JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Depression is among the leading causes of disability worldwide, yet access to effective psychotherapy remains limited across healthcare systems. Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) is a well-established, evidence-based treatment for depression and other mental disorders that emphasizes the bidirectional relationship between mood and interpersonal functioning. However, traditional delivery models require trained clinicians and structured therapy sessions, limiting scalability and accessibility. Digital mental health technologies offer promising opportunities to expand treatment reach, but many existing tools lack grounding in established evidence-based intervention frameworks and demonstrate limited long-term engagement. In this conceptual paper, we propose Smart Interpersonal Psychotherapy (S-IPT), a digitally augmented adaptation of IPT designed to extend traditional in-person treatment beyond the therapy session through mobile sensing, digital phenotyping, and adaptive behavioral interventions. S-IPT preserves the core theoretical structure of IPT—including the four interpersonal problem areas—while integrating advances in mobile health technologies capable of monitoring behavioral indicators of social engagement. By translating interpersonal mechanisms into digitally supported interventions, and by mapping those interventions onto each of the four IPT problem areas, S-IPT aims to reinforce therapeutic insights in real-world contexts and support relational functioning between clinical encounters. We examine how digital behavioral signals, conversational interfaces, and just-in-time adaptive interventions can support the core mechanisms of IPT while maintaining fidelity to the treatment model. Ethical considerations, including maintenance of the therapeutic alliance, and suicide risk management, are also discussed. Finally, we outline a clinical research agenda necessary to evaluate the effectiveness and implementation of digitally augmented IPT within real-world mental health systems.