Various mentalizing concepts in mothers with postpartum depression, comorbid anxiety, and personality disorders.

Background: Mentalization is defined as the human capacity to reflect upon one's own or others' behaviors in terms of underlying mental states and intentions. Several concepts of mentalizing exist, which differ in content, assessment, and clinical prediction.

Aims: The present study examines the relationship between the three main concepts of mentalizing, namely, reflective functioning (RF), parental reflective functioning (PRF), and Mind-Mindedness (MM), in mothers with postpartum depression.

Randomized controlled trial of the Circle of Security-Intensive intervention for mothers with postpartum depression: maternal unresolved attachment moderates changes in sensitivity.

Postpartum depression is related to inadequately sensitive caregiving, putting infants at risk for insecure attachment. Therefore, promoting sensitive maternal caregiving and secure child attachment is particularly important in postpartum depressed mothers and their infants. In this randomized-controlled-trial, we evaluated the efficacy of the Circle of Security-Intensive (COS-I)-intervention in supporting maternal sensitivity and mother-infant-attachment compared to treatment-as-usual (TAU) with unresolved-maternal attachment as a moderator of treatment effect.

[Treatment Satisfaction of Mothers with Postpartum Depression Concerning Circle of Security Intervention].

Treatment Satisfaction of Mothers with Postpartum Depression Concerning Circle of Security Intervention Treatment satisfaction of mothers with postpartum depression who undergo mother-infant treatment is rarely examined, albeit seen as one aspect of treatment success. This study deals with maternal treatment satisfaction concerning the Circle of Security (COS) group intervention, compared to standard-mother-infant treatment (TAU), within a RCT trial. Treatment satisfaction was captured by the Fragebogen zur Beurteilung der Behandlung (FBB-E) of 52 mothers assigned to COS or TAU at children's age between 16 to 18 months.

Mothers with acute and chronic postpartum psychoses and impact on the mother-infant interaction.

Background: Maternal postpartum psychoses pose a serious risk to the mother-infant interaction. It is unclear how different subtypes of postpartum psychosis, including acute and chronic, might differentially affect the mother-infant interaction.

Method: A systematic search of electronic journal databases was performed.

[Comorbid Personality Disorders and Parenting Stress in Mothers with Postpartum Depression].

The original peer-reviewed paper presents the results of the analysis of the effects of psychiatric comorbidities of maternal postpartum depression, anxiety disorder and personality disorder (PD) on parenting stress. In the aforementioned analysis, mothers without PD (depression/ anxiety only) were compared to mothers with Borderline PD and mothers with other PD. Depending on the maternal PD, different sources of parenting stress have been revealed as specific to the mothers’ experience of parenting stress, suggesting differential indications for psychosocial interventions to ease the burden of stress on the mother-infant system.

Parenting stress and postpartum depression/anxiety in mothers with personality disorders: indications for differential intervention priorities.

To date, parenting stress has rarely been examined in clinical samples of mothers with postpartum comorbid Axis-I disorders and Axis-II personality disorders (PD). Previous research has shown important links between maternal psychopathology and the development of child psychopathology. For these reasons, a clinical sample (N = 54) of mothers with various PD and comorbid depression/anxiety disorders were compared in this study.

Maternal emotion dysregulation is related to heightened mother-infant synchrony of facial affect.

A heightened synchrony between the mother's and infant's facial affect predicts adverse infant development. We know that maternal psychopathology is related to mother-infant facial affect synchrony, but it is unclear how maternal psychopathology is transmitted to mother-infant synchrony. One pathway might be maternal emotion dysregulation.

Observational tools for measuring parent-infant interaction: a systematic review.

The quality of the parent-infant interaction is essential for the infant's development and is most objectively measured by observation. The existing observational tools for assessing parent-infant interaction were identified and described, and their psychometric soundness was evaluated. Twenty electronic databases from inception through June 2013 were searched.

Insightfulness and later infant attachment in clinically depressed and nonclinical mothers.

The aim of this pilot study was to investigate the relationship between maternal insightfulness and sensitivity and subsequent infant attachment security and disorganization in clinically depressed and nonclinical mother-infant groups. Nineteen depressed mothers with infants ages 3 to 11 months participated in this study. Twenty nonclinical mother-infant dyads were matched to the clinical sample according to infant sex and age.

A randomized controlled trial comparing Circle of Security Intervention and treatment as usual as interventions to increase attachment security in infants of mentally ill mothers: Study Protocol.

Background: Psychopathology in women after childbirth represents a significant risk factor for parenting and infant mental health. Regarding child development, these infants are at increased risk for developing unfavorable attachment strategies to their mothers and for subsequent behavioral, emotional and cognitive impairments throughout childhood. To date, the specific efficacy of an early attachment-based parenting group intervention under standard clinical outpatient conditions, and the moderators and mediators that promote attachment security in infants of mentally ill mothers, have been poorly evaluated.

[Dimensions of parental rearing styles in alcohol dependent patients: first results of the questionnaire on parental attitudes and rearing practices (FEPS)].

To date no instrument for the assessment of parenting styles is available in the German -language area that has been validated in patients with addictive disorders. Therefore the aim of this study was the confirmatory evaluation of the factor structure of the Questionnaire on Parental Attitudes and Rearing Practices (FEPS) in 186 alcohol dependent patients. The model as proposed by the test developers with the 4 factors Care, Autonomy, Low Punishment, and Low Material Reinforcement showed acceptable fit when residual correlations were allowed (mother: χ(2)/df=1,92, RMSEA=0,07, TLI=0,79; father: χ(2)/df=1,75, RMSEA=0,07, TLI=0,82).

Facial emotional expression in schizophrenia adolescents during verbal interaction with a parent.

Research on emotional expression in adult schizophrenia patients has indicated an impairment of the patients' facial expressions during social interaction. However, it is unclear whether schizophrenia adolescent-onset patients show comparable disturbances in facial expression. Our aim was to analyze facial emotions in adolescents with schizophrenia spectrum psychoses compared with non-patient controls during a problem-solving discussion with their primary caregivers.

Head position and expressed emotion of adolescents with schizophrenia and their caregivers compared to non-patient controls.

Background: Family interactions with schizophrenia patients and caregivers rated as high expressed emotion (EE) are characterized by increased negative non-verbal behaviour. Head position is one important component of non-verbal behaviour and has not been examined in relation to EE before. The aim of this pilot study was to investigate the influence of caregivers' EE on the head position of adolescents with schizophrenia and their caregivers.

[Attachment and attachment-based intervention: the Circle of Security intervention project in Hamburg].

Since the early sixties empirical research into early childhood and the parent-infant relationship has increased, commonly informed by attachment theory. The mutually regulated interaction within the attachment and care giving relationship of mother and infant gives this relationship its exceptional emotional quality. Early attachment experiences organize socio-emotional and cognitive development beyond childhood.

The capacity to see things from the child's point of view--assessing insightfulness in mothers with and without a diagnosis of depression.

Unlabelled: Insightfulness is seen as the mental capacity that provides the context for a secure child-parent attachment. It involves the ability to see things from the child's perspective and is based on insight into the child's motives, a complex view of the child and openness to new information about the child. To test our hypothesis that maternal insightfulness is related to maternal depression, we utilized the Insightfulness Assessment (IA) developed by Oppenheim and Koren-Karie to conduct and analyse interviews in which mothers discussed their perceptions of video segments of their interactions with their children.