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Interpersonal Psychotherapy
A structured therapy using communication skills, role-play, and conflict resolution to improve relationships and social functioning in a few sessions.
Introduction
The basics
What is Interpersonal Psychotherapy?
Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) is a form of insight-oriented therapy. By helping you understand and improve your interpersonal world, IPT aims to alleviate mental health symptoms and prevent future distress.
Unlike other types of insight-oriented therapies that center on childhood experiences or unconscious processes, IPT focuses on your current relationships.
Goal
What is the goal of Interpersonal Psychotherapy?
The primary goal of Interpersonal Psychotherapy is to improve your interpersonal relationships and social functioning.
The idea is that by enhancing your relationships, you’re likely to experience a reduction in the emotional burden those relationships contribute to, which will ultimately result in greater emotional stability and an improved quality of life.
Uses
What conditions does Interpersonal Psychotherapy treat?
Generally, Interpersonal Psychotherapy is most beneficial for individuals whose mental health struggles are linked to interpersonal difficulties or social stressors.
Specifically, IPT is a good fit for individuals who have:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Bipolar disorder
- Disordered eating
It is also an excellent option for those experiencing grief, facing role transitions (e.g., changing jobs, becoming a parent), and for people who are dealing with relationship challenges.
While IPT alone can help improve these conditions, it often works best when combined with medication.
Subtypes
What are the subtypes of Interpersonal Psychotherapy?
There are several types of Interpersonal Psychotherapy being used today. While the core of IPT remains focused on improving interpersonal functioning, these subtypes tailor the approach to meet the unique needs of different groups or conditions, ensuring it is both effective and relevant to a wide range of clients.
Three of the most common subtypes of Interpersonal Psychotherapy are:
- Dynamic Interpersonal Psychotherapy (DIT) is also called Psychodynamic Interpersonal Therapy or Mentalization-Based Therapy. DIT is designed to help a client better understand their own thoughts and feelings, as well as the thoughts and feelings of others.
- Metacognitive Interpersonal Psychotherapy (MIT) aims to help individuals understand and regulate their own thoughts and emotions. MIT is effective in reducing depression symptoms and may help those struggling with personality disorders.
- Interpersonal and Social Rhythm Therapy (IPSRT) is designed to treat bipolar disorder through stabilization of one’s daily routines and social rhythms. IPSRT aids in regulating sleep patterns, meal times, and activity levels throughout the day. Through IPSRT a client may explore how interpersonal relationships and life events may impact mood and routine.
Effectiveness
Origins
Who developed Interpersonal Psychotherapy and when?
Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) was initially developed in the 1970s by Gerald Klerman and Myrna Weissman to treat depression in adults. IPT was based on American psychiatrist Harry Stack Sullivan's interpersonal theory—the idea that interpersonal relationships are the primary driving force in human life.
Evidence Base
Is Interpersonal Psychotherapy evidence based?
Interpersonal Psychotherapy is considered a well-established and effective therapy due to its strong research base and adaptability to different client populations. While it was originally developed to treat depression it has since been adapted for various mental health issues.
How it works
Techniques Used
How does Interpersonal Psychotherapy work?
An Interpersonal Psychotherapist will first aim to identify relationship issues that may be contributing to the challenges you’re facing in your life.
These problems typically fall into four categories:
- Grief and loss
- Life transitions
- Relationship conflicts (aka role disputes)
- Interpersonal challenges
Your clinician will then help you build the skills you need to better manage current and future relationship challenges.
Some of those skills will be developed through the following techniques:
- Helping you understand and improve your communication skills
- Engaging in role play exercises to help you practice new skills and/or explore feelings/thoughts
- Building your support network and helping you learn to nurture your current relationships
What to expect in a session
What can I expect from sessions in Interpersonal Psychotherapy?
During an Interpersonal Psychotherapy session, you can expect a focused conversation about your current relationships and recent interpersonal situations.
Your clinician might help you analyze recent interactions, practice communication skills, or explore how to build stronger social connections. This might include activities centered around practicing assertiveness, engaging in active listening, learning conflict resolution skills, refining coping strategies for handling interpersonal stress, and/or brainstorming ways to navigate challenging life transitions or grief.
Treatment length & structure
How long does Interpersonal Psychotherapy typically take? Is there any set structure?
Interpersonal Psychotherapy is a structured therapy that usually takes place over a limited number of sessions (typically 12 to 16).
