Review: The effectiveness of interpersonal psychotherapy for adolescents with depression - a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Interpersonal psychotherapy for adolescents is an effective intervention for adolescent depression, improving a range of relevant outcomes. IPT-A is consistently superior to less structured interventions and performs similarly to CBT. However, these conclusions are cautious, as they are based on a small number of controlled studies, with minor adaptations to the standard IPT-A protocol, and/or were conducted by the intervention developers. Further robust RCTs are therefore required. The lack of superiority in IPT-A for improving interpersonal difficulties highlights a need for studies to explore the underpinning mechanisms of change.