[Current status of interpersonal psychotherapy]

An overview of the state of the art in Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) of depression is given. Since IPT is a standardized, efficient, and economical therapy form, it is anticipated that IPT will gain increasing importance in Germany in the field of psychiatry/psychotherapy. It can be learned by experienced psychotherapists, regardless of their psychotherapeutic orientation, in a standardized training program in a relatively short time. IPT is a short-term psychotherapy designed specifically for the treatment of depression which was developed by Klerman and Weissman at the end of the sixties. It is based on the observation that depressive disorders usually occur in a psychosocial and interpersonal context. The focus of this psychotherapeutic procedure is therefore on dealing with the patients' psychosocial and interpersonal conflicts. The present article describes the use of IPT as well as its theoretical and empirical background. In addition the educational program in IPT is described and a comparison with other psychotherapies is given. Finally the article summarizes efficacy studies and derivative forms of IPT.