Gerald Klerman
He tied depression to relationships, then proved treatment works.
Co-founder of IPT, a structured, time-limited therapy linking depression to interpersonal problems, established through rigorous trials.
techniques
Psychiatry is a branch of medicine.
Who they were
Gerald Klerman was an American psychiatrist who, from 1969 at Yale, developed Interpersonal Psychotherapy with his collaborator Myrna Weissman. IPT focuses on current relationships and social functioning rather than unconscious conflict, and was among the first manualized, empirically tested psychotherapies for depression. He later led the federal Alcohol, Drug Abuse and Mental Health Administration.
Terms they cared about
Ideas worth knowing
Their techniques
How the work was done
Their big idea
Interpersonal Theory of Depression
Symptoms are tied to current relationship problems — grief, disputes, transitions and isolation.
The approach they founded
Interpersonal Psychotherapy
Treats symptoms by working the relationships around them — grief, role changes, disputes, and isolation.
Questions in their spirit
What they’d ask you
Sit with one. Answer online, or in the app.
Carry the idea forward
Klerman — What they’d ask you
Psipas asks you one small, honest question at a time — and builds the picture from your answers.