CZU:159.9:616.8-089 
              THE USE AND SPECIFICITY OF INTERPERSONAL THERAPY 
                           BUZENCO Valeria, doctorandă, 
               Universitatea Pedagogică de Stat „Ion Creangă”, Republica Moldova  
                                       
       Rezumat. Terapia interpersonală este o terapie dinamică pe termen scurt, care se focusează pe prezent, nu 
       pe trecutul relațiilor și pe o înțelegerea mai bună a clienților și a sentimentelor lor, a funcționării și a 
       relației interpersonale. A fost dezvoltat inițial pentru a trata depresia și pentru a îmbunătăți abilitățile și 
       relațiile interpersonale. Ulterior, s-a dovedit că este folosită pentru a trata o varietate de alte tulburări, cum 
       ar  fi  anxietatea,  tulburările  alimentare,  abuzul  de  substanțe,  tulburările  de  personalitate,  tulburările  de 
       dispoziție, etc. Datorită timpului său limitat, atât terapeuții, cât și clienții caută schimbări care vor scădea 
       simptomele  și  vor  îmbunătăți  funcționarea  psihosocială  și  o  vor  menține  în  afara  tratamentului. 
       Popularitatea  sa  se  datorează  eficacității  sale  pe  termen  scurt,  întrucât  oamenii  din  zilele  noastre  se 
       așteaptă să vadă schimbările pozitive pe termen scurt, fără să o extindă pe ani de zile. 
       Abstract. Interpersonal therapy is one particular short-term dynamic therapy that focuses on the present, 
       not  the  past,  relationships  and  on  improving  clients’  understanding  of  their  feelings,  interpersonal 
       functioning, and interpersonal situation. It was originally developed to treat depression and to improve 
       interpersonal skills  and  relationships.  Later  on,  it  has  been  proven it  usage  to  treat  a  variety  of  other 
       disorders, such as anxiety, eating disorders, substance abuse, personality disorders, mood disorders, etc. 
       Also, it was demonstrated its effectiveness in group and family therapy sessions. Due to its limited time, both 
       therapists  and  clients  look  for  changes  that  will  decrease  the  symptoms  and  will  improve  psychosocial 
       functioning and will keep maintain it outside of treatment. Its popularity is due to its short-term effectiveness 
       as people nowadays are expecting to see the positive changes in short terms, not extending it for years.  
       Cuvinte  cheie:  Terapie  dinamică  pe  termen  scurt,  terapie  interpersonală  (IPT),  relații  interpersonale, 
       funcționare interpersonale, competențe sociale. 
       Keywords:  Short-term  dynamic  therapy,  interpersonal  therapy  (IPT),  interpersonal  relationship, 
       interpersonal functioning, social skills. 
            
           People suffering from different forms of psychological disorder look for help delivered by 
       mental health professionals. They should overcome the stigmas that have been present for so long 
       time and understand that they have to put themselves and their needs above all other judgments. So, 
       as soon as a person understands that there is a need for professional help to overcome a problem, 
       they don’t have to hesitate and search for it, because at the incipient level it is easier to resolve a 
       problem. Also, people come to the therapist expecting to gather beneficial changes in limited time, 
       not lengthening for years. The short term dynamic therapies provide and meet these needs involving 
       an active and time-limited process which is seeking for specific goals. 
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        One effective short-term psychodynamic therapy is interpersonal therapy (IPT). Its essential 
      characteristic comparison with other psychodynamic therapies is that it focuses on the current, not 
      the past, relationship and social interactions [5], as well as on improving clients’ understanding of 
      their  feelings,  interpersonal  functioning,  and  interpersonal  situation  [3].  According  to  Klerman, 
      Weissman,  Rounsaville,  Chevron  (1984),  “Interpersonal  Psychotherapy  (IPT)  was  originally 
      developed to identify and address the most important interpersonal relationships of adult clients 
      with depression in order to improve interpersonal relationships and skills”. The use of IPT has 
      become increasingly popular among therapies that used to treat a variety of other disorders too, such 
      as anxiety, eating disorders, substance abuse, personality disorders, mood disorders etc. [4]. 
