Group interpersonal psychotherapy for postnatal depression: a pilot study.
We conducted a pilot study to assess the potential effectiveness of group interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT-G) as a treatment for postnatal depression (PND). The study was also established to test a treatment manual for IPT-G, assess the acceptability of this format for participants and test a recruitment strategy for a randomised controlled trial. 18 mothers diagnosed with PND participated in 2 individual session and 8 sessions of group IPT. A two-hour psychoeducational session was also held for the partners of the participants. Measures of depressive symptomatology and social adjustment were administered by an independent clinician at baseline, 4 weeks, 8 weeks and 3 months post treatment. Patient satisfaction with the treatment was also evaluated. Severity scores on the BDI, EPDS and the HDRS decreased from pre- to post-treatment. This was maintained at three months follow up. No overall improvement in the Social Adjustment Scale-Self Report was noted, although there was improvement in their relationship with their significant other. The results confirm previous work that IPT-G may improve symptom severity for women suffering from postnatal depression. Limitations included the use of antidepressant therapy by 67% of subjects and the lack of a control group. There is a need for further randomised controlled trials of IPT-G with larger sample sizes to establish its effectiveness as treatment for PND.
Reay
R
R
Academic Unit of Psychological Medicine, ANU Medical School, The Canberra Hospital, Garran, Australia. Rebecca.Reay@act.gov.au
Fisher
Y
Y
Robertson
M
M
Adams
E
E
Owen
C
C
Kumar
R
R
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D019052:Depression, Postpartum / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011615:Psychotherapy, Group / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012917:Social Adjustment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D016387:Women's Health