Interpersonal psychotherapy in Australia

This chapter highlights interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) in Australia. IPT emphasizes the central role of interpersonal and social relationships within which mental health problems develop and are maintained. This paradigm shift spurred clinician interest in training, supervision, and certification in IPT. However, Australia is a large country and access to training and supervision opportunities has been challenging. Fortunately, training opportunities have expanded, partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with greater access to online training and accreditation bodies, such as the International Society of Interpersonal Psychotherapy (ISIPT) and the IPT Institute in the United States. The chapter then looks at the extension of IPT with depressed adolescents (IPT-A) aged 12-18 years to include young adults, which is consistent with modern Australian youth mental health service models, which cater to individuals aged 12-25. It also considers group IPT for perinatal mental health and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Finally, it examines how the Australian government introduced the "Better Access" to mental health care scheme in 2006.