Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Depression: A Meta-Analysis

Summary & key facts

Researchers combined results from many carefully controlled studies to see how well interpersonal psychotherapy, a short-term, structured therapy that focuses on a person’s relationships, treats depression. They found that IPT helps people with depression more than no treatment. It works about as well as other talking therapies. Antidepressant medicines were a little more effective than IPT for treating current symptoms, but adding IPT to medicine during the follow-up period lowered the chance of depression coming back. Some comparisons had only a few studies, so those findings are less certain.

Key facts:

• The analysis pooled about 40 studies with roughly 4,400 people who had depression or high depressive symptoms.
• Compared with no treatment or waiting list, IPT produced a clear benefit. About 3 people would need to get IPT for one extra person to get a better outcome compared with no treatment.
• When IPT was compared with other psychological therapies, there was no reliable difference. In other words, IPT and other talking therapies performed about the same on average.
• Antidepressant medication was slightly more effective than IPT for treating current depression. The difference was small and roughly one extra person in nine would benefit more from medicine than from IPT in the short term.
• Giving both medicine and IPT during maintenance (the period after initial improvement) cut the risk of relapse more than medicine alone. About 8 people would need the combined maintenance treatment for one fewer relapse.
• Some parts of the review had only a few studies or mixed results. That means conclusions about combination treatment during the acute phase and some other comparisons are uncertain and need more research.
• IPT is a structured, time-limited therapy that focuses on improving relationships and role problems that are linked to a person’s depression. The reviewers say IPT is one of the best-supported psychological treatments for depression and belongs in treatment guidelines.

Abstract

There is no doubt that IPT efficaciously treats depression, both as an independent treatment and in combination with pharmacotherapy. IPT deserves its place in treatment guidelines as one of the most empirically validated treatments for depression.

Topics

Digital Mental Health Interventions Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications Treatment of Major Depression

Categories

Clinical Psychology Psychology Social Sciences

Tags

Clinical psychology Confidence interval Depression (economics) Economics Internal medicine Interpersonal psychotherapy Macroeconomics Medicine Meta-analysis Odds ratio Pharmacotherapy Psychiatry Psychology Psychotherapist Randomized controlled trial

Conditions & symptoms

Depression Sadness or low mood