Master Clinician Review: Parental Depression and Family Health and Wellness: What Clinicians Can Do and Reflections on Opportunities for the Future

Abstract

The study of parental depression in families with depressed children, and the development of appropriate family prevention strategies to assist families with depressed parents, have expanded and improved significantly over the last thirty years. This paper highlights an evidence-informed approach for clinicians dealing with depressed parents in different settings, addressing when a parent presents with depression, and when parental depression is encountered in treating a child with behavior health concerns. Some reflection about key contextual, policy, and systems issues is offered, as these so often determine what is and is not possible in a clinical encounter.