- Basic premise: Depression often follows changes in one’s interpersonal environment (e.g., struggle with a significant other, loss of a loved one). Once depressed, symptoms can lead to compromised interpersonal functioning, which can precipitate continued stressful events. The goal in therapy is to address both the stressful life events and improved social support.
- Essence of therapy: IPT focuses on improving problematic interpersonal relationships or circumstances that are directly related to the current depressive episode.
- Length: Acute IPT for major depression is typically delivered over 12-16 sessions, although courses as short as 3-8 sessions have demonstrated efficacy. Maintenance IPT has been tested in weekly, biweekly, and monthly doses over as long as three years. A briefer, more structured version of IPT, Interpersonal Counseling (IPC), is designed for use primarily in non-mental health settings, such as primary care clinics. IPC is typically delivered in 3-8 sessions.
Note: Interpersonal psychotherapy was developed by Klerman and Weissman for depression and has been expanded for other disorders. A brief history of interpersonal psychotherapy (Weissman, 2006) describes the development of IPT. If you are interested in joining the international IPT organization, contact the IPT Google group.
Other Treatment Resources
- Can psychotherapies for depression be discriminated? A systematic investigation of cognitive therapy and interpersonal therapy (DeRubeis et al., 1982)
- Efficacy of interpersonal psychotherapy as a maintenance treatment for recurrent depression: Contributing factors (Frank et al., 1991)
- Psychotherapy adherence of therapists treating HIV-positive patients with depressive symptoms (Markowitz et al., 2000)
Meta-analyses and Systematic Reviews
- Interpersonal psychotherapy for depression: A meta-analysis (Cuijpers et al., 2011)
- Comparative efficacy of seven psychotherapeutic interventions for patients with depression: A network meta-analysis (Barth et al., 2013)
- Mechanisms of change in interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) (Lipsitz & Markowitz, 2013)
- Interpersonal counseling (IPC) for depression in primary care (Weissman et al., 2014)
Clinical Trials
Major Depressive Disorder
- Treatment effects on the social adjustment of depressed patients (Weissman et al., 1974)
- The efficacy of drugs and psychotherapy in the treatment of acute depressive episodes (Weissman et al., 1979)
- Depressed outpatients: Results one year after treatment with drugs and/or interpersonal psychotherapy (Weissman et al., 1981)
Dysthymic Disorder
- The chronic depressive in the community: Unrecognized and poorly treated (Weissman & Klerman, 1977)
- A randomized controlled trial comparing moclobemide and moclobemide plus interpersonal therapy in the treatment of dysthymic disorder (de Mello, Myczcowski, & Menezes, 2001)
- A comparative trial of psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy for “pure” dysthymic patients (Markowitz et al., 2005)
- Pilot study of interpersonal psychotherapy versus supportive psychotherapy for dysthymic patients with secondary alcohol abuse or dependence (Markowitz et al., 2008)
Maintenance IPT
- Treatment of depression by drugs and psychotherapy (Klerman et al., 1974)
- Follow-up of depressed women after maintenance treatment (Weissman, Kasl, & Klerman, 1976)
- Differential symptom reduction by drugs and psychotherapy in acute depression (DiMascio et al., 1979)
- Early recurrence in unipolar depression (Frank, Kupfer, & Perel, 1989)
- Three-year outcomes for maintenance therapies in recurrent depression (Frank et al., 1990)
- Nortriptyline and interpersonal psychotherapy as maintenance therapies for recurrent major depression: A randomized controlled trial in patients older than 59 years (Reynolds et al., 1999)
Group IPT
- Group interpersonal psychotherapy for depression in rural Uganda: A randomized controlled trial (Bolton et al., 2003)
- Adapting group interpersonal psychotherapy for a developing country: Experience in rural Uganda (Verdeli et al., 2003)
- Interpersonal psychotherapy: Effectiveness trials in rural Uganda and New York City (Clougherty et al., 2006)
Interpersonal Counseling (i.e., Brief IPT)
- Interpersonal counseling for frequent attenders of primary care: A telephone outreach study (Sinai & Lipsitz, 2012)
Videos Available for Purchase Through External Sites
- Psychotherapy Essentials to Go: Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Depression (Grigoriadis et al.; book and DVD with video descriptions and demonstrations)
Measures, Handouts and Worksheets
- Interpersonal Psychotherapy Outcome Scale (IPOS; Markowitz et al.)
