Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) is a time-limited and structured approach to the treatment of depression. The fundamental clinical task of IPT is to help you to learn to link mood with your relationships with others, and to recognise that by appropriately addressing interpersonal situations you can improve both your relationships and depression. Typically, IPT focuses on one of four areas of difficulty that are having a significant impact on your depression symptoms. These are:
- conflict with another person
- life changes that affect how you feel about yourself and others
- unresolved grief
- difficulty in starting relationships or keeping relationships going in a satisfying way
You and your therapist will work together over the initial sessions to decide which area is going to be most helpful for you to focus on.
Please note that the availability of IPT varies according to our staff in post. The service will think carefully with you about your treatment and only suggest therapies where there is a good clinical rationale for selecting one therapy over another that may be far more available.
A course of IPT may involve 8-16 sessions. Its overall aims are to reduce the symptoms of depression and to improve the quality of your relationships with others.
Please note CBT is the most common treatment and there is limited capacity for IPT.
