Dyadic Therapy for Mothers and Children

Summary

This study compares the effectiveness of Child Parent Psychotherapy to that of usual care (defined as: referral to therapists in the community or Columbia University Medical Center) in improving maternal depressive symptoms and child emotional and behavioral disturbances. The investigators will recruit mothers who report being mildly to moderately depressed and their preschoolers (ages 3-5 years) who they are concerned are exhibiting emotional and/or behavioral problems.

Conditions

• Depression
• Behavioral Problems

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Child Parent Psychotherapy (CPP)

Child Parent Psychotherapy (CPP) is a multi-theoretical approach to enhance the caregiver-child relationship in the context of the caregiver's psychiatric history (e.g., depression) and/or caregiver/child exposure to traumatic events. Mother and child's in-session interactions are used to provide developmental guidance, and reinforce reciprocity between parent and child, affect regulation , continuity in daily living, and helping mother and child understand themselves and each other in the context of the maternal psychiatric functioning and/or familial exposure to trauma. When there is a history of trauma exposure for mother and/or child, mother and child create a joint narrative of the trauma, identify and address traumatic triggers, and focus on safety issues.

BEHAVIORAL

Control (usual treatment)

Following Time 1 (pre-treatment) assessment, mother-child patient dyads randomized to the control group will be referred to usual treatment in the community for psychoeducation, counseling/ therapy for maternal depressive symptoms, and child behavioral/ emotional difficulties. Control patient dyads will be closely monitored through regular contact with the study research assistant and follow up by a licensed study clinician to assess mother/ child's psychiatric functioning and make necessary referrals to alternative treatments or arrange an emergency evaluation, if needed.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Sackler Foundation

  collaborator OTHER

• New York State Psychiatric Institute

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Catherine Monk, PhD · New York State Psychiatric Institute, Columbia University Medical Center

• Andrew Gerber, MD · New York State Psychiatric Institute

• Archana Basu, PhD · Columbia University

• Elizabeth Werner, PhD · Columbia University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

3 Years

Max Age

40 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2013-11-30

Primary Completion

2014-10-31

Completion

2014-10-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations