A group therapy specifically adjusted to the needs of depressed mothers was developed in Basel and was compared to individual therapy-as-usual.

The group program which consisted of 12 group and 1 couple session was administered in 5 consecutive groups to 31 participants. The main therapeutic method used was cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Antidepressants were prescribed if necessary. In a second step a control group of 21 participants receiving individual therapy-as-usual has now been evaluated and compared to the specific treatment group in a pre-post-design using Beck-Depression-Inventory (BDI), Symptom-Check-List (SCL-90-R) and other scales. Symptom reduction and other outcome variables were determined. In a further step demographic characteristics of responders and non-responders were analysed.

Both, treatment group and control group showed significant improvement of depression, there was no significant difference between the two treatment strategies. However differences were seen in acceptance, satisfaction with treatment as well as in terms of treatment costs. There was a trend for more frequent antidepressant use in the control group. Also multipara showed a significantly better outcome in the treatment group than single mothers.

This manualized group therapy proved to be effective for mothers with depression. It could be an alternative treatment to avoid antidepressants during pregnancy and postpartum and might be less stigmatizing.