VIDEO: Therapy program led to significant reduction in perinatal psych symptoms

SAN FRANCISCO — Participation in a therapeutic mother-baby program resulted in significant symptom reduction of perinatal psychiatric conditions, Nicole Tarui, MD, told Healio at the American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting.

Tarui and colleagues enrolled 88 female individuals with moderate to severe perinatal conditions in the Maternal Outreach Mood Services (MOMS) Partial Hospitalization Program/Intensive Outpatient Program (PHP/IOP) between July 2020 and June 2022. Treatment for participants included completion of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) upon admission as well as on a weekly basis until discharge, daily group therapy for up to 6 hours per day, weekly individual therapy as well as biweekly or weekly medication management visits with a perinatal psychiatrist.

Results, which were reviewed quarterly and assessed by percent change from admission to discharge, showed a mean 60% decrease in EPDS scores following treatment.

“Clinically speaking, that is a huge number,” noted Tarui, a reproductive psychiatrist and medical director of the Maternal Outreach Mood Services Program at El Camino Health in California. “What that means is, mom is able to return to baseline to take care of herself, take care of her baby and also take care of her family.”