This volume focuses on one of the most prevalent and devastating psychiatric disorders, depression. The contributors apply a developmental analysis to the etiology, course, and sequelae of depression across the lifespan. The effects of depression on multiple domains of functioning, including socio-emotional, social cognitive, and psychobiological, are explored. In addition to the impact of the disorder on the depressed individual, its role on the developmental process in offspring of depressed parents and for families having a depressed member are examined and reviewed. Contributors: BARRY NURCOMBE, PAUL F. COLLINS, RICHARD A. DEPUE, JEFFREY F. COHN, SUSAN B. CAMPBELL, KARLEN LYONS-RUTH, PAMELA M. COLE, CAROLYN ZAHN-WAXLER, JAMES C. COYNE, GERALDINE DOWNEY, JULIE BOERGER, CONSTANCE HAMMEN, E. MARK CUMMINGS, PATRICK R. DAVIES, DONNA T. ROSE, LYN Y. ABRAMSON, JULES R. BEMPORAD and STEVEN J. ROMANO.

Depression is a widespread condition affecting approximately 7.5 million parents in the U.S. each year and may be putting at least 15 million children at risk for adverse health outcomes. Based on evidentiary studies, major depression in either parent can interfere with parenting quality and increase the risk of children developing mental, behavioral and social problems. Depression in Parents, Parenting, and Children highlights disparities in the prevalence, identification, treatment, and prevention of parental depression among different sociodemographic populations. It also outlines strategies for effective intervention and identifies the need for a more interdisciplinary approach that takes biological, psychological, behavioral, interpersonal, and social contexts into consideration. A major challenge to the effective management of parental depression is developing a treatment and prevention strategy that can be introduced within a two-generation framework, conducive for parents and their children. Thus far, both the federal and state response to the problem has been fragmented, poorly funded, and lacking proper oversight. This study examines options for widespread implementation of best practices as well as strategies that can be effective in diverse service settings for diverse populations of children and their families. The delivery of adequate screening and successful detection and treatment of a depressive illness and prevention of its effects on parenting and the health of children is a formidable challenge to modern health care systems. This study offers seven solid recommendations designed to increase awareness about and remove barriers to care for both the depressed adult and prevention of effects in the child. The report will be of particular interest to federal health officers, mental and behavioral health providers in diverse parts of health care delivery systems, health policy staff, state legislators, and the general public.

This timely, authoritative volume provides an integrative review of current knowledge on child and adolescent depression, covering everything from epidemiology and neurobiology to evidence-based treatment and prevention. From foremost scientist-practitioners, the book is organized within a developmental psychopathology framework that elucidates the factors that put certain children at risk and what can be done to help. Proven intervention models are discussed in step-by-step detail, with coverage of cognitive-behavioral, interpersonal, and pharmacological approaches, among others. Special topics include sex differences in depression, understanding and managing suicidality, and the intergenerational transmission of depression.

Although childhood depressive disorders are relatively rare, the experience of depression in children's lives is not. Developmental contextual perspectives denote the importance of considering both depressive disorder and the experience of subclinical depressive symptoms in the child and the family to fully understand the implications of depressive experience for children's developmental well-being. This Element draws on basic emotion development and developmental psychopathology perspectives to address the nature of depressive experience in childhood, both symptoms and disorder, focusing on seminal and recent research that details critical issues regarding its phenomenology, epidemiology, continuity, etiology, consequences, and interventions to ameliorate the developmental challenges inherent in the experience. These issues are addressed within the context of the child's own experience and from the perspective of parent depression as a critical context that influences children's developmental well-being. Conclusions include suggestions for new directions in research on children's lives that focus on more systemic processes.

One of the most striking aspects of the epidemiology of depressive disorders is the rapid rise in incidence observed between the ages of 11 and 14. This book explores the developmental changes occurring during the transition from childhood into early adolescence in order to understand how vulnerability to depression develops. The authors focus on emotional development, which serves to encapsulate the cognitive, sexual, interpersonal and familial changes that occur during this life stage. This is an essential read for practicing psychiatrists and psychologists who work with early adolescents, along with academics and researchers interested in affective science or developmental psychology and psychopathology. Other professionals working with children and adolescents, including teachers, social workers, counsellors and family practice physicians will also find this a useful summary of the latest scientific developments that are shedding light on the vulnerabilities and opportunities particular to this critical stage of life.

Mental, neurological, and substance use disorders are common, highly disabling, and associated with significant premature mortality. The impact of these disorders on the social and economic well-being of individuals, families, and societies is large, growing, and underestimated. Despite this burden, these disorders have been systematically neglected, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, with pitifully small contributions to scaling up cost-effective prevention and treatment strategies. Systematically compiling the substantial existing knowledge to address this inequity is the central goal of this volume. This evidence-base can help policy makers in resource-constrained settings as they prioritize programs and interventions to address these disorders.

A completely updated edition of the standard survey of the field. Demonstrates how psychopathology is best understood in the context of biological, cognitive, social, and emotional development.