Parenting Journal · Volume 1 · Issue 1 · Licensed source edition
Efficacy of parent-infant psychotherapy with mothers with postpartum mental disorder: results from a randomized controlled trial
Originally published 2026-01-04 · Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health
BMC · DOI 10.1186/s13034-025-01013-0 ↗
Editorial reading guide · Trust
How should parents read a trial when the new support was not better than usual care?
This trial strengthens the issue by reporting mixed and null results: relationship-focused support should be judged by measured outcomes, not by an appealing theory alone.
Who was studied?
120 mothers with postpartum mental disorders; brief parent–infant psychotherapy versus usual care
Age / stage: Infants under one year at enrollment
Read with three questions
- What was the prespecified primary outcome?
- Which outcomes showed no clear between-group difference?
- How did dropout and the follow-up attachment measures affect certainty?
Keep the limits in view
The intervention was not superior on maternal sensitivity or attachment security. High attrition, small effective follow-up samples, mixed diagnoses and differing attachment measures constrain conclusions, including subgroup findings.
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Original authorship, publication date, journal and DOI are preserved. This issue’s TRICK placement and reading questions are editorial additions, not claims made by the original authors.
Lars Kuchinke; Janna Mattheß; Melanie Eckert; Katharina Richter; Gabriele Koch; Carola Bindt; Julia Schweitzer; Karsten Krauskopf; Christine Rummel-Kluge; Mona Katharina Theil; Mirijam-Griseldis Galeris; Thomas Reinhold; Petra Vienhues; Anne Berghöfer; Stephanie Roll; Thomas Keil; Franziska Schlensog-Schuster; Kai von Klitzing; Christiane Ludwig-Körner (2026). Efficacy of parent-infant psychotherapy with mothers with postpartum mental disorder: results from a randomized controlled trial Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13034-025-01013-0
Permissions checked against the saved article notice; repository publication notices screened 2026-11-04. This is not a new peer-review decision. The source authors and publishers are not represented as endorsing this issue.