ISIPT

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ISIPT The International Society for Interpersonal Psychotherapy (ISIPT)is an organization of clinicians and researchers interested in Interpersonal Psychotherapy

Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) is a time-limited, diagnosis-targeted, well studied, manualized treatment for major depression and other psychiatric disorders. Therapists help patients to solve an interpersonal crisis as a way of both improving their lives and relieving their symptoms. IPT helps patients to understand their emotions as social signals, to use this understanding to improve interpersonal situations, and to mobilize social supports. Its success in a series of research studies has led to its inclusion in numerous national and international guidelines. Time-limited: IPT typically is scheduled as a 12-16 week, once weekly therapy for acute major depression. Diagnosis-targeted: IPT has demonstrated efficacy as an acute and as a maintenance treatment for major depression, and for patients from adolescence to old age; with adaptation, as an adjunct to medication for bipolar disorder; for bulimia and binge-eating disorders; and, with less research support, for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and anxiety disorders. Well studied: The late Gerald L. Klerman, M.D., Myrna M. Weissman, Ph.D. and colleagues published the first randomized IPT trial in 1974. They found in initial studies that IPT was more effective than a placebo; that in combination with medication it fared better than either treatment alone; and that on one-year follow-up, IPT helped patients to build social skills, which medication did not. Since 1974 there have been more than 250 randomized controlled studies of IPT published by research groups around the world. The International Society for Interpersonal Psychotherapy (ISIPT) is an organization of clinicians and researchers interested in Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT). The ISIPT has national chapters in several countries; a website and listserv; and holds biennial international scientific meetings. OFFICERS
Holly A. Swartz, M.D., President
Paula Ravitz, M.D., Vice President/President-Elect Sue Luty, B.M., B.S., FRANZCP, Ph.D., Secretary Heather Flynn, Ph.D. , Treasurer Scott Stuart, M.D., Past-President

EXECUTIVE COUNCIL MEMBERS
Marc Blom, M.D., Ph.D. Ellen Frank, Ph.D. Roslyn Law, M.A. (Hons), D. Clin. Psychol. John C. Markowitz, M.D. Hiroko Mizushima, M.D. Oguz Omay, M.D.

11th ISIPT Biennial Conference – Pittsburgh, USADay 3 Recap Here comes the last of our recap! Can't believe it's almos...
08/08/2026

11th ISIPT Biennial Conference – Pittsburgh, USA
Day 3 Recap

Here comes the last of our recap! Can't believe it's almost 2 months since our biennual conference in Pittsburgh!

Day 3 of the ISIPT Conference focused on strengthening community-based pathways to care, expanding access to IPT training, and deepening the science-practice dialogue. The day opened with a keynote lecture by Dr Sidney Hankerson on leveraging interpersonal networks in churches and youth sports to treat depression, followed by lectures from Prof Paula Ravitz and Dr Obadia Yator on building IPT capacity through online training and training community health promoters in sub-Saharan Africa.

Subsequent symposia centred on IPT’s global reach and leadership for scale-up. Dr Manasi Kumar and Dr Lena Verdeli introduced WHO-aligned leadership and system-strengthening models, including the mhGAP framework, to explore how IPT can be advanced within diverse health systems. Presenters also shared 15 years of work adapting IPT and interpersonal counseling in Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador for women affected by displacement, structural poverty, and gender-based violence.

Group IPT also featured prominently in our presentions on Day 3, including trials with young adults led by non-specialist facilitators, university students, and queer-identified students, alongside mixed-methods work examining mechanisms of response and non-response. Social psychologists and IPT experts also came together to consider how research on support-seeking, empathy in conflict repair, and the interpersonal impact of stigmatized identity concealment can inform IPT interventions and interpersonal skill-building.

Over lunch, ISIPT celebrated the Klerman and Weissman Award presentations, with the Rising Investigator Award presented to Dr Molly Davis and the Senior Investigator Award awarded to Dr Laura Mufson and Dr Holly Swartz.

This concluded our 3-day ISIPT Conference in Pittsburgh. The next conference will be held in Hangzhou, China, in 2028. We look forward to seeing you there!

