Chief Investigator: Associate Professor Anne Sved Williams

Funding Amount : $99,978

Recipient: Women’s and Children’s Health Network

Overview:

A child’s first 1000-2000 days are clearly crucial to the underpinnings of their physical and mental health, and general life trajectories. Good maternal mental health is crucial to these beginnings. Research shows that maternal borderline personality disorder clearly impacts negatively on developmental pathways from infancy onwards and yet no therapies currently attempt to improve these paths. Evaluation of a South Australian program, mother-infant dialectical behaviour therapy (MI-DBT) shows some but insufficient change in mother-infant relationships. MI-DBT+ will compare 2 different add-on therapies to better enhance infant development, thus potentially improving the lives of a significant percentage of children.