A mother–infant therapy group model for postpartum depression

✍ Scribed by Roseanne Clark; Audrey Tluczek; Roger Brown

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2008
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 222 KB
• Volume: 29
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0163-9641
• DOI: 10.1002/imhj.20189

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

This pilot study examined the feasibility and efficacy of a manualized, 12‐week mother–infant therapy group (M‐ITG) model for women with moderate to severe depressive symptoms during the postpartum period. Study participants were referred to the psychiatric clinic of a university medical center for assessment and treatment for postpartum depression. Results of pre‐ and post comparisons utilizing self‐report and observational measures showed that women in the M‐ITG groups (n = 18) reported significantly fewer depressive symptoms and experienced their infants as more reinforcing following 12 weeks of treatment than did the depressed women in the waitlist control group (WLCG) (n = 14). Mothers in the M‐ITG group also were rated as exhibiting significantly more positive affective involvement and communication in interactions with their infants following treatment than did mothers in the WLCG. The M‐ITG model is described, and the implications of utilizing a mother–infant treatment approach for postpartum depression that focuses on the relationships as well as the mother's depressive symptoms is discussed. The importance of further examining the efficacy of the M‐ITG model for women with postpartum depression and their families in a large‐scale, randomized clinical trial is underscored.