Essay On Interpersonal Therapy

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Mediating effects of change in Interpersonal Therapy (IPT) Interpersonal therapy (IPT) is designed to treat disorders by focusing on interpersonal relationships and other factors that bring about interpersonal problems. It is a time-limited psychotherapy originally meant for the treatment of major depression (Klerman et al., 1984). Following that, IPT is also used to treat a good number of psychotic disorders namely bipolar disorder (Franketal.,2005), dysthymic disorder (Markowitz,1996), bulimia nervosa (Fairburn, Jones, Peveler, Hope, & O'Connor,1993), binge eating disorder (Wilfley et al., 2002), social anxiety disorder (Lipsitz, Markowitz, Cherry, & Fyer,1999), panic disorder (Lipsitz et al., 2006), and post traumatic stress disorder (Bleiberg & Markowitz,2005), among other disorders. It is a 12-16 weeks long therapy program, usually accompanied by monthly maintenance IPT treatment, starting out with identifying the main interpersonal problem (ie. grief, role transition, role dispute or interpersonal deficits) which will become the focus for resolution throughout the treatment. IPT is distinct from other psychotherapies, like Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) due to its change process. The central change process occurs in the interpersonal context, and not in the patient. The 'medical model' illustrates this concept whereby the patient takes on a 'sick role', and current problem is externalised. When the patient is made to realise that he is not the problem but rather, he is experiencing a problem, demoralisation and guilt can be reversed to increase the motivation for change. Essentially, IPT aims to instil hope and boost expectation for change (Frank, 1971). IPT has two interpersonal frameworks, firstly, the relational th... ... middle of paper ... ...ms and reduced symptoms. However, this resolution involves other factors such as an interplay between the patient and other individuals. For example, the reaction or response the patient gains after applying behavioural skills. This factor limits the control the patient has over self-recovery. Another limitation is that interpersonal change is nonlinear which makes it difficult to detect mediation effects. Nonetheless, more interest in research on the correlation of the change factors mentioned in this essay to mediating effects of problem resolution is motivated by the benefits on IPT as an intervention. It has seen many successful treatments of psychiatric disorders, but it is faced with the issue that treatment may be enhanced when their change factors are highlighted and given importance. This calls for future research in the development and improvement of IPT.

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