[Group therapy for depression during early motherhood: first results of a pilot study]

Abstract

Although depression occurs frequently during early motherhood, specific psychotherapy relevant to the needs of mothers of small children is still rare. Therefore, a group therapy programme for depressive mothers with children from pregnancy up to preschool age was developed and implemented. This manualised group therapy consisted of 12 group sessions and one session with each couple. The main therapeutic method was cognitive behavioural therapy. In addition, educational and systemic therapy components were used. Five consecutive treatment groups with 31 participants were evaluated by using Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Symptom Checklist (SCL-90-R), and several other scales. Depressive symptom decrease was significant in all groups, and mother-child interaction improved as perceived by the mothers. This newly conceptualised group therapy proved to be effective and well accepted by the participants. Further investigations such as comparing group therapy with standard therapy are necessary to confirm these preliminary results.