To answer that question, investigators conducted the Care Project, a randomized clinical trial involving pregnant individuals experiencing elevated depressive symptoms.

Participants were randomly assigned to receive either a form of interpersonal psychotherapy consisting of eight weekly 50-minute sessions focused on relationships and social support, or enhanced usual care, which included standard obstetric care, a psychoeducation session about depression during pregnancy and information about community mental health resources.

Infants whose mothers received psychotherapy during pregnancy developed differently in the hippocampus, a brain region involved in memory and emotions. Babies whose mothers received treatment showed a 5% difference in their hippocampus compared with those whose mothers received usual care. Notably, this brain region predicted better emotion regulation when babies were 6-months of age. The findings add to growing evidence that depression during pregnancy may affect how the baby’s developing brain matures, with implications for children's emotional health later in life.

"Our findings suggest that treating mother’s depression during pregnancy may help shape a healthier developmental trajectory for the infant brain," said Elysia Davis, PhD, professor of psychology at the University of Denver and the SEED Research Institute and corresponding author. "This study highlights pregnancy as a critical window for intervention and reinforces that supporting maternal mental health is also an investment in child health."

The findings underscore the importance of integrating mental health services into prenatal care. Because prenatal depression is both common and treatable, improving access to evidence-based mental health interventions during pregnancy could benefit the mothers’ mental wellbeing as well as the next generation.

"These findings provide compelling evidence that mental health care during pregnancy has the potential to create intergenerational benefits," said Benjamin Hankin, PhD, Professor of Psychology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. "Supporting maternal mental health may be one of the earliest opportunities we have to promote healthy child development."

Key Takeaways

• Prenatal depression affects up to 40% of pregnant individuals and is associated with child developmental outcomes.

• This study is the first randomized clinical trial to show that treating depression during pregnancy can influence infant brain structure.

• Babies whose mothers received psychotherapy during pregnancy showed differences in the development of the hippocampus, a brain region important for emotion and memory.

• The findings suggest that pregnancy is a critical window for preventive mental health care with potential long-term benefits for both mothers and children.

Original Article: Infant hippocampal and amygdala volume in an observational follow-up from a randomized clinical trial for maternal prenatal depression; Nature Communications; DOI:10.1038/s41467-026-78276-4

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