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Chapter 16 - Working with Parents with Depression in Family Intervention

from Part IV - Family Intervention for Children at Risk Due to Family Dysfunction or Past Adversity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2021

By
Emma A. Archibald ,
Sarah H. Gladstone  and
Tracy R. G. Gladstone
Edited by
Jennifer L. Allen ,
David J. Hawes  and
Cecilia A. Essau
Jennifer L. Allen
Affiliation:
University of Bath
David J. Hawes
Affiliation:
University of Sydney
Cecilia A. Essau
Affiliation:
Roehampton University, London
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Summary

Parental depression is associated with maladaptive cognitive, academic, socio-emotional and psychological outcomes in offspring. Children with a depressed parent are three to four times more likely to be diagnosed with depression than children with non-depressed parents, making parental depression a significant risk factor in the onset of childhood depression. Preventive interventions aim to reduce the likelihood that depressive symptoms will onset by decreasing risk factors and increasing protective factors. In family-based preventive interventions for children who are at risk for depression due to parental depressive symptoms, clinicians aim to build resilience in children by addressing risk and protective factors. Such intervention programs have been shown to effectively reduce depressive symptoms in children. This chapter summarizes the effects of parental depression on children, risk and protective factors associated with resilience and the family-based preventive interventions used to mitigate the effects of parental depression on children and presents an example case study highlighting one of these preventive interventions. Finally, the chapter reviews essential clinical competencies for productive work in family-based depression preventive interventions.

Keywords

Parental depressionpreventive interventionfamily-based interventionchild outcomesresiliencerisk factors
Type
Chapter
Information
Family-Based Intervention for Child and Adolescent Mental Health
A Core Competencies Approach
 , pp. 207 - 224
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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