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Background: There has been substantial progress made across multiple disciplines to emphasize the importance of perinatal mental health both for parents and offspring. This focuses on what has been termed the 'First 1000 Days' from conception to the child's second birthday. We argue that our understanding of this issue can go further to create an intergenerational approach to mental health. Despite the existence of theoretical frameworks and practical approaches to implementation, there are gaps in the understanding of perinatal and intergenerational mental health including which psychological mechanisms are implicated in the transmission of risk and resilience within the perinatal period; and how to leverage these into treatment approaches. Aims and Methods: In this paper, we explore the potential for mentalization as a candidate psychological approach to intergenerational mental health. Results: We contextualize this issue in terms of the points of contact between mentalization and broader theoretical models such as the social determinants of health and the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DoHaD) model. Further, we provide an overview of the existing evidence base for the relevance of mentalization to perinatal mental health. Discussion: Finally, we sketch out an outline model for integrating mentalization into perinatal and intergenerational mental health, highlighting several areas of opportunity to develop research and practice from diverse geographies and demographics. Here, we suggest that integration of mentalization with other conceptual frameworks such as DoHaD can mutually enrich the understanding of each model, pointing the way towards more effective early and preventative interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Anxiety disorders are relatively common during pregnancy and the postnatal period. Despite their potential acceptability to users, psychological interventions research for this population is still in its infancy. The meta‐analysis aimed to comprehensively evaluate the evidence of the effectiveness of psychological interventions for reducing perinatal anxiety. Method: The review followed PRISMA guidelines. A total of 26 studies published between 2004 and 2022 fulfilled inclusion criteria of which 22 were included in the meta‐analysis. Results: Results indicated that psychological interventions were more effective than control conditions in reducing symptoms of perinatal anxiety (equivalent to a medium post treatment effect size). Effect sizes were robust for cognitive, behavioural and mindfulness‐based interventions. Targeting anxiety also appeared to impact on depression symptoms. There was substantial evidence of methodological heterogeneity. Conclusions: This review demonstrates that psychological interventions are effective in reducing symptoms of both anxiety and comorbid anxiety and depression in both the antenatal and postnatal periods. Further research on longer‐term effects, infant outcomes, treatment approach and modality are required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of genetics in relation to attachment is of continued interest to developmental psychology. Recent research has attempted to disentangle genetic main effects, environmental effects, and gene and environment (G × E) interactions in the development of attachment security/insecurity and disorganization. We systematically reviewed associations between gene markers and attachment, including G × E interactions, identifying 27 eligible studies. Inconsistent results emerged for associations between both gene effects and G × E interactions on attachment organization. Where G × E interactions used attachment as the environmental factor in the interaction, we observed more consistent results for differential susceptibility of G × E interactions on offspring behavior. Small sample size and heterogeneity in measurement of environmental factors impacted on comparability of studies. From these results, we propose that the future of research into the role of genetic effects in attachment lies in further exploration of G × E interactions, particularly where attachment acts as an environmental factor impacting on other child developmental outcomes emerging from the caregiving environment, consistent with differential susceptibility approaches to developmental psychopathology. In addition, from a methodological perspective, establishing the role of gene markers in such models will require a shift toward contemporary genomics, including genome-wide analysis (including novel genes and chromosomal loci), and epigenetic individual variations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]