SESSION TITLE: Psychotherapy for Bipolar II Disorder: An Overlooked Treatment Option
BIOGRAPHY: Holly A. Swartz is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She received her medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine and completed her psychiatric residency training at New York Hospital / Cornell University School of Medicine. Dr. Swartz’s research focuses on understanding and optimizing psychosocial interventions for mood disorders. She is well known for her work evaluating Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) and Interpersonal and Social Rhythm Therapy (IPSRT) as treatments for depression and bipolar disorder. Her research focuses on IPT in the management of maternal depression, both in the perinatal period and in the context of high-risk families with psychiatrically ill offspring, and on the role of IPSRT and pharmacotherapy in the management of bipolar II depression. Currently, she is working on a project to develop a novel computational framework to model dyadic interpersonal behaviors in relation to psychotherapy (IPT and CBT) process and outcomes. She is testing an online version of IPSRT for treating bipolar disorder in primary care and collaborating on a project to examine neural mechanisms of a rhythm-specific psychotherapy for transition age youth with bipolar disorder. She is the author of over 100 publications, co-author of Bipolar II Disorder: Recognition, Understanding and Treatment (American Psychiatric Association Publishing, 2019), and Editor of the American Journal of Psychotherapy. Dr. Swartz has held leadership positions for national and international professional organizations including serving as President of the International Society for Interpersonal Psychotherapy (ISIPT ; 2015-17) and Treasurer of the International Society of Bipolar Disorders (ISBD ; 2018-2021). She is the 2018 recipient of the Depression and Bipolar Association Gerald L. Kleman Senior Investigator Award in recognition of outstanding research contributing to the understanding, causes, diagnosis, and treatment of mood disorders. As an IPT and IPSRT trainer and supervisor, she has taught these therapies to thousands of clinicians across the globe. She is actively involved in training the next generation of researchers, disseminating information about effective treatments, and educating the public about mood disorders.
