Homework in Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT): Rationale and Practice

Interpersonal therapy (IPT) is a time-limited therapy that was initially created for the treatment of major depressive disorder but has shown efficacy in other psychiatric disorders and a variety of populations. The present article is divided in two parts. The first part summarizes the structure, phases, and techniques of IPT and presents the four problem areas that are used as possible foci for the therapy. The second part presents the rational for use of homework and illustrates the use of homework in a variety of situations, with different types of patients suffering from acute and chronic forms of mood and anxiety disorders.