“Anxiety experienced by women during pregnancy is highly prevalent, especially in resource-poor settings and strongly predicts postnatal common mental disorders, anxiety and depression.”

“We evaluated the effectiveness of an anxiety-focused early prenatal intervention on preventing postnatal postnatal common mental disorders. This study was a phase 3, two-arm, single-blind, randomized controlled trial conducted in Pakistan with women who were ≤22 weeks pregnant and had at least mild anxiety without clinical depression.”

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Participants were randomized…..based on cognitive behavioral therapy, consisting of six one-on-one intervention sessions in pregnancy delivered by non-specialist providers, or to enhanced care alone.”

“Overall, 755 women completed postnatal assessments…..”

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“…..we found 81% reduced odds of having either a major depressive episode or moderate-to-severe anxiety for women randomized to the intervention….”

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“Overall, 12% of women in the intervention group developed major depressive episode at 6 weeks postpartum, versus 41% in the control group. We found reductions of 81% and 74% in the odds of postnatal major depressive episode and of moderate-to-severe anxiety respectively.”

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P.J.Surkan, et al

Anxiety-focused cognitive behavioral therapy delivered by non-specialists to prevent postnatal depression: a randomized, phase 3 trial

Nature Medicine — Volume 30 #3 — March 2024 — page 675