Anna Rachel Brandon, Ph.D., ABPP

E-mail: anna_brandon@med.unc.edu

Education:

B.A., Psychology, Southern Methodist University

B.B.A., Organizational Behavior, Southern Methodist University

Ph.D., Clinical Psychology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical School at Dallas

Postdoctoral Fellowship, Clinical Psychology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and Baylor University Medical Center

M.S., Clinical Sciences, University of Texas Southwestern Medical School at Dallas

Summary Statement:

Dr. Brandon focuses research and practice on women who suffer from mood and anxiety disorders in the context of reproductive events, such as assisted reproduction, pregnancy and pregnancy loss, the postpartum, and menopause.  She has adapted the approach “Partner-Assisted Therapy” (PAT), by combining components of Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) and Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT) to incorporate partners in the treatment of maternal depression. Initial testing in a small, uncontrolled trial (NIMH K23 award) demonstrated feasibility and acceptability, and the data suggests that PAT is not only helpful for women, but also appears to facilitate smoother transitions to parenthood for both mother and partner.  Dr. Brandon’s second area of research targets the ethical challenges of conducting perinatal research.  The need to protect the fetus makes designing and approving protocols difficult for both investigators and Institutional Review Boards.  Based on qualitative data from a survey of perinatal mental health investigators and IRB spokespeople, Dr. Brandon is constructing aids (e.g. elaborated consent processes and collaborative guidelines) to facilitate balancing the risks and benefits for perinatal women who are interested in research participation.

Representative Publications:

1.       Denton, W. & Brandon, A. R.  (2007). Couple therapy in the presence of mental disorders.  Journal of Couple and Relationship Therapy, 6, 17-29.

2.       Brandon, A. R., Trivedi, M., Hynan, L., Broussard, D., Miltenberger, P., & Rifkin, J.  and Stringer, C.A. (2008). Depression during pregnancy in women hospitalized for obstetric risk.  Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. 69 (4), 635-643.

3.       Shivakumar, G. N., Brandon, A. R., and Bradshaw, K. B.  (2008). Psychosocial issues.  In Schorge, J. O., Schaffer, J. I., Halvorson, L. M. et al (eds) Williams Gynecology. New York, McGraw-Hill, pp 291-313.

4. Brandon, A. R., Freeman, M. P., Shivakumar, G. (2008) Is It Perimenopausal Depression?  Current Psychiatry, 7(10), 38-50.

5.       Brandon, A. R., Pitts, S., Denton, W.H., Stringer, C.A., & Evans, H. M.  (2009) A history of the theory of prenatal attachment. Journal of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology, 23 (4), 201-222.

6.       Brandon, A. R., Shivakumar, G., Inrig, S. J., Lee, S. C., & Sadler, J. Z. (2009).  The cost of restricting knowledge. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 70 (9), 1320-1321.

7.       Brandon, A. R., Shivakumar, G., Lee, S. C., Inrig, S. J., & Sadler, J. Z. (2009).  Ethical issues in perinatal mental health research. Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 22, 601-606.

8.       Brandon, A. R., Puzziferri, N., Sadler, John Z.  (2010) “Stuck in the middle: What would a good society do?  American Journal of Bioethics, 10 (12): 18-20.

9.       Shivakumar, G., Brandon, A. R., Snell, P., Santiago-Muñoz, P., Johnson, N. L., Leveno, K. J., Trivedi, M. H., Freeman, M. P. (2010).  Antenatal Depression: A Rationale for Studying Exercise.  Depression and Anxiety.  Dec 13 [Epub ahead of print].  PMID: 21154924

10.     McClintock, S.M., Brandon, A. R., Husain, M.M., and Jarrett, R.B. (In press).  A systematic review of electroconvulsive therapy augmented with psychotherapy. Journal of Electroconvulsive Therapy.

11.     Brandon, A. R. (In press). Ethical barriers to perinatal mental health research and evidence based treatment: an empirical study. American Journal of Bioethics—Primary Research.