Building resilience through psychological intervention

819/2026 Michelle Escobar Carías, Victoria Baranov, Sonia Bhalotra, Pietro Biroli and Joanna Maselko

Does past treatment for depression create resilience to future shocks? We study a randomized CBT-based intervention for prenatally depressed mothers in Pakistan and exploit variation in COVID-19 restriction stringency six years after childbirth. Treated women were protected against restriction-induced anxiety, depression, comorbidity, and functional impairment. Pro tection extended to spousal relationships, offsetting restriction-driven declines in relationship quality and increases in marital conflict. This resilience operates through psychological chan nels: the intervention builds locus of control and self-efficacy, strengthens family and partner support, and reduces how overwhelmed women feel when shocks arrive. The resulting psycho logical capital has returns well beyond the treated condition.

Gender, Health and Wellbeing