        Social  relationships  are  vital  to  health  and  well-being.  During  IPT,  therapists  help  their 
      clients, who are a part of a social context which have the problems of dysfunctions in rapport to it,  
      to  improve  their  interpersonal  skills  in  order  to  improve  interpersonal  functioning  which  will 
      overcame the issue. A supportive argument to it is given by researchers who are saying that “IPT 
      makes no assumptions about the causes of psychiatric problems but assumes that the development, 
      maintenance,  and  treatment  of  psychiatric  symptoms  occur  within  influential  social  and 
      interpersonal contexts and that the inception, response to treatment, and outcomes are formed by 
      the  interpersonal  relationships  that  involve  the  client  and  those  who  are  close  to  them”  [2]. 
      Specialists are saying that, IPT focuses on addressing an interpersonal crisis in the client’s current 
      social context [1], and it depends on social status interdependence and people affiliation [9]. Thus, I 
      think it is important for  people to identify themselves in their social context, and recognize the 
      problem  areas  of  the  crisis  situation  that  occurred  whit  a  professional  help  of  a  interpersonal 
      therapist.    
        Studies have shown that people who present interpersonal problems are conceptualized in 
      four  problem  areas:  (a)  interpersonal  deficits,  applying  to  those  individuals  who  are  socially 
      isolated or have chronically unfulfilling relationships (frequently the result of poor social skills); (b) 
      interpersonal role disputes, referring to conflicts with a significant other such as a parent, sibling, or 
      peer,  frequently  emerging  from  differences  in  expectations  about  the  relationship;  (c)  role 
      transitions,  or  difficulties  associated  with  life  adjustments;  (d)  grief,  meaning  grief  loss  of  the 
      significant relationship.  
        Working collaboratively in relation therapist-client, and mobilizing on the area of problems, 
      IPT seeks to activate several interpersonal change mechanisms in order to resolve these problems. 
      These  include:  1)  enhancing  social  support,  2)  decreasing  interpersonal  stress,  3)  facilitating 
      emotional processing, and, 4) improving interpersonal skills [6]. 
        IPT is highly structured, thought the period of treatment can be brief. However, it is mostly 
      depending on difficulty of the problem, and individual’s characteristic as everyone is different. 
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      Centering on current relationships, and on overcoming the interpersonal problems mentioned above 
      in order to improve social skills and interpersonal relations, both client and specialist, are focused 
      on a systematized process. Effective and briskly.   
        Studies agreed that IPT occurs in three phases: initial phase, intermediate phase, termination 
      phase,  and  it  is  commonly  conducted  in  12-20  sessions,  where  the  therapist  works  to  build  a 
      therapeutic alliance with the client [8]; however, the number of sessions may vary for different 
      clients. The first sessions constitute the evaluation phase, during which the therapist reviews the 
      client’s social and psychiatric history and takes an interpersonal inventory. During this session, the 
      therapist looks for an interpersonal crisis in the client’s life, a “problem area” connected to the 
      client’s current depressive episode [3]. The next step sets the goals that are wanted to be achieved 
      during the treatment, and in a recent research of [7], they are mentioning that the client builds 
      interpersonal skills and emotional awareness. The intermediate phase comprises most of the work in 
      IPT as it  focuses  on  the  IPT  problem  areas.  It  includes:  complicated  grief  (loss  of  significant 
      relationship), role dispute (conflict with an important person in the client’s life), role transition 
      (major  life  change),  and  interpersonal  problems  (such  as  marital  conflicts,  parenting  issues,  or 
      conflict at work, etc.) [4]. In the termination phase, the therapist works to achieve effective closure 
      from their relationship with the client. They work to raise an ability of client’s efficiently form and 
      maintain interpersonal relationships outside of treatment [7].  
