Description

Subjects: 60 Mothers will be interviewed and diagnosed as suffering from Post-Partumdepression (PPD) according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, IV version (DSM-IV), enrolling within 3-8 months postpartum. Mothers will be recruited through social media networks. Additional 40 mothers, 3-8 months postpartum will be assessed and diagnosed as not suffering from PPD or any other psychiatric psychopathology.

Procedure: The baseline assessment will be conducted at the infant's home. A parent-infant interaction will be videotaped and salivary oxytocin samples will be collected from the infant and from the mother.

The women in the PPD group will participate in 8 weeks of dyadic psychotherapy (DP) combining video feedback, or a psycho-educational treatment regarding child development (randomize selection will be made). During the 8-week treatment, salivary oxytocin samples will be collected from the infants and from the mother at the beginning and the end of each session.

Another assessment will be conducted at the infant's home, at the end of the treatment. As in the baseline condition, this assessment will include videotaped parent-infant interaction, as well as salivary oxytocin samples collection from the mother and from the infant. Parent-infant interaction will be filmed and assessed using the CIB Manual (Feldman, 1998) and the synchrony coding system.

Healthy mothers will undergo the same baseline assessment and a second assessment within 2-3 months, and won't get any treatment.