"National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine, estimates that in any given year, 7.5 million U.S. parents are depressed and at least 15 million U.S. children live with a parent who has major or severe depression." A WebMD.com news article summarizes some information from this report.
Was your pregnant daughter depressed before she became pregnant? Is she depressed now that she is pregnant? Make sure she gets medical treatment for her depression! Her depression can adversely affect her child. The report shows that:
Depressed pregnant women may be less likely to get prenatal care.
Depressed moms may be less attentive or less able to respond in a healthy way to their babies' needs.
Parental depression has been linked to children's early signs of, or vulnerability to, having a more "difficult" temperament, including more negativity, less happiness, poorer social skills, more vulnerability to depression, more self blame, less self-worth, and a less effective response system to stress.
William Beardslee, MD, of the psychiatry department at Children's Hospital in Boston notes that
"Early in life, we worry most that somehow the fundamental bond between the mother and father and the infant may be weakened because of depression. A little later on, when children are older, parents are vitally important in providing structure, order, encouragement, support, helping with school, helping with friendships, and those processes tend to be disrupted when a parent is depressed".
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