Myrna Weissman
She made talk therapy something you could measure.
Co-founder of IPT who built its evidence base and pioneered psychiatric epidemiology and the study of depression across generations.
terms
techniques
Interpersonal therapy is one tool in the toolbox, not a religion.
Who they were
Myrna Weissman is an American epidemiologist and professor of epidemiology in psychiatry at Columbia University. With Gerald Klerman she co-developed IPT and led the trials that established it as an evidence-based treatment for depression. Independently she became a leading figure in psychiatric epidemiology, known for cross-national prevalence studies and multigenerational research on familial depression.
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
Weissman — What they’d ask you
Psipas asks you one small, honest question at a time — and builds the picture from your answers.