le form of intervention has significant implications for successful impact upon major depressive disorders (Krpan et al., 2013). Looking specifically at the postpartum population, an Italian study of 113 women utilizing expressive writing as a medium for processing and defining their birthing experiences showed significant improvement at follow up 3-months later (Blasio et al., 2015). These writing sessions were conducted while in the hospital at three days postpartum and consisted of two sessions of 10-minute writing, separated by a minimum of four hours (Blasio et al., 2015). Horsche and colleagues (2016) similarly found that expressive writing was both a statistically significant and cost-effective therapeutic approach of addressing maternal posttraumatic stress and depressive symptoms in mothers of very preterm infants.
The profession of occupational therapy has a long-standing and deeply rooted connection to the use of creative arts (e.g., painting, drawing, creative writing, music, and textile arts and crafts) as a treatment medium for improving health and wellbeing across multiple dimensions of mental illness (Perruzza & Kinsella, 2010). Such emphasis has existed on behalf of art as a therapeutic medium that realm of Art Therapy, an integrative health profession, has evolved from influences in the fields of psychology, education, and art (Czamanski-Cohen
& Weihs, 2016).
In a critical review of the literature on art-based practices and their impact on mental health recovery, Van Lith, Schofield and Fenner (2013) found that art-based practices benefited various forms of psychological healing through improvement in self-esteem, self-discovery, empowerment, self-expression, rebuilding of identity, self-validation, motivation, sense of purpose, and focus and cognition (p. 1319). In a study explicitly investigating the postpartum population, Morton and Forsey (2014) found in their pilot study significant evidence in support of a creative arts group based intervention method to improve a sense of wellbeing and quality of life in women diagnosed with postpartum depression and/or anxiety.
Strauss, Cavanaugh, Oliver, and Pettman (2014) define mindfulness as “a state of consciousness that is characterized by the self-regulation of attention towards present-moment experiences coupled with an accepting, non-judgmental stance towards these experiences” (p. 1). In their meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs), they found significant benefits upon primary symptom severity in the use of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) in the intervention of depressive disorders. These authors outline MBIs as “usually brief interventions… which incorporate mindfulness meditation practice and principles” (Strauss et al., 2014, p. 1). In McCloskey and Reno’s (2019) systematic review of RCTs utilizing complementary methods to address PPD, the authors reference an Iranian study of 410 postpartum women which showed statistical significance in depression scores following only eight sessions of mindfulness training (Sheydaei et al., 2017).
Yoga has become a popularized mind-body practice that has recently been studied with increased interest across a range of professional domains. Kinser, Elswick, and Kornstein (2014) sought to understand the application of yoga as such an intervention for women experiencing major depressive disorder (MDD) in a long-term follow-up study. The findings from this pilot study found significance to suggest that individuals with MDD could benefit from yoga in both a short-term and a long-term time frame (Kinser, Elswick, & Kornstein, 2014). After one-year trends of depression, ruminations, stress, anxiety, and mental-health-related quality of life were sustained even with a minimal degree of yoga practice (Kinser, Elswick, & Kornstein, 2014). The lack of continuity of practice following initial exposure was perhaps one of the most compelling findings of their research, which suggests that yoga intervention has sustained benefit even if in a brief exposure (Kinser, Elswick, & Kornstein, 2014). This carryover 