# 2/2-Preventing Depressive Relapse in Pregnant Women with Recurrent Depression

> **NIH NIH R01** · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · 2020 · $497,040

## Abstract

PROJECT ABSTRACT
Depressive relapse during pregnancy is highly prevalent particularly among women with
recurrent depression. Maternal psychiatric morbidity associated with depressive relapse during
pregnancy is of concern as is the impact of untreated mood disorder during pregnancy and the
postpartum period on child development. While maintenance antidepressant treatment is the
standard of care for women with recurrent depression, concerns exist regarding known and
unknown effects of fetal exposure to these agents; understandably, many pregnant women and
their providers seek non-pharmacologic alternatives to pharmacologic treatment during
pregnancy. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is efficacious in the prevention of
depressive relapse among pregnant women as compared to usual care and is scalable using
digital delivery. We propose a pragmatic effectiveness trial comparing MBCT to usual care (UC)
among euthymic pregnant women (N=500) with recurrent depression treated with maintenance
antidepressants. The study will be conducted at the University of Colorado Boulder (UCB; PI
Dimidjian) and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH; PI Cohen) using the Collaborative RO1
mechanism. This grant mechanism is justified given the unique expertise brought by each site to
the proposed investigation. Specifically, the UCB site provides expertise in pragmatic
randomized trials and MBCT for pregnant women, and the MGH site provides expertise in
prospective monitoring of pregnant women with mood disorders. We will address three primary
aims: 1) to examine the relative risk for depressive relapse and reduction of symptom burden
between women randomized to digital MBCT or UC; 2) to examine the risk for depressive
relapse between women who are randomized to MBCT who discontinue antidepressant
treatment and those randomized to UC who discontinue antidepressant treatment, and to apply
a treatment selection algorithm to ask what works for whom with respect to MBCT versus
antidepressant maintenance; and 3) to examine the extent to which digital MBCT engages key
putative targets. Systematic investigation of interventions that can attenuate risk for depressive
relapse during pregnancy particularly in “at risk” populations minimizes the morbidity of
recurrent depression during critical times in the lives of reproductive aged women.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9920209
- **Project number:** 5R01MH117253-03
- **Recipient organization:** MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL
- **Principal Investigator:** LEE S COHEN
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $497,040
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-07-23 → 2022-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9920209

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9920209, 2/2-Preventing Depressive Relapse in Pregnant Women with Recurrent Depression (5R01MH117253-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9920209. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*