ABSTRACT
The trial sites were in Newham and Tower Hamlets, East London, so dynamic interpersonal therapy (DIT) proved itself in areas of social deprivation. In Improving Access to Psychological Therapies’s ‘set menu’ DIT should be implemented at scale, ideally as a first-line option whenever patient preference or presenting history indicates. Evidence for the efficacy of psychodynamic therapy for common mental disorders is available, but this study is the first to demonstrate DIT’s effectiveness in primary care. In the view of the teams themselves, and their managers and commissioners, the value of this reflective space with each other was demonstrated over time through a capacity for mutual problem-solving and more effective joint working. Likewise, with clients, the Focus groups stimulated impromptu joint sessions, where client, Key worker and Talking Therapist would sit down all together. Significant gains were seen, and intractable barriers to return to work and improved mental health were overcome.
