Brief Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy ─ A Clinician's Guide

Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy (DIT) is a brief psychodynamic psychotherapy developed for the treatment of mood disorders. It is being rolled out as part of the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) initiative as the psychodynamic model for the treatment of depression.

This book is a user-friendly, practical guide for the implementation of a brief psychodynamic intervention in routine clinical practice as well as in research protocols. It sets out clearly the theoretical framework, as well as the rationale and strategies for applying DIT with patients presenting with mood disorders (depression and anxiety). Throughout, it is illustrated with detailed examples that help the reader to implement the approach in their practice.

The book will be required reading to support the national IAPT training initiative, as well as providing a resource for mental health professionals specialising in psychodynamic psychotherapy and wishing to work within a limited time frame.

Professor Alessandra Lemma is Director of the Psychological Therapies Development Unit at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust. She is a clinical psychologist and a psychoanalyst. She is Visiting Professor, Research Dept of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College, and Visiting Professor of Psychological Therapies, School of Health and Human Sciences at Essex University. She is a Fellow of the British Psychoanalytic Society. She has published several books and papers on psychotherapy and psychoanalysis.


Professor Mary Target is a clinical psychologist and a psychoanalyst. She is Professor of Psychoanalysis, Research Dept of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London; she is also Professional Director of the Anna Freud Centre. She is a Fellow of the British Psycho-Analytical Society, and Course Organiser of UCL's Masters in Theoretical Psychoanalytic Studies and Doctorate in Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy. She carries out research on child and adult attachment, personality functioning and mentalization, and has a part-time psychoanalytic practice.


Peter Fonagy, PhD, FBA is Freud Memorial Professor of Psychoanalysis and Head of the Research Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology at University College London; Chief Executive of the Anna Freud Centre, London; and Consultant to the Child and Family Program at the Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences at the Baylor College of Medicine. He is also a fellow of the British Academy.