Maternal Depression and its Long-Term Impact

Maternal postpartum depression (PPD) impacts 15-18% of women in industrial societies and more of 30% of those living in the developing world or under conditions of poverty, insecurity, and violence. The effects of PPD on child brain and behavior are pervasive and long-lasting. For several decades we study the long-term effects of PPD on children and families and developed targeted intervention for families with PPD.

Long-term effects of exposure to maternal depression – Utilizing a unique birth-to-adulthood community cohort we followed the long-term effects of maternal depression on children’s psychopathology, social behavior, empathy, emotion regulation, executive function, and on mother’s and child’s hormones (oxytocin, cortisol, DHEA, immunity).  We described the buffering role of fathers and the long-term impact on the adolescent brain, including default mode network functionality and the brain basis of empathy and attachment. 

Mother-infant synchrony-based intervention for PPD – We used findings from the longitudinal study (above) to pinpoints the missing components in the caregiving of depressed mothers that have the most detrimental long-term effects.  We developed a video-feedback dyadic intervention that is specific for PPD and focuses on synchrony and affiliative behavior, parental mentalization, and cross-generational transmission of relational patterns.  The intervention is provided in the context of RCT and is ongoing.