Nonverbal communication sets the conditions for the relationship between parental bonding and the short-term treatment response in depression.

Erwin Geerts, Titus van Os, Coby Gerlsma

Mental Health Care Friesland, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands. e.a.h.m.geerts@med.umcg.nl

Psychiatry research 2009 Jan 30

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The role of parental bonding and nonverbal communication in the short-term treatment response was investigated in 104 depressed outpatients. At baseline patients completed the Parental Bonding Instrument. We registered the nonverbal involvement behaviour of patients and interviewers from video recordings of baseline clinical interviews and calculated the convergence between patient-interviewer behaviour over the interview. The course of depression was assessed with the Beck Depression Inventory. As hypothesized, low maternal care and high paternal overprotection predicted a poor response to an 8-week treatment. Maternal care was positively correlated with nonverbal convergence. Moreover, convergence moderated the relationship between maternal care and the response to treatment: Lack of convergence between patients and interviewers turned out to annul the positive effects of maternal care on the treatment response. The findings link theories on early parenting to interpersonal theories of depression.

Citation

Erwin Geerts, Titus van Os, Coby Gerlsma. Nonverbal communication sets the conditions for the relationship between parental bonding and the short-term treatment response in depression. Psychiatry research. 2009 Jan 30;165(1-2):120-7