New Research: Long-Term Health Effects for Children of Depressed, Untreated Parents
Applause for Medem's Smart Parents' Health Source and their Children's Health Update e-newsletter, which goes out to thousands of American parents.
Their June 1 edition featured a new study published in this month's American Journal of Psychiatry that examines how a parent's depression affects children.
Here's an excerpt of their coverage:
"Research points to an additional reason for parents who are suffering from depression to seek treatment - for their children. A 20-year study published in the June Issue of The American Journal of Psychiatry has found that children of depressed parents are at higher-risk for psychiatric and medical problems.
"In the study group, the risks for anxiety disorders and major depression were approximately three times as high in children with at least one depressed parent, and their rate of phobias was four times as high. They also had higher rates of substance dependence and self-reported physical illness in mid-adulthood than children of non-depressed parents. Around 35-years-old, children of depressed parents reported higher incidence of cardiovascular disorders (five times as likely) and neuromuscular disorders (twice as likely) than those of non-depressed parents.
"Depression is a common illness. In the United States, about 18.8 million adults (nearly one in 10), suffer from a depressive illness. The good news - depression is treatable. In fact, 80 percent to 90 percent of people who receive treatment experience significant improvement and almost all patients who receive treatment experience some benefit."