Day 2️⃣ Recap of the 11th ISIPT Biennial Conference in Pittsburgh, USADay 2 of the ISIPT Conference highlighted the glob...
07/16/2026

Day 2️⃣ Recap of the 11th ISIPT Biennial Conference in Pittsburgh, USA

Day 2 of the ISIPT Conference highlighted the global reach and continued evolution of IPT and its related models. The keynote sessions set the tone for the day, focusing on technology-enabled scaling and youth mental health: Dr Milton Wainberg discussed how IPT can be expanded globally through digital tools and implementation strategies, while Dr Jami Young reviewed two decades of school-based adolescent depression prevention work using IPT-AST. We also honoured our founder, Prof Myrna Weissman, for her seminal contributions to the development and dissemination of IPT.

Much of the day centred on culturally responsive work with adolescents and young adults. Presentations described IPC for young people in South Africa, New York City, and Israel, as well as IPT-A and IPC adaptations for Chinese youth, Hispanic and immigrant-origin adolescents in the United States, and Venezuelan refugees in Peru. Across these sessions, speakers underscored the importance of developmentally informed and culturally grounded adaptations, workforce models that include lay and peer providers, and structured implementation frameworks to ensure that IPT-based interventions remain both locally resonant and faithful to the core model.

Another symposium focused on IPT and IPC in humanitarian and displacement contexts, bringing together work with refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced populations in Mozambique, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Tanzania, and Peru. Alongside emerging directions for IPT in PTSD, these presentations showed how the interpersonal framework is particularly relevant in contexts marked by grief, disrupted roles, interpersonal conflict, trauma, and ongoing social adversity, especially where healthcare resources are limited and task-shifting to non-specialists is essential.

The day closed with the Conference Social Dinner at the beautiful Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, where participants had the opportunity to deepen collaborations, build new connections, and reconnect with colleagues in the ISIPT community.

DAY 1️⃣ RECAP of the 11th Biennial Conference of the ISIPT💙💛Day 1 of the ISIPT Conference highlighted how IPT and relate...
06/30/2026

DAY 1️⃣ RECAP of the 11th Biennial Conference of the ISIPT💙💛

Day 1 of the ISIPT Conference highlighted how IPT and related models are being adapted and scaled across diverse global contexts to address real-world mental health needs.

The day opened with remarks from ISIPT Chair Dr Laura Dietz, followed by Prof Myrna Weissman’s lecture on the history of IPT, and a keynote on clinical and technological innovation in psychotherapy delivered by Dr Dilip Jeste, Director of the Global Research Network on Social Determinants of Mental Health and Exposomics and President-Elect of the World Federation for Psychotherapy.

Across the symposia, we heard work from Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas on IPT across settings, including group IPT, community- and church-based delivery models, and refugee and humanitarian contexts, addressing adolescent depression prevention, psycho-oncology, and the mental health impact of living with chronic health conditions. Several sessions focused on implementing and adapting IPT and IPT-AST in under-resourced and non-Western contexts, including lay and community health worker delivery in Kenya, Nigeria, and India.

Other talks examined IPT in medical settings such as oncology and Parkinson’s disease, and the use of IPSRT for bipolar II disorder in China, illustrating how interpersonal and social rhythm interventions can be embedded alongside pharmacotherapy and routine medical care. A further cross-cutting theme was task-shifting and community-based implementation of IPT with non-specialist providers, including refugee-serving organisations and Black churches. The poster session added perspectives on implementation science, capacity-building, and innovation, including early work on digital and AI-enabled IPT tools.

Together, these contributions highlighted IPT as a flexible, evidence-based framework that can be integrated into primary care, specialty clinics, community organisations, and digital platforms, while keeping relationships and interpersonal context at the centre of care.

STAY TUNED for the Day 2️⃣ recap!

New IPT Paper▫️Bridging the mental health gap for young moms in Kenya 💙💛Depression is unfortunately common among pregnan...
06/24/2026

New IPT Paper▫️Bridging the mental health gap for young moms in Kenya 💙💛

Depression is unfortunately common among pregnant adolescents, and a lack of accessible resources creates a critical treatment gap. But new research published in JAMA Network Open brings an exciting and scalable solution: Group Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT-G) delivered by non-specialist Community Health Promoters.

The Nairobi-based study compared two approaches for 122 perinatal adolescents:
🗓️ FULL IPT-G (Standard 8-session protocol)
🗓️ MINI IPT-G (Adapted 4-session protocol)

✨ THE FINDINGS ✨

🌧️➡️☀️ Reduced Depression: Both the Full and Mini IPT-G programs were highly successful at reducing depressive symptoms within just one week post-intervention.

