Sections
Applications of Individual Interpersonal Psychotherapy to Specific
Disorders: Efficacy and Indications: Introduction | Efficacy and Effectiveness | Major Depressive Disorder | Dysthymic Disorder | Bipolar Disorder | Other Psychiatric Disorders | Interpersonal Counseling | Interpersonal Therapy by Telephone | Interpersonal Therapy Patient Guide | Differential Therapeutics | Conclusion | Key Points | References | Suggested Readings
Excerpt
Interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) was developed
in the 1970s by the late Gerald L. Klerman, M.D., Myrna M. Weissman,
Ph.D., and their colleagues at Harvard and Yale universities (Weissman 2006). From its inception, IPT was a research therapy. Moreover,
whereas much of psychotherapy research before IPT was on the process
of psychotherapy, IPT research has focused on the outcome of treatment.
As Gerald Klerman would remark, "Who cares why a therapy works
if we don't know that it
works?" IPT has been tested in a series of randomized controlled
trials (RCTs), generally with success. Indeed, for many years IPT
was essentially only a research
treatment, with few practitioners in the community. Now, because
of its success in research studies, IPT has been included as an
indicated treatment in numerous guidelines for mood and eating disorders
(Agency for Health Care Policy and Research 1993; American Psychiatric Association 2006; "Practice Guideline for Major Depressive Disorder in Adults" 1993).
Clinicians are increasingly seeking training because of its empirically
demonstrated efficacy. A new manual geared to clinicians describes how
to conduct IPT (Weissman et al. 2007). Older manuals
describe the efficacy and empirical basis in greater detail (Klerman et al. 1984; Weissman et al. 2000).