Therapy During Pregnancy May Benefit Baby’s Brain

Youtube screenshot of a video titled "The Care Project" created by the University of Denver. The screenshot featues a woman and toddler sitting outside on a blanket, the woman is holding up a puzzle for the child to play with.

Treating depression during pregnancy may benefit both mother and baby, according to a new study discussed in The Conversation. Researchers found that a brief course of talk therapy appears to shape how a baby’s brain develops before birth — the first evidence, they say, that easing a mother’s prenatal depression can have a positive impact on her developing infant’s brain, too.

The team enrolled 234 pregnant women who reported depression symptoms at routine prenatal visits. One group received MOMCare, a brief interpersonal therapy specially created for prenatal depression delivered in eight 50-minute sessions focused on strengthening relationships, defusing conflict and building support networks. The other group received mental health education, coping strategies and referrals to community services. Both groups maintained their regular health care. MOMCare’s therapy worked: depression diagnoses among participants fell from 36% to 6%, and those mothers were more likely to carry their babies to term.

Brain scans taken within weeks of birth revealed a difference: babies whose mothers had gone through MOMCare had a hippocampus — the region tied to learning, memory and emotional regulation — about 5% smaller. Six months later, researchers introduced the babies to a noisy, unpredictable dancing robot, and those with smaller hippocampal volume reacted less negatively, a response that earlier research links to lower anxiety and depression in adolescence. That may sound backward, since smaller brain volume in adults often signals trouble. But in infancy, the authors note, faster growth isn’t always better – one hypothesis holds that stress can accelerate early brain development.

Up to 1 in 5 women experience depression during pregnancy, which raises the risk of preterm birth, high blood pressure and later mental illness in their children. Because pregnant women see health providers so often, the authors say that treatment during pregnancy “benefits two generations” at once. Open questions remain, including how a mother’s mood reaches the baby’s brain (stress hormones and inflammation are suspects) and what these changes mean long term. Still, the results make a strong case that a low-cost, noninvasive and specialized mental health therapy deserves a wider role in prenatal care.