Declaration.
Clinical Psychology Review, 110, 102417.
Romer, A. L., Hubbard, N. A., Auerbach, R. P., Yendiki, A., Ghosh, S., Henin, A., ... & Pizzagalli, D. A. (2026).
Prospective Relations Between Cortical Thickness and Change in Internalizing Symptoms Are Moderated by Chronic Stress Exposure in Adolescents With Depression and Anxiety.
Clinical Psychological Science, 14(1), 95-111.
Sanabria-Mazo, J. P., Giné-Vázquez, I., Cristobal-Narváez, P., Suso-Ribera, C., García-Palacios, A., McCracken, L. M., ... & Luciano, J. V. (2025).
Relationship between outcomes and processes in patients with chronic low back pain plus depressive symptoms: idiographic analyses within a randomized controlled trial.
Psychotherapy Research, 35(6), 1001-1016.
Schiller, D., Alessandra, N. C., Alia-Klein, N., Becker, S., Cromwell, H. C., Dolcos, F., Hofmann, S. G., ... & Soreq, H. (2024).
The human affectome.
Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 158, 105450.
Smits, J. A., Abramowitz, J. S., Anderson, R. A., Arch, J. J., Badeja, D., Barzilay, S., Hofmann, S. G., ... & Exposure Therapy Consortium. (2025).
Exposure therapy consortium: Outcomes of the proof-of-principle study.
Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 109, 102962.
DOI
Smits, J. A., Abramowitz, J. S., Arch, J. J., Papini, S., Anderson, R. A., Dixon, L. J., Hofmann, S. G., ... & Exposure Therapy Consortium. (2024).
Improving Exposure Therapy: Rationale and Design of an International Consortium.
Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 47(2), 433-444.
Stangier, U., Frick, A., Thinnes, I., Arens, E.A. & Hofmann, S. (2021).
Metta-based therapy for chronic depression: A wait list control trial.
Mindfulness, 12, 2929-2942.
DOI
Wang, Z., Shalihaer, K., Hofmann, S. G., Feng, S., & Liu, X. (2024).
The role of attentional control in mindfulness intervention for emotional distress: A randomized controlled trial with longitudinal mediation analyses.
Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 31(3), e2981.
Wang, Z., Tang, X., Hu, A., Chiu, W., Hofmann, S. G., & Liu, X. (2025).
Decentering as a mediator of the effect of mindfulness on emotional distress: Evidence from cross-sectional and longitudinal designs.
Psychotherapy Research, 35(8), 1458-1472.
Westhoff, M., Berg, M., Reif, A., Rief, W., & Hofmann, S. G. (2024).
Major problems in clinical psychological science and how to address them. Introducing a multimodal dynamical network approach.
Cognitive Therapy and Research, 48(5), 791-807.
Westhoff, M., Heshmati, S., Siepe, B., Vogelbacher, C., Ciarrochi, J., Hayes, S. C., & Hofmann, S. G. (2024).
Psychological flexibility and cognitive-affective processes in young adults’ daily lives.
Scientific Reports, 14(1), 8182.
Westhoff, M., Kasch, C., Reis, A., & Hofmann, S. G. (2026).
Prozessbasierte Therapie.
Ärztliche Psychotherapie, 21(1), 26-32.
Westhoff, M., Vogelbacher, C., Schuster, V., & Hofmann, S. G. (2025).
Individual differences in functional connectivity during suppression of imagined threat.
Cerebral Cortex, 35(1), 65-76.
DOI
Winter, N. R., Blanke, J., Leenings, R., Ernsting, J., Fisch, L., Sarink, K., Hofmann S. G., ... & Hahn, T. (2024).
A systematic evaluation of machine learning–based biomarkers for major depressive disorder.
JAMA psychiatry, 81(4), 386-395.
Yazdanpanah, N., Sedikides, C., Ochs, H. D., Camargo Jr, C. A., Darmstadt, G. L., Cerda, A., ... & USERN Advisory Board (2024).
Global challenges after a global challenge: lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The COVID-19 Aftermath, (1), 1-31.
Zhuang, X., Lai, K. K., Li, X., Dai, X., Ng, T. K., & Hofmann, S. G. (2025).
The Psychometric Properties of the Interpersonal Emotion Regulation Questionnaire Among Chinese Caregivers of Children With Neurodevelopmental Disorders.
Cognitive Therapy and Research, 1-14.