Effect of interpersonal psychotherapy on social functioning, overall functioning and negative emotions for depression: A meta-analysis

Background: Interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) has been widely used for depression. However, current studies of IPT have been restricted to depressive symptoms, and the results for improving social functioning were controversial.Methods: A comprehensive literature search of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) was conducted through eleven databases. Data analysis was performed by RevMan5.3, and effects were summarized by using a random effects model of mean differences with 95 % confidence intervals.Results: From 2443 records, eleven studies met inclusion and exclusion criteria were used for meta-analysis. The results showed that IPT had significant effects on improving social functioning (SMD:-0.53, 95 % CI:-0.80 to -0.26), reducing depression (SMD:-0.49, 95 % CI:-0.80 to-0.19) and anxiety (SMD:-0.90, 95 % CI:-1.28 to-0.52), but the effect on the overall functioning (SMD:-0.37, 95 % CI:-0.73 to-0.01) is not obvious. Moreover, subgroup analysis showed that IPT was effective in improving social functioning in adolescent depression (SMD:-0.35, 95 % CI:-0.58 to-0.13) and perinatal depression (SMD:-1.01, 95 % CI:-1.35 to -0.67), while there was no significant difference in the adult depression group (SMD:-0.39, 95 % CI:-1.05 to 0.27).Limitation: The blind method cannot be carried out in most studies due to the particularity of psychotherapy, heterogeneity in some results.Conclusion: IPT has a significant effect on improving social functioning and reducing depression and anxiety, while the effect on overall functioning requires further research. Overall, IPT is one of the effective non -pharmacological treatments for depression.