IPT is divided into three main phases:
- Beginning: assessment and identification of key concerns
- Middle: working through and resolving identified concerns
- End: summary of progress and termination
IPT is typically scheduled weekly and you might have noticeable results within 4 to 6 weeks. The length of time will be dependent on severity of the issues being addressed, your level of engagement in therapy, and the specific goals of your treatment.
Getting care
Finding a therapist
How do I find a therapist who uses Interpersonal Psychotherapy?
Alma’s directory has many therapists who specialize in Interpersonal Psychotherapy, including:
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Similar types of therapy
Besides Interpersonal Psychotherapy, what other types of therapy might be right for me?
If after reading this, you’re not sure if Interpersonal Psychotherapy is quite the right fit, here are some other types that might be worth looking into:
Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT): if attachment cycles drive relationship conflict
EFT focuses on attachment needs and emotional cycles, helping individuals, couples, or families create safer patterns of connection.
Psychodynamic Therapy: if past patterns feel important
Psychodynamic therapy examines how past experiences and unconscious patterns shape current emotions, relationships, and coping styles.
Multicultural/Culturally Informed Therapy (CIT): if culture and lived context matter
Culturally informed therapy centers identity, lived experience, context, and power dynamics as part of understanding mental health and healing.
Structural Family Therapy: if family roles and boundaries feel stuck
Structural family therapy looks at family roles, boundaries, and interaction patterns, then helps the family system reorganize in healthier ways.
This article was written and medically validated by Drs. Jill Krahwinkel-Bower and Jamie Bower.
FAQs
How do I know if IPT is right for me?
IPT is a particularly good fit when your mental health struggles feel clearly connected to what's happening in your relationships — a significant loss, a conflict with someone important to you, a major life transition, or difficulty navigating social situations. Unlike approaches that focus on childhood or unconscious dynamics, IPT focuses on your current relationships and communication patterns. Research supports it especially for depression, and it's also used for anxiety and disordered eating. If your distress seems to ebb and flow in relation to what's happening with the people around you, IPT offers a direct and structured way to work on exactly that.
Can IPT be done online?
Yes, sessions can be conducted online. Like the majority of therapy types, this one is delivered effectively through secure video platforms. We know from consistent research that online therapy is just as effective as in-person care. If you're looking for this type of therapy online, you can use this link to find an interpersonal therapist near you who takes your insurance.
Is IPT covered by insurance?
Whether IPT is covered depends on your individual insurance plan. Most major insurance plans cover therapy when it's provided by a licensed mental health professional, regardless of the type of therapy you choose. What matters more is whether therapy is considered medically necessary given your diagnosis. The best way to find out what you'll pay is to check your plan's explanation of benefits, call the member services number on your insurance card, or use Alma's free cost estimator tool before booking.
How is IPT different from CBT?
CBT focuses primarily on the relationship between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors — it asks what you're thinking and how those thoughts affect how you feel and act. IPT focuses primarily on the relationship between your emotional state and what's happening in your interpersonal world. Rather than examining thought patterns, an IPT therapist helps you map how your current relationships are affecting your mood, and then builds concrete communication and problem-solving skills around the specific relational challenges you're facing. Both approaches are structured and time-limited, but CBT is more internally focused and IPT is more relationally focused.
Does IPT help with depression?
Yes. IPT was originally developed in the 1970s specifically to treat depression, and it remains one of the most well-established treatments for it. The foundational insight behind IPT is that depression often has an interpersonal context — grief, role disputes, isolation, difficult life transitions — and that improving your relational functioning tends to lift mood. Research has consistently supported IPT's effectiveness for depression, sometimes in combination with medication. Many people find that improvements come relatively quickly; IPT is structured and time-limited, typically lasting 12–16 sessions, with many people noticing changes within the first four to six weeks.
What relationships does IPT focus on?
IPT works with the relationships that are most directly relevant to your current distress. In practice, that means identifying which of four interpersonal problem areas is most central to what you're experiencing: grief and loss (when bereavement is at the core), role disputes (conflict with a significant person in your life), role transitions (navigating major life changes like becoming a parent, changing careers, or divorcing), or interpersonal deficits (difficulty forming or maintaining relationships). Once the primary focus is identified, the therapist helps you build the communication skills, support networks, and problem-solving strategies most relevant to that area.
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