Interpersonal psychotherapy for depressed adolescents: An overview of theory, techniques and research

Interpersonal psychotherapy for depressed adolescents (IPT-A) is a brief, evidence-based psychotherapy that has been found to be successful in treating unipolar depression in non-bipolar, non-psychotic adolescents. This article provides an overview of the theoretical principles, developmental adaptations, interpersonal focus and techniques of IPT-A. Treatment specifically targets communication skills and social support in current relationships from a skills perspective. Therefore, the therapeutic focus is on improving the adolescent's relationships with the underlying assumption that this will improve the adolescent's mood. The empirical support for the effectiveness of IPT-A, preliminary findings from clinical trials of adaptations of IPT-A and future directions for research in unipolar adolescent depression are presented briefly.