Effects of interpersonal psychotherapy on anxiety and alexithymia in mothers in the postpartum period: a randomized controlled trial

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine the effects of interpersonal psychotherapy on anxiety and alexithymia in mothers in the postpartum period. METHODS: This randomized controlled experimental study with a pre-test and post-test design was conducted to determine the effects of interpersonal psychotherapy on anxiety and alexithymia in mothers during the postpartum period. Data were collected from postpartum mothers who presented to the pediatric outpatient clinic in a private hospital in Istanbul at the pre- and post-tests between August 2022 and January 2023. The study was conducted between June 10, 2022, and June 23, 2023. In the study, data were obtained with the Personal Information Form, Beck Anxiety Inventory, and Toronto Alexithymia Scale. This randomized controlled experimental study with the pre- and post-test designs was conducted in a private hospital in Istanbul, a province located on both sides of the Bosporus Strait in northwest Turkey, with 14 postpartum mothers. Of them, seven were assigned to the experimental group and seven to the control group. The participants in the experimental group underwent interpersonal psychotherapy. The participants in the control group underwent no intervention. In the analysis of the data, while repeated measures analysis of variance was used to compare the scale scores, Fisher's least significant difference test was used for multiple comparisons of the group*time interaction. RESULTS: The mean scores obtained from the Beck Anxiety Inventory and Toronto Alexithymia Scale by the participants in the experimental group before the interpersonal psychotherapy were 19.71 +/- 4.11 and 55.43 +/- 9.05, respectively, and 8.86 +/- 3.02 and 41.00 +/- 7.44, respectively, after the intervention, indicating that they decreased statistically significantly (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: The results of the study indicated that interpersonal psychotherapy reduced anxiety and alexithymia levels in mothers in the postpartum period. Based on this result, it is recommended that interpersonal psychotherapy be utilized in clinical practice.