Perinatal Emotion and Relationships Longitudinal Study (PEARLS)

University of Colorado Boulder (CU)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Depression, Postpartum

Study type: Observational

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03027037

49683

Details and patient eligibility

About

This study, funded by the John Templeton Foundation, will examine birth and the early postpartum period (BEPP) as a transformative life experience that may shift women's experience of emotion in such ways as to a) support enhanced other-oriented emotions and b) underlie risk or resilience from psychopathology.

Full description

Specifically, the study will investigate the extent to which women can accurately have knowledge about and predict changes in self- and other-oriented emotion processes associated with BEPP. The investigators will also characterize the extent to which BEPP changes self- and other-oriented emotion processes and self- and other-oriented social behaviors. Further, the investigators will identify distinct trajectories of change in cognitive processes and self- and other-oriented emotion processes related to BEPP, and examine how those trajectories are associated with psychological adjustment (e.g., risk and relapse of psychopathology). Finally, the investigators will identify which particular features of BEPP are related to distinct patterns of change in self- and other-oriented emotion processes.

Enrollment: 150 patients

Sex: Female

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Over age 18
• Female
• Currently pregnant - approximately no more than 34 weeks gestational age
• Able to read and write in English fluently
• MDD Group: Meet DSM-IV/DSM-5 criteria for at least 1 past episode of Major Depressive Disorder
• MDD Group: DO NOT meet DSM-IV/DSM-5 criteria for any episodes of Major Depressive Disorder in past 2 months (currently in symptom remission)

Exclusion criteria

• Previous birth to a living child (i.e., this pregnancy is not their first child)
• Imminently suicidal or homicidal
• History of severe head trauma, stroke, neurological disease
• History of brain tumors or surgery
• Severe medical illness (e.g., autoimmune disorder, blindness, cardiovascular disease, HIV/AIDS)
• Endocrine disorders (e.g., Cushing's disease, thyroid disorder)
• Alcohol/substance abuse or dependence within the past six months
• Current psychotic episode (impairing ability to consent, participate, or keep patient and experimenter safe)
• Inability to follow study procedures
• CTL Group: Current or lifetime Axis I disorder (i.e., anxiety disorders, major depression, mania/hypomania, dysthymia, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, substance abuse/dependence, eating disorders, hypochondriasis, pain disorder, or adjustment disorders)

Trial design

150 participants in 2 patient groups

Remitted Major Depression Group

Description:

Women in this group will have experienced at least one episode of major depression in their lifetime, but no episodes in the two months prior to study enrollment.

Control Group

Description:

Women in this group will never have experienced any Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition Axis I psychological disorder.