Interpersonal therapy for the treatment of depression is a procedure specifically designed to intervene in depressive disorders and is based on a history of the way of thinking about psychiatry that in the United States was called interpersonal psychiatry.
Interpersonal psychiatry begins with the work of Adolf Meyer and Harry Stack Sullivan, who incorporated some ideas of social psychiatry and resumed views on the social roles of the Chicago school, but this is not an application of the general principles of interpersonal psychiatry Depressive disorders This intervention was built on the basis of various evidence from five areas of research , which emphasize the importance of interpersonal events in depressive disorders.
- Interpersonal depression therapy is psychotherapy focused on the psychosocial and interpersonal problems of the person in need of treatment.
- This therapy does not come directly from psychoanalysis.
- Behaviorism or cognitive therapy.
- However.
- It uses certain concepts derived from these currents.
- With this.
- It helps to increase the interpersonal skills and field of the patient in his own psychosocial context.
Interpersonal therapy for depression can be said to be an essentially eclectic therapeutic tool, interpersonal therapy for depression focuses on the links between pathology and the psychosocial context, giving more importance to the present than to the past.
Although the interpersonal therapist studies old relationships for attachment styles and vulnerabilities, the focus will be on current relationships, especially recent changes that may be related to the goal of treatment. Interpersonal depression therapy currently treats the patient’s personal relationships and is involved in the formation of symptoms, in the social dysfunction associated with the current depressive episode.
Interpersonal depression therapy is not a form of cognitive behavioral therapy, its purpose is not to confront negative thought patterns, cognitive distortions or false attributions.
In interpersonal therapy of depression,? Psychosocial? It mainly refers to the different roles played by the patient and their environmental interactions, understood as the meeting point between the way of being individual and what is shown to others.
Different roles and relationships can be altered by emotional or professional overload, conflict and loss. The change due to overload tends to reduce forces. Conflict causes anxiety and loss, depression.
Losses that can be treated with interpersonal psychotherapy are usually bereavement, divorce, or unemployment. Interpersonal therapy for depression assumes that the onset of the disorder already changes the psychosocial and interpersonal context of the patient.
For interpersonal therapy, depression has three levels of approach, these three levels would be:
Interpersonal therapy for depression does not consider personality traits or existential and anthropological factors important, its fundamental objective is to alleviate the patient’s symptoms and help him develop strategies to address his social and interpersonal difficulties.
Interpersonal depression therapy focuses on the patient’s current situation. The past is important, but only to better understand each patient’s interactive style. The therapeutic space given to the past does not exceed the space given to the present.
This therapy works with the patient’s cognitions, but not in a structured way. It does not use detailed protocols or tasks to perform at home. Some behavioral techniques such as systematic desensitization, exposure therapy or cognitive distortion analysis may be considered, but are generally not included.
Interpersonal therapy for depression is based on the medical model, often accompanied by antidepressant medications and other psychotropic medications. This type of, in its original form, is a form of short psychotherapy. One session is held per week for 3 to 6 people. Months. Each session lasts between 40 and 50 minutes.
New applications of interpersonal therapy involve changes in content and duration, which tend to be prolonged, so its duration may be longer than 6 months, interpersonal therapy for depression develops in three phases:
This number of sessions per phase is approximate. Interpersonal depression therapy advocates flexibility as a general rule to follow by the psychologist. The therapist evaluates the need for medication based on the severity of symptoms, medical history, response to treatment, and patient preferences. diagnosis and treatment.
In this therapeutic framework the most important are the strategies and objectives, not so much the techniques, which differentiates this treatment from other therapies to treat depression.
Interpersonal therapy for depression has great prestige and acceptance in the complex field of treatment of depressive disorders, and research shows that it is a valid alternative or a complement to the treatment of acute depression, ongoing or higher.
The goal of therapy is to reduce social isolation and improve current relationships, improve communication skills and enable greater social competence and patient confidence.