Engagement in and Benefits of a Short-Term, Brief Psychotherapy Intervention for PTSD During Pregnancy

Frontiers in Psychiatry

Rachel L. Johnson¹  C. Neill Epperson²  Liisa V. Hantsoo³  Mary Sammel⁴  Rachel B. Kaminsky⁵  Sara L. Kornfield⁵  Rebecca Waller⁶ 

[1] Department of Biostatistics and Informatics, Colorado School of Public Health, University of Colorado, Denver, CO, United States;Department of Family Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Colorado, Aurora, CO, United States;Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States;Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, United States;Penn Center for Women's Behavioral Wellness, Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States;Psychology Department, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States;

关键词: perinatal mental health;    PTSD—post-traumatic stress disorder;    brief interventions;    women's health;    ACE;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyt.2022.882429

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Trauma-related symptoms and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are common during pregnancy and have adverse effects on pregnancy and birth outcomes, post-partum maternal mental health, and child development. The arousal symptoms associated with PTSD, including heightened or dysregulated physiology, may contribute to these adverse outcomes. Low-income minoritized women may be at highest risk given more lifetime exposure to trauma and limited access to mental health care. While evidence-based psychotherapies for PTSD exist, none are targeted to non-treatment seeking individuals nor specifically integrated with prenatal care. Thus, we developed and tested the efficacy of a short-term (four sessions) brief (30–45 min) psychotherapeutic intervention designed to address PTSD symptoms in pregnant women receiving prenatal care at two urban medical centers. Participants were 32 pregnant women with an average gestational age of 18.5 weeks at the time of enrollment. The sample was overwhelmingly non-Caucasian, single, and reported very low income. Participants completed measures of trauma-related symptoms (Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist, PCL), and depression (Edinburgh post-natal Depression Scale, EPDS) at baseline, twice during treatment, post-treatment, and at 10–14 weeks post-partum. The intervention was successful at significantly decreasing symptoms of PTSD (PCL score = −20.27, 95% CI: −25.62, −14.92, P < 0.001, W = −7.43) and depression (EPDS score = −4.81, 95% CI: −7.55, −2.06, P = 0.001, W = −3.23) by the final session. These benefits were sustained at post-treatment and post-partum follow ups. Future research should further explore the effectiveness of this treatment in a randomized controlled trial.

【 授权许可】

Unknown