Contents

Disclaimer

Oxford University Press makes no representation, express or implied, that the drug dosages in this book are correct. Readers must therefore always check the product information and clinical procedures with the most up to date published product information and data sheets provided by the manufacturers and the most recent codes of conduct and safety regulations. The authors and the publishers do not accept responsibility or legal liability for any errors in the text or for the misuse or misapplication of material in this work. Except where otherwise stated, drug dosages and recommendations are for the non-pregnant adult who is not breastfeeding.

Show Summary Details
Page of

Interpersonal psychotherapy for depression and other disorders 

Interpersonal psychotherapy for depression and other disorders
Chapter:
Interpersonal psychotherapy for depression and other disorders
Author(s):

Carlos Blanco

, John C. Markowitz

, and Myrna M. Weissman

DOI:
10.1093/med/9780199696758.003.0169
Page of

PRINTED FROM OXFORD MEDICINE ONLINE (www.oxfordmedicine.com). © Oxford University Press, 2020. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a title in Oxford Medicine Online for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy and Legal Notice).

date: 13 July 2020

Interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) is a time-limited, diagnosis-focused therapy. IPT was defined in a manual. Research has established its efficacy as an acute and chronic treatment for patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) of all ages, as an acute treatment for bulimia nervosa, and as adjunct maintenance treatment for bipolar disorder. The research findings have led to its inclusion in treatment guidelines and increasing dissemination into clinical practice. Demonstration of efficacy in research trials for patients with major depressive episodes (MDEs) has led to its adaptation and testing for other mood and non-mood disorders. This has included modification for adolescent and geriatric depressed patients patients with bipolar and dysthymic disorders; depressed HIV-positive and depressed pregnant and postpartum patients; depressed primary care patients; and as a maintenance treatment to prevent relapse of the depression. Most of the modifications have been relatively minor and have retained the general principles and techniques of IPT for major depression. Non-mood targets have included anorexia, bulimia, substance abuse, borderline personality disorder, and several anxiety disorders. In general, outcome studies of IPT have suggested its promise for most psychiatric diagnoses in which it has been studied, with the exceptions of anorexia, dysthymic disorder, and substance use disorders.

IPT has two complementary basic premises. First, depression is a medical illness, which is treatable and not the patient's fault. Second, depression does not occur in a vacuum, but rather is influenced by and itself affects the patient's psychosocial environment. Changes in relationships or other life events may precipitate depressive episodes; conversely, depressive episodes strain relationships and may lead to negative life events. The goal of treatment is to help the patient solve a crisis in his or her role functioning or social environment. Achieving this helps the patient to gain a sense of mastery over his or her functioning and relieves depressive symptoms.

Begun as a research intervention, IPT has only lately started to be disseminated among clinicians and in residency training programmes. The publication of efficacy data, the promulgation of practice guidelines that embrace IPT among antidepressant treatments, and economic pressures on length of treatment have led to increasing interest in IPT. This chapter describes the concepts and techniques of IPT and its current status of adaptation, efficacy data, and training. The chapter provides a guide to developments and a reference list, but not a comprehensive review.

Access to the complete content on Oxford Medicine Online requires a subscription or purchase. Public users are able to search the site and view the abstracts for each book and chapter without a subscription.

Please subscribe or login to access full text content.

If you have purchased a print title that contains an access token, please see the token for information about how to register your code.

For questions on access or troubleshooting, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.