Training Materials and Workshops
Training Centers in North America
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Iowa (200 Hawkins Drive, Iowa City, IA 52242); Contact: Scott Stuart, MD and Michael O’Hara, PhD (319-353-6960)
- Department of Psychiatry, Mount Sinai Hospital, University of Toronto (600 University Avenue, 9th Floor, Toronto, ON M5G 1X5); Contact: Paula Ravitz, MD (416-586-4800 x7500)
- Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Washington, DC 20420; Contact: National Mental Health Director for Psychotherapy and Psychogeriatric Mental Health Services, VA Central Office (202-461-7304)
Private Training
- Kathleen F. Clougherty, LCSW; Affiliation: New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University; Private Clinic: 345 W 88th Street, New York, NY 10024; Contact: 212-873-4360 or fc17@columbia.edu
- Helen Verdeli, PhD; Affiliation: Teachers College, Columbia University; Contact: 212-678-3099 or hv2009@columbia.edu
Training Centers in France
- Creatip, Paris, France; Contact: Thierry Bottai; tobttai@hotmail.com; website here
- training in French and English
- 9 Saturdays spread though the year, September to June, additional Fridays for clinical group supervision
- includes many domains of IPT with emphasis on depression, adolescents, andgeriatric patients
- French Speaking Marce Society of Perinatal Psychiatry; Contact: Elisabeth Glatigny; eglatigny@ch-perrens.fr; website here
- training in French
- training occurs in a different French city each year and lasts two days
- Dr Antoine Guedeney (Paris) and Dr Anne-Laure Sutter (Bordeaux); Contact: Oguz Omay; oguz.omay@teppe.org
- Training in Paris and Bordeaux, France
- Training lasts two days once each year in each location
- Le Teppe Medical Center – Perinatal Psychiatry Unit; Contact: Oguz Omay; oguz.omay@teppe.org
- Training occurs in Le Teppe, Tain l’Hermitage, South of France; lasts two days twice a year
- Annual International IPT Workshop in collaboration with International Marce Society, Postpartum Support International, and Le Teppe Medical Center; Contact: Wendy Davis; wdavis@postpartum.net; sign up for September 2015 event here
- Training in French and English; training occurs in Le Teppe, Tain l’Hermitage, South of France
Training Centers in Turkey
- Turkish Society of IPT (KIPT); Contact: Nazan Aydin; nmda25@gmail.com
- Level A training lasts two days; occurs in Istabul, Ankara, and several other Turkish cities
- Advanced training lasts six days once each year in Istanbul
Training Centers in Japan
- Intro to IPT; website here
- Training occurs in Japanese; trainings occur every three months
Treatment Manuals
Freely available manuals:
- Group IPT for Depression (World Health Organization)
Contact authors of the following manuscripts for these free manuals:
- Interpersonal Psychotherapy by Telephone (IPT-T; Blanco, Lipsitz, & Caligor, 2001)
- Group IPT in developing countries: Uganda (Bolton et al., 2003; Verdeli et al., 2003)
- IPT for depressed veterans (Stewart et al., 2014)
- IPT for depressed women on low incomes (Grote et al., 2007)
- Manual for IPT for depressed women on low incomes engagement session (Zuckoff, Swartz, & Grote)
- Please note that this manual is an expanded version of the following chapter: Zuckoff, A., Swartz, H.A., & Grote, N.K. (2015). Motivational interviewing as a prelude to psychotherapy for depressed women. In H. Arkowitz, W.R. Miller, & S. Rollnick (Eds.), Motivational interviewing in the treatment of psychological problems (pp. 136-169). 2nd Edition. New York: Guilford Press.
- Manual for IPT for depressed women on low incomes engagement session (Zuckoff, Swartz, & Grote)
- IPT for depressed Hispanic patients (Markowitz et al., 2009)
Related Diagnosis
Depression
EST Status
N/A
2015 EST Status
Treatment pending re-evaluation
1998 EST Status
Strong