By: Gabrièle Caza-Levert, Communications Manager at Hôpital Montfort
Dr. Valérie Giroux is a psychiatrist and chief of outpatient mental health programs at Hôpital Montfort. At the clinical level, she divides her time between Montfort and the Aline-Chrétien Health Hub, one of the hospital's satellite locations.
But that's not all: she is also a researcher at the Institut du Savoir Montfort. Her specialty: perinatal psychiatry, before, during and after the arrival of a baby.
A Community of Clinical Researchers
By networking with other clinical researchers who are interested in the same specialty area, Dr. Giroux had the idea of forming a group of people from all over the world to share knowledge, practices and research ideas to advance the subject.
Among her colleagues are clinical researchers from France, India, Australia, Chile, Brazil and Germany. Although they are interested in several topics related to maternal mental health, the group is currently focusing on mothers living with borderline personality disorder.
“On Pub Med, as of September 10, there were 6,696 results for perinatal depression and 1,903 for perinatal anxiety disorder," explains Dr. Giroux. “But when I searched for studies on borderline personality disorder during the perinatal period, I found only 39. It is not a well-known subject and there are not many services around the world that address this specific condition."
Last June, Dr. Giroux travelled to Finland to present a poster at the World Association for Infant Mental Health conference. The poster provided an overview of the current situation in the countries of the group's clinical researchers, in terms of research and services offered for mothers with borderline personality disorder during the perinatal period. It was clear that the situation needed to be improved.
In early March, Dr. Giroux and two of her colleagues went to Bengaluru, India, to speak about borderline personality disorder during the perinatal period at the International Association of Women's Mental Health.
“The next step is for all of us to write together, to benefit from the clinical experience of each member of the group and to promote the importance of this subject. Right now, Australia is the only country to have guidelines on perinatal mental health with a section on borderline personality disorder. We are really at the very beginning of the interest in this subject both at the research and clinical levels. We must now try to help these mothers with what we know and with trial and error."
A Multi-Year Research Project
“With a team of researchers from Ottawa, we have started a longitudinal study that will follow mothers with borderline personality disorder during pregnancy until 6 years postpartum. The study looks at different measures mainly for the mother, but also for the children and the other parent. There is currently no longitudinal study in the literature, so it will be interesting to see how clinical observations and metrics will be reflected in the study. For example, we often notice that certain age periods in children are more difficult for these mothers, but we have no studies to prove it. This study could therefore help us to identify trends and thus better support them."
Dr. Giroux and her team began recruiting people for this research project in June 2024 after receiving initial funding. Following a feasibility study period, they obtained additional funding from the Institut du Savoir Montfort to pursue the entire research project. In total, the team would like to recruit 50 participants to have a clinically significant sample size.
To participate in this seven-year longitudinal study, participants must be women, aged 18 and over, with a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder and be pregnant or within three months postpartum. If you fit this profile or know someone who would be interested in participating, please write to perinatalbpd@montfort.on.ca.
This study will certainly help to better understand how borderline personality disorder affects motherhood.
Perinatal Therapy
The only therapy group currently offered in Ontario for mothers with borderline personality disorder is the Reconnect group, developed and offered by Montfort.
The Reconnect group, offered at the Aline-Chrétien Health Hub in Orléans, is specifically designed for mothers with borderline personality disorder. It aims to improve awareness of the mother's emotional reactions and help them understand the link with their past as children, increase their sensitive recognition and responses to their children's needs and improve the mother-child relationship. The therapy model uses an approach based on mindfulness and reflective parenting. It is a 14-week therapy offered in English and French, three to four times a year.