found that symptom improvement in mothers receiving interpersonal psychotherapy was statistically significant at 12 weeks,and the treatment effects on children were significant at 9 months. Two other randomized controlled trials testing the effects of maternal treatment on children included much younger children(ages 2–4 and 4–11)and found that there were no statistically significant treatment effects on children(13,14).
In this study, we independently assessed children of depressed mothers participating in a 12-week double-blind randomized clinical trial testing the effects of escitalopram, bupropion, or the combination of the two (15). We hypothesized that mothers receiving the combination treatment would have an earlier onset and a higher rate of remission than those receiving either of the monotherapies and that the results would be reflected in their children.