Mariann Howland, an ICD 5th year doctoral student, has been awarded the American Psychological Foundation’s (APF) Visionary Grant to support her dissertation, “A dimensional approach to perinatal mania and psychosis”. Her dissertation “aims to further our understanding of the prevalence, consequences, and physiological underpinnings of perinatal symptoms of mania and psychosis, mental health symptoms that are relatively neglected in research and clinical practice,” says Howland. The longitudinal study is following women from late pregnancy to two months postpartum. Throughout the study Howland will measure those symptoms and contributing hormonal (cortisol) and immune (proinflammatory cytokines) levels of the women. She is curious to examine if the symptoms are associated with maternal sensitive behavior and early infant cognitive development.

Howland has received $20,000 from APF, the maximum award amount, in recognition of her innovative research. The Visionary Grant seeks to further projects and programs that demonstrate potential impact and use psychology to solve social problems. Preference for projects and programs are given to those that would be strong candidates for support from major federal and foundation funding agencies, and “demonstration projects” that promise to generalize broadly to similar settings in other geographical areas and/or to other settings.

In addition to her APF funding, Howland’s dissertation is supported by grant funding from the Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain.

Congratulations Mariann!