Engage & connect psychotherapy improves social reward responsivity and reduces postpartum depression
Results provide preliminary evidence that E&C may be a promising scalable first-line psychotherapy for PPD, pending testing in a randomized controlled trial. E&C might reduce PPD by improving reward functions with long-term benefits for mothers and infants. Clinical Significance: This pilot study suggested that Engage & Connect (E&C) is feasible and acceptable, with reduction in PPD and improvements in behavioral activation, social reward responsivity, social support, and infant bonding. Further, improvements in behavioral activation and social reward responsivity mediated PPD reduction. Pending replication in a larger sample, E&C may be a promising scalable first-line psychotherapy that reduces PPD by enhancing behavioral activation and response to social rewards.
Authors
- Lauren M. Osborne (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0979-7901)
- Aliayah Himelfarb
- Meghan Reading Turchioe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6264-6320)
- Natalie C. Benda (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3256-0243)
- Oded Bein (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0522-4217)
- Maddy Schier
- Victoria M. Wilkins (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8863-3819)
- Faith M. Gunning (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1854-9969)
- S. Brown (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8112-933X)
- Zareen Mir
- Nili Solomonov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1573-5715)
- Meghan McDarby (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9295-1812)
Institutions
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (US)
- Cornell University (US)
- Columbia College of Nursing (US)
- Weill Cornell Medicine (US)
- Columbia University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Psychotherapy Research
- Published
- 2025-10-17
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1080/10503307.2025.2569046
- Primary Topic
- Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00