        IPT has the goal to make changes in the client’s interpersonal problems in current social 
      context, so an important instrument that can bring improvements is homework. Seen as a natural 
      extension of the work during the sessions, the client will be motivated to make some changes in the 
      interpersonal relationship, like those illustrated during session time and apply them outside of the 
      sessions in the natural environment [2]. It has been proven that IPT operates by making meaningful 
      links  between  the  client’s  mood  and  life  circumstances  by  encouraging  tolerance  of  intense 
      emotions [1] and improving their interpersonal functioning using the appropriate techniques.  
        Most  of  the  techniques  used  in  IPT  are  common  to  other  psychotherapies,  particularly 
      psychodynamic and cognitive therapies. The most common once are: 
        1.  Exploratory  techniques  are  geared  toward  gathering  systematic  information  about  the 
      client’s symptoms and presenting problems.  
        2.  Encouragement of  affect  encompasses  a  series  of  techniques  that  allow  the  client  to 
      verbalize painful affects about events or issues that cannot be changed.  
        3. Clarification is used to make the client more aware of what has been communicated as well 
      as to facilitate the discussion of previously suppressed material.  
        4. Communication analysis is used to examine and identify communication failures to help 
      the client learn to communicate more efficiently and effectively.  
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        5. Behavior change techniques are often used in conjunction with communication analysis 
      and their goal is to help the client consider a wide range of alternative options.  
        6.  Use  of  the  therapeutic  relationship,  where  the  therapist  can  provide  feedback  about 
      interpersonal style and behaviors observed in the session and its relation to other interpersonal 
      relationships [2]. Thus, these techniques are commonly used by the therapist, and is important to 
      mention once more that each client is different, and needs a different combination of techniques and 
      could be suitable at particular times of the therapy.  
        Once we have discussed the problem area of IPT, the phases of treatment and the techniques, 
      we will focus on internal factors of IPT. The IPT efficacy is due to its focus to encourage clients' 
      optimism about treatment and the motivation of improvement. IPT emphasizes identifying and 
      expressing feelings, as using emotional understanding can give tolls to manage intra/inter-personal 
      encounters  that  create  a  positive  life  and  well-being.  The  therapist's  role  is  to  be  active  and 
      supportive, and to motivate the client to explore options to overcome the problems and to make 
      changes and reinforce progress. As a result, when client see the achievement of desired goals, they 
      feel a sense of mastery and have more confidence through solving social difficulties. Clients also 
      learn how to be assertive with others and also be able to meet personal needs [3]. One key focus is 
      that  IPT  or  the  therapist  does  not  seek  to  attribute  interpersonal  problems  to  personality 
      characteristics or unconscious motivations. Rather, IPT works with the assumption that little can be 
      said about the client’s personality until the depression is alleviated [2]. So therapists don’t treat the 
      client, but they treat the problem that occurred in their client’s life.  
        Concluding  we  have  seen  the  importance  of  IPT  and  its  utility  in  helping  people  with 
      psychosocial disorders that are caused and maintained in social environment. Being focused on 
      improving clients’ understanding of their feelings, thought, interpersonal functioning and situation, 
      it helps to increase social and psychological well-being. Its limited-time encourages both therapists 
      and  clients  to  stay  focused  on  treatment,  instills  that  clients'  symptoms  and  life  situation  can 
      improve, and make them work quickly to resolve client’s interpersonal issues. Stressful life events 
      can trigger depressive  mood and vice versa, so the excellence of interpersonal therapy will be 
      measured if it has achieved the goal to promote change and improve client’s social functioning. I 
      think  that  our  life  is  so  dependent  of  our  social  context  and  interactions,  so  the  interpersonal 
      problems can have huge damaging effect on a person’s well-being. Researchers and studies have 
      demonstrated the efficiency of using of IPT in overcoming the symptoms and crisis of interpersonal 
      problems  in  order  to  achieve  the  social  functioning.  Also,  researchers  are  saying  that  gaining 
      environmental mastery through the development of social skills, and the ability to reflect on and 
      tolerate emotional reactions to interpersonal situations, will influence longstanding interpersonal 
      patterns of behavior and styles [6]. After all, I think that we have to focus on understanding and 
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