There are an ever increasing amount of different available approaches to therapy including family therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy and analytical therapy. More recently a new, innovative approach, namely IPT, has been recognised to be of significant use particularly for those wishing to learn effective, interpersonal relationship skills. Key areas to be explored are listed below.
- What is IPT?
- IPT skills
- Benefits for Eating Disorder patients
What is IPT?
IPT stands for Interpersonal Therapy and is recognised to be an effective, valuable, short term approach to treatment. Recent research studies have proven this approach to be effective in treating mental health conditions such as depression and eating disorders. IPT is primarily about the importance of healthy significant relationships which in turn support and promote healthy recovery. The basic belief behind IPT is that interpersonal relationships greatly impact on the patient and that disorders occur within an interpersonal context.
Kinoy (2001) highlights that there are four main interpersonal problem areas including the following: role disputes (common in married couples), role transition (separating from parents, marriage/parenthood adjustments), unresolved grief and interpersonal deficits (inability to form/maintain significant relationships). IPT may involve around approximately 20 sessions over the course of up to six months as part of outpatient therapy.
Interpersonal Therapy Skills
IPT focuses on examining and altering the interpersonal context of where the patient's eating disorder both developed and has been maintained. Strategies to tackle grief may include: helping the patient to reconstruct their relationship with the deceased and explore ways reconnecting with others to facilitate the process of mourning and help re-establish interests to provide a substitute.
In order to address key relationship deficits the following skills are recommended as a means of reducing isolation: exploration of repetitive patterns as well as a review of strengths/weaknesses of past relationships.
Benefits of Interpersonal Therapy for Eating Disorder Patients
The main benefits of using ITP in eating disorder treatment are as follows: addresses underlying interpersonal issues (possible eating disorder triggers), goal focused, targets factors maintaining an eating disorder and provides new coping strategies to improve relationships which in turn provide the benefit of a valuable support network. If the case of where other approaches such as CBT have not been successful then DBT is a viable, cost-effective alternative. Currently, as more research is being carried out in this field the key benefits and effectiveness for specific disorders will hopefully be more understood.
Sources:
Kinoy, B. (2001) Eating Disorders: New Directions in Treatment and Recovery Columbia University press
Shepphird, S. (2010) 100 Questions & Answers About Anorexia Nervosa Massachusetts: Jones and Bartlett
Treasure et al. (2003) Handbook of Eating Disorders Chichester: Wiley
Kate Le Page - Kate Henning-Le Page writes about eating disorders, body image and recovery issues. She specializes in anorexia recovery.
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