Effectiveness of Psychological Intervention in Management of Postpartum Depression

Abstract

Background: In order to prevent postpartum depression many primary preventive programs were done. Psychological interventions are thought to be effective in decreasing the incidence of postnatal depression. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of Psychotherapy in treatment of postpartum depression. Methods: An electronic search was obtained in MEDLINE and EMBASE databases with search terms such as psychology, postpartum, depression, intervention, effectiveness. The primary search resulted in 128 studies which have been screened for eligibility. After exclusion of irrelevant, duplicated and review studies, 11 studies were included in the review as they met the inclusion criteria. Results: Psychotherapy decrease the likelihood of postpartum depression and decrease postpartum depressive symptoms, increased awareness, depression reduction, general improvement and psychological health and prevention of postpartum depression, improve depression, functioning and anxiety. Training for health visitors’ intervention was found to be cost-effective in reducing the proportion of women at risk. It was only noted that there was no outcome difference between behavioral approach and person-centered approach groups. Health visitor raining was noted to have preventive effect for depression. Conclusions: There is evidence to recommend that interventions carried in pregnancy can be effective in preventing postnatal depression. Interventions are mainly effective when grounded on psychological treatments and provided to women suffering from antenatal depression.