Depression
Conditions
Keywords
Interpersonal Psychotherapy, Depression, Mothers
Brief summary
The current proposal is a randomized, controlled, clinical trial to evaluate the intergenerational impact of treating depressed mothers whose children suffer from psychiatric disorders.
Detailed description
This study will compare a psychotherapy for mothers that targets factors known to be associated with the intergenerational transmission of psychiatric disorders to a nonspecific psychotherapeutic control condition. It will evaluate outcomes in both children and mothers. A modified form of interpersonal psychotherapy for depression, IPT-MOMS, specifically addresses maternal depressive symptoms, maternal interpersonal functioning, and mother-child communication, all factors that contribute to psychiatric illness in youth (Swartz et al., 2006). This application proposes to recruit mother-child dyads, both of whom suffer from psychiatric illness, randomly assign mothers to nine sessions over 3 months of either IPT-MOMS (N=105) or brief supportive psychotherapy (BSP; N=105), and evaluate the impact of acute maternal treatment on child and maternal outcomes at 3, 6, 9, and 12 month follow-up.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALInterpersonal Psychotherapy for Mothers (IPT-MOMS)
Interventions will be administered during the 3 Month Acute Randomized Phase and will consist of nine individual 45-minute sessions conducted over the course of three months. Treatment cannot exceed nine sessions. In addition to standard IPT techniques, IPT-MOMS includes a specific focus on the challenges associated with managing a child who suffers from psychiatric problems.
BEHAVIORALBrief Supportive Psychotherapy
Interventions will be administered during the 3 Month Acute Randomized Phase and will consist of nine individual 45-minute sessions conducted over the course of three months. Treatment cannot exceed 9 sessions. Brief supportive therapy (BSP) is a manualized form of supportive psychotherapy which emphasizes reflective listening and elicitation of affect (Markowitz et al., 2008). Therapists are instructed to allow patients to determine the focus of each session, pulling for emotion, validating emotions when possible, and offering empathic comments.
Sponsors
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
University of Pittsburgh
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
7 Years to 65 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
Inclusion Criteria (Mothers) 1. Adult female, age 18-65 2. Biological or adoptive mother of child, age 7-18, who meets child inclusion criteria (see below) 3. Lives with and has custody of the eligible child participant 4. Currently in an episode of major depression, as defined by the DSM-IV and documented by the use of the Structured Clinical Interview for Axis I DSM-IV Disorders (SCID-I) 5. Score \> or equal to 15 on the 25-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD-25) 6. Ability and willingness to give informed, written consent 7. Willingness to give informed consent for their eligible and assenting child to participate Inclusion Criteria (Psychiatrically Ill Children) 1. Age 7-18 2. Currently meets criteria for at least one current depressive or anxiety disorder as defined by the DSM-IV (American Psychiatric Association, 1994) and documented by the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School Age Children, Present and Lifetime version (K-SADS-PL) 3. Willingness to provide informed consent/assent
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| We will compare the effects of two interventions IPT-MOMS and BSP on children outcomes: depressive symptoms (as measured by the CDI), total difficulties (as measured by the SDQ), and psychosocial functioning (as measured by the CIS) over time | Baseline, Months 3, 6, 9, 12 |
| We will compare the two groups in depressive symptoms (as measured by the HRSD-25) and psychosocial and vocational functioning (as measured by the IIP, ISEL, and WSAS) over time. | Baseline, Months 3, 6, 9, 12 |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| We will look at major depressive episode criteria for all mothers | 3, 6, 9, and 12 months |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed