Compassion focused therapy for women in the perinatal period: a summary of the current literature

Leah Alice Millard; Anja Wittkowski

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1288797

Compassion focused therapy for women in the perinatal period: a summary of the current literature

Front Psychiatry. 2023 Dec 19:14:1288797. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1288797. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Leah Alice Millard¹, Anja Wittkowski^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Division of Psychology and Mental Health, School of Health Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom.
² Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, United Kingdom.
³ Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Manchester, United Kingdom.

Abstract

Introduction: Compassion focused therapy (CFT) is emerging as an effective psychological intervention to treat those experiencing mental health difficulties. CFT was adapted for women who are mothers during the perinatal period (from conception to 2 year postpartum). Although CFT is being delivered in NHS perinatal mental health services in the United Kingdom (UK), its current evidence-base for the treatment of women's mental health problems is unclear. As part of this Mini Review, we aimed to identify the current findings relating to CFT for women in the perinatal period (with or without a mental health condition) in order to identify any associated future research and clinical implications.

Method: A systematic search of two databases was undertaken. Included studies were required to meet the following criteria: (1) offered an intervention using CFT or perinatal CFT (P-CFT), (2) participants were women in the perinatal period, and (3) studies used a pre- and post-intervention study design. No language restrictions were used. A narrative synthesis was then conducted.

Results: Five studies, dating from 2018 to 2023, met the inclusion criteria. A total of 1,258 participants were included across those studies. Significant improvements in compassion-based outcomes (i.e., self-compassion, self-criticism/self-reassurance) were observed. However, these findings were primarily derived from non-clinical samples (n = 4) and could only be seen as preliminary.

Conclusion: Although these results are encouraging for mothers presenting with sub-clinical mental health symptoms, further research is clearly warranted to determine whether CFT/P-CFT may benefit mothers, including those presenting with more significant perinatal mental health difficulties.

Keywords: compassionate; maternal mental health; parent-infant relationship; psychological therapy; self-compassion.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

The authors declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This review was conducted as part of LM research funded by the UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) Medical Research Council Doctoral Training Partnership (MRC DTP; ref 2625660). The funders had no contribution in the writing of the manuscript, or the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.