The Efficacy of Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) for a Depressed Transgendered Person

Transgendered people face numerous challenges. The main challenge is transitioning from the gender assigned at birth to the gender that they identify with. The transgendered also experience interpersonal challenges, namely discrimination, abuse, and difficulties in their interpersonal relationships. This presentation focuses on a depressed transgendered person who was assigned the female gender at birth but currently identifies with the male gender. The patient was diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder according to the clinical criteria of DSM-5 and offered IPT as a treatment modality. Informed consent was taken, with a commitment of 8 to 12 sessions of interpersonal psychotherapy. The PHQ-9 and GAD-7 were utilised as assessment tools for Depression and Anxiety, respectively. The first and second sessions were initial sessions, the following five sessions were middle sessions, and the eighth session was the terminal session. The IPT problem areas identified during the development of the IPT formulation were Role Transition and Interpersonal Conflict. The patient was assessed to have an insecure, dismissive attachment style. An Interpersonal Inventory was also done collaboratively with the patient, and the gender role transition and the interpersonal conflict were addressed. Gender affirmation was rendered throughout the entire course of psychotherapy. The patient's initial PHQ-9 score indicated that the patient was suffering from moderate depression, whereas the initial GAD-7 score revealed mild anxiety. After seven sessions of IPT, the PHQ-9 score was 1, and the GAD-7 score was 0. Thus, the patient appeared to have reached remission of depressive symptoms after seven sessions of IPT. This case study has revealed that IPT is efficacious as a treatment for depression in a transgendered patient. IPT can also address two commonly occurring problem areas in transgendered persons, that is, gender role transition and interpersonal conflict.