Emotional distress following childbirth: An intervention to buffer depressive and PTSD symptoms
Author(s) / Creator(s)
Di Blasio, Paola
Miragoli, Sarah
Camisasca, Elena
Di Vita, Angela Maria
Pizzo, Rosalia
Pipitone, Laura
Abstract / Description
Childbirth for some women is a negative experience associated with depressive and post-traumatic symptoms. The preventive actions focusing on helping mothers to cope with negative emotions experienced after childbirth are strongly recommended. It is also recommended both to intervene early and on all women to avoid the risk that these symptoms can worsen in the months after childbirth. The intervention described in the current study is focalized on the elaboration of post-partum negative thoughts and emotion through a writing task, with the purpose to help new mothers to reflect, understand, evaluate and, thus, reformulate the stressful situation with new beliefs and emotions. 176 women aged from 19 to 43 years (M = 31.55, SD = 4.58) were assessed for depression and PTSD in the prenatal phase (T1). In about 96 hours after childbirth they were randomly assigned to either “Making Sense condition” (MS: in which they wrote about the thoughts and emotions connected with delivery and childbirth) or “Control-Neutral condition” (NC: in which they wrote about the daily events in behavioural terms) and then reassessed for depression and PTSD (T2). A follow up was conducted 3 months later (T3) to verify depression and posttraumatic symptoms. The results showed that depressive symptoms decreased both at 96 hours and at 3 months as a result of making-sense task. Regarding the posttraumatic symptoms the positive effect emerged at three months and not at 96 hours after birth.
Keyword(s)
intervention childbirth depression Post-Traumatic Stress DisorderPersistent Identifier
Date of first publication
2015-05-29
Journal title
Europe's Journal of Psychology
Volume
11
Issue
2
Page numbers
214–232
Publisher
PsychOpen GOLD
Publication status
publishedVersion
Review status
peerReviewed
Is version of
Citation
Di Blasio, P., Miragoli, S., Camisasca, E., Di Vita, A. M., Pizzo, R., & Pipitone, L. (2015). Emotional distress following childbirth: An intervention to buffer depressive and PTSD symptoms. Europe's Journal of Psychology, 11(2), 214–232. https://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.v11i2.779
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Di Blasio, Paola
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Miragoli, Sarah
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Camisasca, Elena
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Di Vita, Angela Maria
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Pizzo, Rosalia
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Pipitone, Laura
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PsychArchives acquisition timestamp2018-11-21T09:59:21Z
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Made available on2018-11-21T09:59:21Z
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Date of first publication2015-05-29
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Abstract / DescriptionChildbirth for some women is a negative experience associated with depressive and post-traumatic symptoms. The preventive actions focusing on helping mothers to cope with negative emotions experienced after childbirth are strongly recommended. It is also recommended both to intervene early and on all women to avoid the risk that these symptoms can worsen in the months after childbirth. The intervention described in the current study is focalized on the elaboration of post-partum negative thoughts and emotion through a writing task, with the purpose to help new mothers to reflect, understand, evaluate and, thus, reformulate the stressful situation with new beliefs and emotions. 176 women aged from 19 to 43 years (M = 31.55, SD = 4.58) were assessed for depression and PTSD in the prenatal phase (T1). In about 96 hours after childbirth they were randomly assigned to either “Making Sense condition” (MS: in which they wrote about the thoughts and emotions connected with delivery and childbirth) or “Control-Neutral condition” (NC: in which they wrote about the daily events in behavioural terms) and then reassessed for depression and PTSD (T2). A follow up was conducted 3 months later (T3) to verify depression and posttraumatic symptoms. The results showed that depressive symptoms decreased both at 96 hours and at 3 months as a result of making-sense task. Regarding the posttraumatic symptoms the positive effect emerged at three months and not at 96 hours after birth.en_US
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Publication statuspublishedVersion
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Review statuspeerReviewed
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CitationDi Blasio, P., Miragoli, S., Camisasca, E., Di Vita, A. M., Pizzo, R., & Pipitone, L. (2015). Emotional distress following childbirth: An intervention to buffer depressive and PTSD symptoms. Europe's Journal of Psychology, 11(2), 214–232. https://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.v11i2.779
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ISSN1841-0413
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Persistent Identifierhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/942
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Persistent Identifierhttps://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.1134
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Language of contenteng
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PublisherPsychOpen GOLD
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Is version ofhttps://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.v11i2.779
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Keyword(s)interventionen_US
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Keyword(s)childbirthen_US
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Keyword(s)depressionen_US
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Keyword(s)Post-Traumatic Stress Disorderen_US
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Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)150
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TitleEmotional distress following childbirth: An intervention to buffer depressive and PTSD symptomsen_US
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DRO typearticle
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Issue2
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Journal titleEurope's Journal of Psychology
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Page numbers214–232
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Volume11
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Visible tag(s)Version of Record