3 - (SYM 48) an Investigation of CBT and Dbt-informed Treatment Outcomes for Emotion Dysregulation During the Perinatal Period

Individuals in the perinatal period are at higher risk than other times in their lives of developing a mental health disorder, particularly anxiety and depressive disorders. Emotion dysregulation (ED) has been implicated in both anxiety and depressive disorders and may play an important role in perinatal mental health. Previous research on perinatal ED suggest that individuals may experience heightened emotions during this time (Agako, 2022; Rosebrock et al., 2015), suggesting that further research may be needed into effective treatments. The purpose of the current research was to 1) assess whether current perinatal treatments effectively target ED, and 2) develop an effective psychological treatment protocol for perinatal ED.
Two studies were designed to meet the research aims. The first study examined the bidirectional relationship between Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and ED to examine whether emotion dysregulation moderates CBT treatment outcomes and whether CBT is an effective treatment modality for perinatal ED. This was examined in two samples of participants: participants from a randomized controlled trial (N=75) and routine clinical care (N=47).  In the second study, we developed a novel Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) informed treatment program for perinatal ED and examined the effectiveness of the program through a pilot study (N=41). This research revealed several important findings. First, CBT was an effective treatment for low levels of ED but not for moderate or severe ED. Only 16% of routine clinical care participants and 28% of participants from the randomized controlled trial demonstrated clinically reliable change in ED. ED did not moderate CBT treatment outcomes on anxiety or depression. This suggest that ED appears to be a distinct factor that may warrant more specialized treatment. Second, our short term, DBT informed, skills group was effective in significantly reducing perinatal ED. The DBT informed treatment may be more effective in targeting perinatal ED than standard CBT with 48% of participants demonstrating clinically reliable change. Limitations and future directions will be discussed.