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Interpersonal Psychotherapy Training

Length: 5 days
Location: Anna Freud Centre
Tutor(s): Roslyn Law, Maxine Dennis, Andrew Flynn
Start time: 09:00
End time: 17:00
Timetable: Download timetable

This course is jointly run by Anna Freud Centre and The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust

The course will cover the knowledge and research base of IPT with an introduction to some basic clinical skills and will also focus on clinical practice of IPT. Participants will be offered the option of undertaking further training following this five day course in the form of group / individual supervision. The London group offering this course consists of experienced clinical psychologists and psychiatrists, all of whom have been involved in IPT practice, training and supervision for over a decade.

Who is this course suitable for?

Applicants should have a mental health qualification e.g. psychology, counselling, psychiatry, nursing, social work, and should have experience of working therapeutically with people with mental health difficulties. The course assumes prior experience of conducting psychotherapy and does not provide an introduction at this level. Applicants are required to have at least two years post-qualification experience.

Aims of course

The aim of the course is to provide experienced mental health professionals with an introduction to the IPT model, and show how to apply the IPT approach to patients with depression.

Existing IPTUK courses are not currently IAPT compliant. IAPT staff should contact local IAPT leads to pursue IAPT-compliant IPT training and email marta@annafreud.org who will forward your queries and requests to Roslyn Law.

Differences between DIT & IPT

Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy (DIT) and Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) have several common features but they are NOT the same therapy and the approaches draw on specific and distinct competencies. We offer trainings in both these models.

DIT is a brief (16 session) psychodynamic psychotherapy developed for the treatment of mood disorders. It will be rolled out within IAPT services as the brief psychodynamic model for the treatment of depression specifically. IAPT follows NICE guidelines, although DIT itself isn’t in the NICE guidelines. DIT is currently undergoing evaluation and its inclusion in the NICE guidelines will be conditional on the outcome of this evaluation. The DIT training is only open to therapists who have completed a psychodynamic psychotherapy or counselling training before undertaking DIT training. The British Psychoanalytic Council is currently looking to accredit the course.

IPT is an acute and a maintenance therapy, delivered over as few as eight sessions in IPT-brief and up to three years in IPT- maintenance. It has psychodynamic origins but takes an explicitly biopsychosocial approach to the treatment of depression, and it is NOT a psychodynamic therapy. It is evidence based and is recommended as a first line intervention in the NICE guidance. It will be offered within IAPT for the treatment of depression.

IPT training is open to therapists from a wide range of disciplines. IPT has its own accreditation procedures (via IPTUK).