A trial follow-up found lower average right hippocampal volume among infants whose mothers were assigned prenatal psychotherapy; the brain measure was associated with lower negative emotionality at six months.
Published Oct. 16 in Nature Communications, the paper analyzed 109 infants in the CARE Project follow-up. Fifty-two infants were in the group whose mothers were assigned brief interpersonal psychotherapy, and 57 were in enhanced usual care. Researchers used MRI to measure hippocampal and amygdala volumes at about 6 weeks, then assessed infant behavior at 6 months.
The authors’ conference abstract reported lower right hippocampal volume in the psychotherapy group (p = 0.002; d = 0.62). It found no statistically significant group difference in the left hippocampus or amygdala. The abstract also reported lower prenatal depression symptoms in the psychotherapy group than in enhanced usual care (d = 0.57).
In a secondary analysis, lower right hippocampal volume was associated with lower observed negative emotionality at 6 months (r = 0.19; p = 0.045). The association does not establish that the brain-volume difference caused the behavior. The follow-up measured infant brain structure and behavior only through 6 months, so it does not show whether the difference persists or predicts later mental health.
The CARE Project enrolled pregnant participants with elevated depressive symptoms and assigned them to brief interpersonal psychotherapy or enhanced usual care. The psychotherapy program consisted of eight weekly sessions lasting 50 minutes each, focused on relationships and social support. For the comparison group, care covered routine obstetric visits, a pregnancy-depression education session and guidance on finding community mental health support.
The authors said earlier human research connecting prenatal depression with children’s emotional and behavioral development was largely observational. This follow-up adds infant brain measurements to that research, but its short-term results do not establish a lasting developmental benefit.
