In the Aftermath of the Pandemic: Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Anxiety, Depression, and PTSD  

John C. Markowitz

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic is an ongoing disaster on a scale no one living can recall. Since the end of 2019, it is causing not only countless deaths and physical debility, but also extraordinary social disruption, changing every aspect of people’s working and social lives. As a consequence, in the wake of the virus has come a second wave of psychiatric consequences, mostly prominently anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress. This flood of illness and distress will likely continue at least until an effective vaccine is found and distributed and, even then, will leave psychic scars. How best to treat the slew of psychiatric suffering from such tragedy or, indeed, from any ongoing disaster? Interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) is an evidence-based, time-limited, affect- and life event–focused psychotherapy, repeatedly tested in more than forty years of treatment research and shown to help patients with mood, anxiety, and trauma disorders. With adaptation to the particular current conditions, IPT appears an excellent fit for the strong feelings and symptoms arising from these horrific life events. his manual by Dr. John Markowitz, a leading IPT expert, equips therapists to treat the most common psychiatric consequences of the pandemic.

Bibliographic Information

Publisher: Oxford University PressPrint Publication Date: Feb 2021Print ISBN-13: 9780197554500Published online: Jan 2021DOI: 10.1093/med-psych/9780197554500.001.0001