When a loved one becomes depressed, parents, like their children, are extremely prone to feeling guilty, blaming themselves, and believing that they should have done something differently. But we know now that to blame family patterns as the cause of childhood depression is unscientific and nonsensical; in fact, it contributes to the difficulties families experience. This has come home to me again and again as I have simultaneously had my own children go through the period of highest risk for childhood depression, ages fourteen to twenty-three, and seen many of my friends’ and my acquaintances’ children struggle with depression, some of them even being hospitalized on the service I run at Children’s Hospital. In many of these families, depression has truly struck completely without warning. (183)

This passage was taken from When a Parent is Depressed, a book written for families facing depression. When a Parent is Depressed is published by Little, Brown, and Company and can be purchased at your local bookstore, through the publisher’s website (www.twbookmark.com), or at any major online book retailer.