✅ Higher Adherence: The shortened 4-session Mini IPT-G achieved significantly higher completion rates (77.8% vs. 52.8%), proving to be highly feasible and acceptable for young moms.

💡 THE TAKEAWAY: Task-shifting works. Contextually adapted IPT-G is an effective and scalable approach for reducing perinatal adolescent depression in low-resource settings.

🔗 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2850421

ISIPT Pre-Conference Workshop Day 2️⃣ recapInterpersonal and Social Rhythms Therapy (IPSRT): Intermediate Skills and Pra...
06/23/2026

ISIPT Pre-Conference Workshop Day 2️⃣ recap
Interpersonal and Social Rhythms Therapy (IPSRT): Intermediate Skills and Practice workshop

A sincere thank you to Dr. Danielle M. Novick, Dr. Holly A. Swartz, Dr. Keith Valone, and Xiaoyi Zhou for facilitating!

Happy memories of a wonderful ISIPT conférence in Pittsburgh!
06/22/2026

Happy memories of a wonderful ISIPT conférence in Pittsburgh!

Pre-conference Workshop Day 2️⃣Many thanks to Drs Shannon Lenze, Paula Ravitz, Laura Dietz, Manasi Kumar, Edward McAnana...
06/16/2026

Pre-conference Workshop Day 2️⃣

Many thanks to Drs Shannon Lenze, Paula Ravitz, Laura Dietz, Manasi Kumar, Edward McAnanama and Cindy Stulberg for facilitating the ISIPT Trainers’ Training Workshop!

We had a fruitful discussion on incorporating interactivity and cultural humility in IPT workshops and consultations.

We kickstarted the 11th Biennial ISIPT conference on June 14th 2026 with our first pre-conference workshop - Introductor...
06/16/2026

We kickstarted the 11th Biennial ISIPT conference on June 14th 2026 with our first pre-conference workshop - Introductory Training on IPT, facilitated by Drs Jill M. Cyranowski, Luis Flores, and Danielle Novick.

Many thanks to the new IPT learners who engaged in discussion and deliberate practice. We had a wonderful Pre-Conference Day One!

New IPT paper: the role of anger expression in IPT for reducing PTSD anger symptoms 💙A new study found that people with ...
06/11/2026

New IPT paper: the role of anger expression in IPT for reducing PTSD anger symptoms 💙

A new study found that people with PTSD and high anger symptoms responded better to Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) than to other common PTSD treatments.

Over 14 weeks, IPT led to the greatest reductions in both anger and irritability on anger measures when compared with Relaxation Therapy and Prolonged Exposure.

Why? Because IPT doesn't just suppress difficult emotions; it helps people process affect and promote social support via meaningful interpersonal relationships. 🤝

The significance: Addressing the interpersonal roots of anger may be key to deeper, lasting recovery from PTSD.

📚 Published in The American Journal of Psychotherapy → https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.psychotherapy.20250062
🔗 Learn more about IPT → https://interpersonalpsychotherapy.org/
👉 For more IPT updates like this → follow us on FB and IG (https://www.instagram.com/isipt.official/)

We are 2 weeks away from our 11th biennial ISIPT conference! We are excited to host a great slate of keynote speakers a...
06/02/2026

We are 2 weeks away from our 11th biennial ISIPT conference! We are excited to host a great slate of keynote speakers and presentations at our 3-day conference, as well as amazing learning opportunities through the pre-conference workshops, facilitated by expert IPT trainers.

✅️ REGISTRATION is still open — sign up for in-person or virtual tickets (same link for both)!
🔗 https://www.isiptpittcon2026.com/registration--tickets.html

✅ ️REGISTRATION is still open for the Social Networking Dinner at Phipps Conservatory until 5 June — no registration at the door, so don't miss out on this incredible opportunity to socialize with colleagues on a June evening in a beautiful venue!
🔗 https://www.isiptpittcon2026.com/evening-social-event.html

Please feel free to reach out to [email protected] with any questions regarding the conference. Looking forward to welcoming you all to the 2026 ISIPT Conference and Pittsburgh, PA!



✅️ Follow our social media accounts and stay connected with us!
📲 IG: .official http://www.instagram.com/isipt.official

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