[Efficacy and therapeutic factors of interpersonal psychotherapy for depressed inpatients - results of a pilot study].

BACKGROUND: Despite the common use of combined therapy programs for the treatment of depression among inpatients, very few evaluations have been reported. OBJECTIVE: Evaluation of the efficacy and efficacy factors of a 6 week treatment program of IPT in combination with standard pharmacotherapy of depressed inpatients (IPT-S). METHOD: 28 inpatients with a major depression were treated with IPT-S. The first eight cases were evaluated regarding the therapy process using the cubus analysis. RESULTS: The treatment showed significant and stable changes on depression-specific and interpersonal measures. The most successful IPT therapies showed a pattern of intensive clarification - especially of interpersonal issues - in the first half of therapy followed by coping strategies. CONCLUSIONS: The preliminary results suggest that IPT-S is a useful and effective therapy concept that warrants further investigation.