Interpersonal psychotherapy for depressed adolescents adapted for self-injury (IPT-ASI): rationale, overview, and case summary
Open accessAbstract
Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), the intentional destruction of one's own body tissue without the conscious intent to die, is a significant health concern among adolescents, however, there are few psychosocial interventions designed to treat NSSI. The current paper describes an adaptation of Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Depressed Adolescents (IPT-A) to be used with adolescents who have symptoms of depression and are engaging in NSSI. Specifically, we describe the rationale for the adaptations made to IPT-A for self-injury (IPT-ASI), and a case vignette to illustrate the implementation of IPT-ASI. Non-suicidal self-injury is often triggered by interpersonal stressors, and IPT-ASI directly aims to help clients to improve their interpersonal relationships by increasing emotional awareness and understanding, and teaching communication and problem solving skills via supportive and didactic techniques. The case vignette demonstrates the successes and challenges of using IPT-ASI for an adolescent with moderate depression and NSSI behaviors who began treatment with much difficulty expressing her emotions.
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Many studies link interpersonal problems and suicide risk.
“The selection of IPT is based on the many studies linking between interpersonal problems and suicide risk (12).”
From Ultra-Brief Crisis IPT-A Based Intervention for Suicidal Children and Adolescents (IPT-A-SCI) Pilot Study Results (2020) · cites this paper as [12]
The IPT-ASI rationale section says research links interpersonal conflict or anticipated loss to non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI). The Introduction separately says adolescents who engage in NSSI have increased suicide-attempt risk. Neither passage says that many studies directly link interpersonal problems to suicide risk, as the citing sentence claims. Page numbers are unavailable in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.83)
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- Authors
- Jacobson, C. M., & Mufson, L.
- Affiliations
- Iona College (US)
- New York State Psychiatric Institute (US)
- Venue
- American Journal of Psychotherapy
- Published
- 2012-10
- Volume
- 66
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 349-374
- ISSN
- 0002-9564 (ISSN-L)
- 2575-6559
- OpenAlex
- W1721707148
- Cited by
- 30
- References
- 29
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 2 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 2.55
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- American Journal of Psychotherapy (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (T32MH016434, T32 MH16434-26)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Suicide and Self-Harm Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Disorders and Psychopathology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications
- Keywords
- non-suicidal self-injury, interpersonal psychotherapy, adolescent depression, treatment adaptation, interpersonal stressors, emotional awareness, communication skills, problem-solving skills, case vignettes
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Combined Modality Therapy, Major Depressive Disorder, Depressive Disorder, Major, Depressive Disorder, Family Therapy, Female, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Parent-Child Relations, Patient Education as Topic, Psychotherapy, Rape, Self Care, Stress, Psychological, Self-Injurious Behavior, Family Conflict
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