Interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) is a form of psychotherapy that focuses on relieving symptoms by improving interpersonal functioning. A central idea in IPT is that psychological symptoms can be understood as a response to current difficulties in everyday relationships with other people.

IPT focuses on conflict in relationships as a source of tension and distress; life changes, such as job loss or the birth of a child, that affect people’s feelings about themselves and others; grief and loss and difficulties in starting or sustaining relationships. When people learn effective strategies for dealing with their relationship problems, their symptoms often improve.