James E. Swain, M.D., Ph.D., F.R.C.P.C.

Fellow in Child & Adolescent Depression

Project Details

PROJECT TITLE

Effects of Depression and Anxiety on the Functional Neuroanatomy of Adolescent Parenting and Child Development

PROJECT SUMMARY

Postpartum depression in adolescence is a serious mental health concern for mothers, infants, families and society. The serious additional stress of a mood disorder to that of being an adolescent while making the transition to motherhood can interfere with mother-infant bonding and adversely affect infant development. Thus depression that distorts the lives of adolescent parents also adversely affects their infant offspring’s capacity for infants to grow up and form enduring emotional bonds. Brain imaging studies have outlines brain regions important for adult depression, but none have yet examined the brain basis of postpartum depression in adolescents.

Thus, we will to determine how depressed adolescent mothers respond to infant cry and picture stimuli brain circuits compared with non-depressed control subjects. We will perform exploratory brain circuit analyses as well as focused studies of brain regions that help us make decisions, regulate our emotions, reward and motivate us. Next, we will ask questions about how these key brain regions relate to individual differences in mood, anxiety and a range of measures of maternal thoughts, behaviors, and attachment patterns. We will also study how differences in maternal brain and behavior affect infant behavior and contribute to long-term infant outcomes.

This cutting-edge interdisciplinary research – at the crossroads of child psychiatry and brain science – will advance our understanding of the neural basis of depression in adolescents, and promises to yield targets for early intervention and treatment toward preventing the onset of depression, speed recovery and mitigate adverse effects on babies.

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