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

In the Aftermath of the Pandemic is an accessible treatment manual enabling psychotherapists to use Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) to address the psychological consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and other large-scale disasters. Well-studied and time-limited, IPT has demonstrated efficacy in treating mood disorders, anxiety disorders, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). IPT helps people to mobilize social support, to process and take control of environmental stressors, relieving symptoms. As such it appears an excellent intervention for the wave of psychiatric problems accompanying the COVID-19 pandemic. The book describes IPT techniques and focuses on treating the disaster's major outcomes-depression, PTSD, and anxiety-illustrating their treatment with multiple detailed case examples drawn from actual clinical presentations from the pandemic. The book also addresses the sudden shift from in-person to remote tele-therapy, and includes a novel COVID Behavioral Checklist of psychological risk factors. Dr. John Markowitz, a leading IPT expert, explains the psychological impacts of disasters like COVID-19 and the particular usefulness of IPT in addressing them, making this a crucial text for clinicians looking to address the psychiatric crisis the pandemic has wrought.

John C. Markowitz, MD received his medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons and his psychiatric residency training at the Payne Whitney Clinic of Cornell University/New York Hospital in New York. He had the fortune to work with the two founders of Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT): the late Gerald L. Klerman, MD at Cornell, and Myrna M. Weissman, PhD at Columbia University. Currently, he is a Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons and a Research Psychiatrist at New York State Psychiatric Institute. Dr. Markowitz has spent decades studying the effects of psychotherapies and medications in the treatment of depression, anxiety, personality disorders, and posttraumatic stress disorder with funding from the National Institute of Mental Health and other foundations.