Perinatal Depression and Effects of Interpersonal Therapy on Maternal and Child Health

Researchers Davis and Hankin described the Care Project, a randomized clinical trial evaluating interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) delivered during pregnancy to individuals with elevated depressive symptoms.¹ Davis noted that “rates of depression during pregnancy are quite high,” yet clinical and public attention had focused more heavily on postpartum depression.² She emphasized that the entire perinatal period represented a critical window for intervention and support.

Participants were identified through obstetric clinic screening early in pregnancy and were randomized to receive either IPT or enhanced usual care. Davis reported that both groups demonstrated declines in depressive symptoms over pregnancy; however, those assigned to IPT experienced a more rapid reduction in symptom severity and in rates of major depressive disorder. She highlighted that recently published findings showed durability of effect, stating that “this benefit persists out through 1 year postpartum.” The sustained reduction in both symptoms and diagnoses underscored the potential for antenatal intervention to alter longer-term illness trajectories.

Beyond depression, Davis and Hankin examined cooccurring psychopathology. Although these findings had not yet been fully published, Davis reported that IPT during pregnancy was associated with reductions in anxiety, trauma-related symptoms, personality pathology, and even inattentive and hyperactive symptoms. She characterized IPT as a brief, scalable intervention with transdiagnostic benefits, potentially increasing its clinical utility in obstetric and perinatal settings.

Hankin contextualized the study within the framework of rigorous evidence generation, emphasizing the necessity of randomized trials as the gold standard while acknowledging differences between research protocols and routine clinical practice. Therapists in the trial were doctoral-level clinicians trained in IPT, ensuring fidelity to the intervention model.

Together, Davis and Hankin posited that early identification and structured psychotherapeutic intervention during pregnancy could meaningfully reduce perinatal depressive morbidity and broader psychopathology, with enduring effects across the first postpartum year.

Dr Davis is a distinguished university professor in the Psychology Department at the University of Denver, and director of the Stress Early Experiences and Development Research Institute. Davis is a developmental psychologist who investigates the early origins of lifespan health and disease with an emphasis on the prenatal period.

Dr Hankin is the Fred and Ruby Kanfer professor of psychology at the University of Illinois. As a clinical psychologist, his research takes a developmental psychopathological approach to understand risk factors and mechanisms in depression and related internalizing emotional disorders across the lifespan, including parents and offspring.

References

1. Hankin BL, Demers CH, Grote N, et al. Enduring effects of brief interpersonal therapy on depression from pregnancy through 1-year postpartum: a randomized clinical trial. J Mood Anxiety Disord. 2025;13:100165.

2. Dagher RK, Bruckheim HE, Colpe LJ, et al. Perinatal depression: challenges and opportunities. J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2021;30(2):154-159.