Tackling gestational depression key to baby brain growth, study shows

Any signs of mental health struggles during pregnancy should be quickly addressed for the good of the child’s development, according to a team of psychiatrists warning that a mother’s state of mind can have “intergenerational effects” on an infant’s brain.

“Babies whose mothers received psychotherapy for depression during pregnancy showed differences in the development of a brain region involved in emotion and memory,” the researchers said, associating such brain differences with “lower negative emotionality” in infancy.

Published in the journal Nature Communications, the study charted brain development and subsequent negative emotionality among 109 mother-and-baby duos after interpersonal psychotherapy was shown to have significantly reduced prenatal depression symptoms.

“By using a randomized clinical trial, we were able to test whether treating depression during pregnancy can actually influence early brain development in infants,” said study lead Catherine Demers of the University of Colorado Anschutz.

“Prenatal maternal depression is one of the most common perinatal complications with profound implications for both maternal and child well-being,” the team said in their paper, citing estimates that between 20% and 40% of mothers are affected.

And while previous research had found a link between maternal depression during pregnancy and an increased risk of emotional, behavioral and mental health challenges in children, there was little to show whether or not improvements to a mother’s mental health could help babies in turn.

The tests showed that kids whose mothers were treated with psychotherapy during pregnancy “developed differently in the hippocampus,” a brain region that handles memory and emotions.

“This study highlights pregnancy as a critical window for intervention and reinforces that supporting maternal mental health is also an investment in child health,” said Elysia Davis, professor of psychology at the University of Denver.

Meanwhile, researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder have come up with an online service aimed at mothers and mother-to-be who are worried about pre or post-natal depression but who prefer to neither visit a therapist nor take pills.

“Cost, lack of transportation and a shortage of properly trained therapists also hinder access to care,” the university explained.

But in a paper published in the Lancet Public Health, a medical journal, the team said their program lowers risk of maternal depression relapse by double digits.