Department of Psychological Services, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel (Rafaeli); Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University, Be'er Sheva, Israel (Bar-Kalifa); Department of Clinical Psychology, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York City (Verdeli); Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore (Miller).
Am J Psychother. 2021 Dec 1;74(4):165-171. doi: 10.1176/appi.psychotherapy.202120200038.
University counseling centers struggle to meet the growing demand for mental health treatment by students in distress. More acutely distressed students typically receive priority, whereas those with mild to moderate depression often face longer wait times and fewer available therapy sessions. For this reason, interpersonal counseling for college students (IPC-C) was created as a brief manualized psychotherapy, suitable for students with mild to moderate depression, that maintains the core components of interpersonal counseling and integrates components from interpersonal psychotherapy for adolescents and other developmentally appropriate techniques. This article describes a pilot trial of IPC-C.
IPC-C is delivered in three to six psychotherapy sessions focused on alleviating depressive symptoms and increasing social support. Ten participants from two university counseling centers were recruited to receive IPC-C. The inclusion criterion was a Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) score of 5-14, indicating mild to moderate depression. Participants completed the PHQ-9 at each session, the College Adjustment Test at baseline and termination, and the IPC Satisfaction Scale at termination.
Nine of the 10 participants completed the study, attending an average of five therapy sessions each. Participants agreed that the number of sessions was appropriate and indicated satisfaction with the IPC-C intervention. Participants exhibited significantly reduced depression severity (Cohen's d=2.45) and significantly improved college adjustment (d=0.92).
In this pilot trial, IPC-C was found to be a feasible and acceptable intervention for university-based treatment of young adults with mild to moderate depressive symptoms. IPC-C holds promise as a potentially effective intervention for this population and warrants further study in a randomized trial.
大学咨询中心努力满足处于困境中的学生对心理健康治疗日益增长的需求。通常，更为急性困扰的学生将获得优先治疗，而那些仅有轻度至中度抑郁的学生往往面临更长的等待时间和更少的可用治疗次数。出于这个原因，针对大学生的人际心理咨询（IPC-C）被创建为一种简短的规范化心理治疗方法，适用于有轻度至中度抑郁的学生，保留了人际心理咨询的核心要素，并整合了青少年人际心理治疗和其他适合发展阶段的技术。本文描述了 IPC-C 的一项试点试验。
IPC-C 分三至六次心理治疗进行，重点缓解抑郁症状并增加社会支持。从两个大学咨询中心招募了十名符合纳入标准的参与者。纳入标准为 PHQ-9 得分 5-14，表明为轻度至中度抑郁。参与者在每次治疗时填写 PHQ-9，在基线和治疗结束时填写大学生适应测验（College Adjustment Test），在治疗结束时填写 IPC 满意度量表。
十名参与者中的九名完成了研究，平均每人参加了五次治疗。参与者认为治疗次数合适，并对 IPC-C 干预表示满意。参与者的抑郁严重程度显著降低（Cohen's d=2.45），大学生适应情况显著改善（d=0.92）。
在这项试点试验中，IPC-C 被发现是一种可行且可接受的针对有轻度至中度抑郁症状的大学生的治疗方法。IPC-C 有望成为该人群的一种有效干预方法，值得进一步在随机试验中研究。
