RecruitingNot ApplicableNCT05575960

Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Adolescents and Young Adults

Sponsor

Linnaeus University

Enrollment

60 participants

Start Date

Oct 3, 2022

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Conditions

Major Depression

Summary

The purpose of the project is to study the effectiveness of Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) for adolescents with depression. Specific aims are to analyze the effects, change mechanisms, predictors, and implementation of IPT for youth. In this four-year project we will include 60 patients with depression. Outcome will be studied using a quasi-experimental multiple-baseline design. Change mechanisms will be studied in the form of mentalizing, emotion regulation, social support, and working alliance session-by-session, and with post-treatment qualitative interviews about the participants' experiences of change. Predictors of effectiveness of IPT for adolescents will be explored by measuring severity of symptoms, anxiety symptoms, presence and severity of parent-child conflicts, quality of interpersonal relationships, experiences of bullying, and school functioning. The implementation process of IPT for youth will be studied through interviews with adolescents, parents, therapists, co-workers, and local managers. The study is conducted within child and adolescent psychiatric services in Norrköping using a practice-oriented research strategy which emphasizes close collaboration with clinicians. The project is a collaboration between researchers at Linnaeus University and Linköping University, and clinicians at BUP Norrköping.

Eligibility

Min Age: 15 YearsMax Age: 18 Years

Inclusion Criteria3

Major depressive disorder according to the DSM-V
Age 15 to 17,5 years.
Good-enough knowledge in Swedish to be able to read instructions in questionnaires and who do not require an interpreter.

Exclusion Criteria6

Ongoing psychosis
Drug or alcohol addiction
Bipolar disorder
Suspected mental retardation
Acute suicidality or severe depression requiring hospitalization
Patients who have started antidepressant medication within the last six weeks will need to wait until medication effects have stabilized.

Interventions

BEHAVIORALInterpersonal Psychotherapy for Adolescents (IPT-A)

Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) is a psychotherapeutic treatment originally developed for treating depression in adults. It is a brief, structured treatment based on the idea of mobilizing the patient's social network, increasing his/her capacity to accept and seek support from others, and to process interpersonal difficulties, in order to improve depressive symptoms. Interpersonal psychotherapy for adolescents (IPT-A) is a version of IPT designed for young people between the age of 12-18 years with depression (Mufson, 2004), and is in many respects similar to IPT although with some modifications (e.g., a few scheduled meetings with parents during the course of treatment).