'Family-Focused' Depression Care Recommended

Physicians and other health professionals who care for adults with depression should identify and seek to prevent potential “spillover” effects on their patients' children, according to a report released by the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council.

To achieve this “family-focused” model of depression care, government agencies, nonprofit associations, and the private sector will need to experiment with nontraditional ways of organizing, delivering, and paying for mental health care, according to the committee that wrote the report.

“Parental depression is prevalent, but a comprehensive strategy to treat the depressed adults and to prevent problems in the children in their care is absent,” the report said. “There is also a lack of support for public and professional education, training, infrastructure development, and implementation efforts to improve the quality of services for affected families and vulnerable children.”

Depression affects roughly 7.5 million parents in the United States annually—about 20% of parents overall, according to the report. More than 15 million children live with an adult who has had major depression in the last year, and parental depression can increase the chances for health, emotional, and behavioral problems in children, the report said.

Dr. Mary Jane England, a psychiatrist and chairman of the report committee, said in a statement that the report describes “a new vision for depression care that would provide comprehensive services not just to adults, but to their children as well. It will take significant policy changes to make this vision a reality, but the benefits warrant the effort.”

The report recommended that the U.S. Surgeon General identify depression in parents and its effect on child development as part of its public health priorities. Further, the Heath and Human Services department should launch a national effort to document the scope of the problem, and should develop public education and awareness activities.

Congress, meanwhile, should authorize a new HHS demonstration project to look at strategies to identify, treat, and prevent depression in parents and its adverse effects on children, the report said. These strategies should use a combination of components, including screening and education.

The report also recommended that state governors each develop a task force focused on depression in parents. At the same time, HHS agencies including the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) should develop a national training program for primary, mental health, and substance abuse treatment providers to improve diagnosis and treatment of depression in adults and mitigate its effect on children.

Federal agencies should support collaborative research to increase understanding of the issues involved with parental depression, the report said.

“To break the vicious circle of depression, we need to refocus our view of this illness through a broader lens that sees the whole family, not just the individual with depression,” according to Dr. England.

The Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council are both parts of the National Academies, the private, nonprofit institution that provides science, technology, and health policy advice to Congress. The study was sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Annie E. Casey Foundation, The California Endowment, SAMHSA, and HRSA.

Physicians and other health professionals who care for adults with depression should identify and seek to prevent potential “spillover” effects on their patients' children, according to a report released by the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council.

To achieve this “family-focused” model of depression care, government agencies, nonprofit associations, and the private sector will need to experiment with nontraditional ways of organizing, delivering, and paying for mental health care, according to the committee that wrote the report.

“Parental depression is prevalent, but a comprehensive strategy to treat the depressed adults and to prevent problems in the children in their care is absent,” the report said. “There is also a lack of support for public and professional education, training, infrastructure development, and implementation efforts to improve the quality of services for affected families and vulnerable children.”

Depression affects roughly 7.5 million parents in the United States annually—about 20% of parents overall, according to the report. More than 15 million children live with an adult who has had major depression in the last year, and parental depression can increase the chances for health, emotional, and behavioral problems in children, the report said.

Dr. Mary Jane England, a psychiatrist and chairman of the report committee, said in a statement that the report describes “a new vision for depression care that would provide comprehensive services not just to adults, but to their children as well. It will take significant policy changes to make this vision a reality, but the benefits warrant the effort.”

The report recommended that the U.S. Surgeon General identify depression in parents and its effect on child development as part of its public health priorities. Further, the Heath and Human Services department should launch a national effort to document the scope of the problem, and should develop public education and awareness activities.

Congress, meanwhile, should authorize a new HHS demonstration project to look at strategies to identify, treat, and prevent depression in parents and its adverse effects on children, the report said. These strategies should use a combination of components, including screening and education.

The report also recommended that state governors each develop a task force focused on depression in parents. At the same time, HHS agencies including the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) should develop a national training program for primary, mental health, and substance abuse treatment providers to improve diagnosis and treatment of depression in adults and mitigate its effect on children.

Federal agencies should support collaborative research to increase understanding of the issues involved with parental depression, the report said.

“To break the vicious circle of depression, we need to refocus our view of this illness through a broader lens that sees the whole family, not just the individual with depression,” according to Dr. England.

The Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council are both parts of the National Academies, the private, nonprofit institution that provides science, technology, and health policy advice to Congress. The study was sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Annie E. Casey Foundation, The California Endowment, SAMHSA, and HRSA.

Physicians and other health professionals who care for adults with depression should identify and seek to prevent potential “spillover” effects on their patients' children, according to a report released by the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council.

To achieve this “family-focused” model of depression care, government agencies, nonprofit associations, and the private sector will need to experiment with nontraditional ways of organizing, delivering, and paying for mental health care, according to the committee that wrote the report.

“Parental depression is prevalent, but a comprehensive strategy to treat the depressed adults and to prevent problems in the children in their care is absent,” the report said. “There is also a lack of support for public and professional education, training, infrastructure development, and implementation efforts to improve the quality of services for affected families and vulnerable children.”

Depression affects roughly 7.5 million parents in the United States annually—about 20% of parents overall, according to the report. More than 15 million children live with an adult who has had major depression in the last year, and parental depression can increase the chances for health, emotional, and behavioral problems in children, the report said.

Dr. Mary Jane England, a psychiatrist and chairman of the report committee, said in a statement that the report describes “a new vision for depression care that would provide comprehensive services not just to adults, but to their children as well. It will take significant policy changes to make this vision a reality, but the benefits warrant the effort.”

The report recommended that the U.S. Surgeon General identify depression in parents and its effect on child development as part of its public health priorities. Further, the Heath and Human Services department should launch a national effort to document the scope of the problem, and should develop public education and awareness activities.

Congress, meanwhile, should authorize a new HHS demonstration project to look at strategies to identify, treat, and prevent depression in parents and its adverse effects on children, the report said. These strategies should use a combination of components, including screening and education.

The report also recommended that state governors each develop a task force focused on depression in parents. At the same time, HHS agencies including the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) should develop a national training program for primary, mental health, and substance abuse treatment providers to improve diagnosis and treatment of depression in adults and mitigate its effect on children.

Federal agencies should support collaborative research to increase understanding of the issues involved with parental depression, the report said.

“To break the vicious circle of depression, we need to refocus our view of this illness through a broader lens that sees the whole family, not just the individual with depression,” according to Dr. England.

The Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council are both parts of the National Academies, the private, nonprofit institution that provides science, technology, and health policy advice to Congress. The study was sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Annie E. Casey Foundation, The California Endowment, SAMHSA, and HRSA.