DIAGNOSIS: Depression
TREATMENT: Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Depression

2015 EST Status: Treatment pending re-evaluation Very strong: High-quality evidence that treatment improves symptoms and functional outcomes at post-treatment and follow-up; little risk of harm; requires reasonable amount of resources; effective in non-research settings

Strong: Moderate- to high-quality evidence that treatment improves symptoms OR functional outcomes; not a high risk of harm; reasonable use of resources

Weak: Low or very low-quality evidence that treatment produces clinically meaningful effects on symptoms or functional outcomes; Gains from the treatment may not warrant resources involved

Insufficient Evidence: No meta-analytic study could be identified

Insufficient Evidence: Existing meta-analyses are not of sufficient quality

Treatment pending re-evaluation

1998 EST Status: Strong Research Support Strong: Support from two well-designed studies conducted by independent investigators.

Modest: Support from one well-designed study or several adequately designed studies.

Controversial: Conflicting results, or claims regarding mechanisms are unsupported.

Strength of Research Support

Empirical Review Status
2015 Criteria
(Tolin et al. Recommendation)
Very Strong
Strong
Weak
Insufficient Evidence
Treatment pending re-evaluation
1998 Criteria
(Chambless et al. EST)
Strong
Modest
Controversial

Find a Therapist specializing in Interpersonal Psychotherapy for DepressionList your practice

Brief Summary

  • 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.  

Treatment Resources

Editors:Rachel Hershenberg, PhD; Young A. Lee, BA

Note: The resources provided below are intended to supplement not replace foundational training in mental health treatment and evidence-based practice

Treatment Manuals / Outlines

Treatment Manuals

Freely available manuals:

Contact authors of the following manuscripts for these free manuals:

Books Available for Purchase Through External Sites

Note: Interpersonal psychotherapy has been tested in over 90 clinical trials. The manuals describing its procedures are:

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

Measures, Handouts and Worksheets

Video Demonstrations

  • Psychotherapy Essentials to Go: Interpersonal Therapy (IPT) for Depression (Ravitz, Watson, & Grigoriadis)

Videos Available for Purchase Through External Sites

 

Video Descriptions

Videos Available for Purchase Through External Sites

Clinical Trials

Major Depressive Disorder

Dysthymic Disorder

Maintenance IPT

Group IPT

Interpersonal Counseling (i.e., Brief IPT)

Meta-analyses and Systematic Reviews

Other Treatment Resources