Background: Intimate partner violence (IPV) against women is common during pregnancy and can have adverse mental health outcomes in women. Our objective was to evaluate the association between IPV and symptoms of depression in Peruvian pregnant women.

Methods: In this study, we performed a secondary analysis of the Demographic and Family Health Survey, ENDES 2013–2019. The study population consisted of a subsample of married or cohabiting Peruvian pregnant women. IPV was defined as any reported violence (psychological, physical, or sexual) committed by the last partner of women. The symptoms of depression were measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9. Poisson regression-generalized linear models were used to calculate adjusted prevalence ratios (aPR) with their respective 95% confidence intervals (95% CI).

Results: Overall IPV was 11.64%. The prevalence of psychological, physical, and sexual IPV was 6.92%, 8.56%, and 1.12%, respectively. After adjusting for confounding variables, IPV was associated with the symptoms of depression (aPR: 2.26, 95% CI: 1.88–2.73; p < 0.001). Likewise, psychological, physical, and sexual violence were also associated with the symptoms of depression (aPR: 2.01, 95% CI: 1.65–2.50; p < 0.001, aPR: 2.34, 95% CI: 1.91–2.86; p < 0.001, aPR: 2.31, 95% CI: 1.45–3.68; p <0.001).

Conclusion: One in 10 pregnant women experienced IPV, the most frequent type being physical violence. One in four pregnant women experiences depressive disorders. Furthermore, the presence of psychological, physical, or sexual violence independently doubles the probability of the occurrence of depression in Peruvian pregnant women.

Heeding calls to examine multiple protective factors within single studies, this study tested whether resilience uniquely predicted higher life satisfaction and lower depression over the predictive ability of generalized self-efficacy (GSE) and mindfulness among 332 university students. A second purpose was to test whether resilience uniquely buffered the relationship between two forms of stress—cumulative stress from particular negative life events and general perceived stress—and both life satisfaction and depression over the buffering ability of GSE and mindfulness. In hierarchical multiple regressions, resilience uniquely predicted 3% of the variance in satisfaction with life and 1% of the variance in depression. GSE and mindfulness buffered the relationship between cumulative negative life event stress and depression. At higher levels of GSE and mindfulness, the relationship between cumulative negative life event stress and depression was weaker.

A prior open trial of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) for comorbid social anxiety disorder (SAD) and depression showed clinically significant improvement over the course of 16 sessions. The aim of the current study was to test the feasibility and acceptability of ACT for this population in a pilot randomized trial within a routine practice setting. Patients (n = 26) were randomly assigned to 16 weeks of medication treatment as usual (mTAU) versus mTAU plus ACT (mTAU + ACT). Results showed that a significantly greater percentage of patients in mTAU not only dropped out of the study but also dropped out of treatment at the practice altogether, compared to patients in mTAU + ACT. Overall, results from this study suggest that having a comparison condition of mTAU alone in a randomized trial in a routine practice setting is not feasible and that patients with comorbid forms of SAD may require psychotherapy to remain engaged in treatment in standard clinical practice. Preliminary results for patients within the mTAU + ACT condition on treatment satisfaction and outcomes were comparable to results from the prior open trial, suggesting that ACT itself is worthy of further investigation. Further modifications to the study design may be needed to develop a feasible and acceptable comparison condition against which to test ACT for comorbid SAD in a routine practice setting.

Social determinants of health (SDOH) may significantly impact treatment outcomes for depression in primary care. An analysis of patients in collaborative care was conducted to explore the association between SDOH and depression baseline scores and treatment outcomes as assessed by the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ9). Although individuals’ baseline PHQ9 scores did not differ by SDOH flag, there was a direct effect of SDOH on PHQ9 reduction rates. SDOH did not significantly moderate the association between collaborative care treatment and depression outcomes. Individuals flagged with SDOH showed higher depression scores at the end of the treatment despite a higher clinical dosage. Routine screening for SDOH in collaborative care and primary care should be further explored.

The current meta-analysis aims to synthesize existing studies on the effectiveness of both trauma-focused and addiction-focused eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) for people with substance use disorder (SUD). Search and selection procedures involved screening 1,733 references, yielding 10 studies published between 2008 and 2021 from 8 countries with 561 participants. After the removal of one outlier study, the results showed EMDR to be effective on a variety of outcomes for people with SUD (n = 9, d = .654, 95% CI [.332, .985], p < .001). Regarding the effects on SUD outcomes, meta-analysis also showed EMDR to be effective (n = 7, d = .580, 95% CI [.209, .951], p = .002). Specifically, EMDR was effective with SUD treatment engagement and severity, but not necessarily the reduction of cravings, and also effective for reducing comorbid posttraumatic and depressive symptoms. This meta-analysis is limited by the number of studies and participants, heterogeneity in methods of included studies, the quality of studies, and other factors.

The literature suggests that being subject to a stressful life and victimization may negatively affect mental health, and that women and men seem to differ in these variables. Nevertheless, neither the mediating role of victimization experiences in the relationship between stress and mental health, nor the moderated role of sex have been explored. A sample of 826 adults, aged from 18 to 77 years old, completed a set of self-reported questionnaires (69.4% women). Results revealed significant mediation effects of psychological violence on the relationship between stress, depression and anxiety. Participants who reported more stressful life events in the previous year, also reported higher psychological abuse, which in turn predicted higher depression and anxiety. Furthermore, the moderating effects of sex were found to be statistically significant. Results suggest that interventions should be tailored to individual needs in order to prevent secondary victimization derived from biased beliefs related to stress, violence and gender in professional practice.