Past Issues

Objective: In this pilot study, we intended to evaluate the efficacy of the interpersonal therapy group (IPT-G) in middle-aged adult patients with major depressive disorder. Methods: Patients with the diagnosis of major depressive disorder according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, who were aged between 40 and 65 years, were recruited to participate in receiving IPT-G while all participants kept all existing antidepressants. The participants were assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) for depression at baseline and immediately after the final treatment session. Results: Totally, 10 patients from an outpatient clinic of a community hospital participated in this 14 weekly 90-min sessions IPT-G while they all kept taking their prescribed antidepressants. Five of them completed the whole course of sessions. The BDI-II scores (means ± standard deviation) of five participants were significantly decreased between sessions 1 and 14 (30.6 ± 19.9 vs. 17.4 ± 15.9) using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test (Z = −2.031, p < 0.05). According to the in-depth interview data of two participants, social and practice dimensions were the main factors responsible for changes in the group. Conclusion: In this pilot study, we demonstrated that antidepressant-medicated middle-aged patients can benefit from IPT-G. But this pilot study result needs to be duplicated with a larger number of study participants to strengthen the study finding.