Treating depression in pregnancy influences the baby's brain development

In the first randomized controlled trial of its kind, run by the Universities of Colorado and Denver, the 109 infants of mothers who received psychotherapy for depression during pregnancy showed a measurable difference in brain structure (the hippocampus). That difference was associated with better emotion regulation at six months; published in Nature Communications, it is the first randomized evidence that treating maternal depression can influence a baby's early brain development.