Systems and methods for treating a patient's pain using ramped therapeutic signals for modulating inhibitory interneurons, and associated systems and methods are disclosed. A representative method for treating a patient includes positioning an implantable signal delivery device proximate to a target location at or near the patient's spinal cord, and delivering an electrical therapy signal to the target location via the implantable signal delivery device, wherein the electrical therapy signal has a frequency in a frequency range of from about 1 kHz to about 100 kHz, and wherein the frequency is increased or decreased from a first value to a second value during delivery.