Treatment of Depression in Adults Should Consider Children

Physicians and other health care professionals who treat adults with depression also should consider the effects of the illness on their patients' children, according to a new report from the National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine. “Depression interferes with quality of parenting and puts children of all age levels at risk for poor health and development," said Mareasa Isaacs, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based National Alliance of Multi-Ethnic Behavioral Health Associations. "The message is that it's really important to look at depression as something that affects not only the individual, but the children and other members of the family." (AAFP News, 7/3/09)