The Institute of Medicine notes there are large gaps in knowledgeabout the effects of parental depression on children and a need for multigenerational approaches to care.

    Depression is too often a family affair and ought to be viewedthat way, but the unsystematic nature of the U.S. health caresystem serves as a major block to identifying and treating millionsof parents whose depression may affect their children's future,according to a report from the National Research Council andthe Institute of Medicine.

    "[P]arental depression is prevalent, but a comprehensive strategyto treat the depressed adults and prevent problems in the children in their care is absent," said the report from a task forcechaired by Mary Jane England, M.D., president of Regis Collegein Weston, Mass., and a former president of APA. She spoke ata press conference in Washington, D.C., last month announcingthe study's results.

    The report estimates that there are 7.5 million parents with depression in the United States caring for 16 million childrenunder age 18.

    Depression is usually addressed as a disorder in individuals,but when that individual is a parent, it can affect other family members as well. Parental depression can result in a withdrawn,detached parenting style that interferes with attachments and harms the child's physical, psychological, and social development.It can also disrupt the structure and routine that provide a framework for young lives and is associated with poorer physical health in children. Depression is often accompanied by other physicalor psychological comorbidities, most prominently anxiety orsubstance abuse, often worsening outcomes for affected families,said England.

    "We need to think about depressed parents as parents first andthen as depressed people," added panel member William Beardslee,M.D., academic chair in the Department of Psychiatry at Children'sHospital Boston and the Gardner/Monks Professor of Child Psychiatryat Harvard Medical School. Current approaches to depression focus too narrowly on symptoms and diagnoses in individuals while ignoring broader effects on families. Existing screening, treatment,and research protocols, for instance, do not take into accountthe possibility that the patient is a parent.

    The problem has received less attention than it should because it falls along the boundaries of professional and policy domains,from research to payment for services.

    "There is remarkably little systematic examination of depressionin parents," said the report. Research and attention usually focus on mothers, with little data available on fathers. Women關are screened during pregnancy and shortly following birth, but seldom beyond that point, due to inadequate guidelines or insurancelimitations involving cut-off points for reimbursing the physician.Numerous barriers to care stand in the way of screening, access,treatment, and reimbursement.

    The remedy lies in comprehensive, multigenerational, family-centeredcare that will not only identify and treat parents with depression,but also help them improve their parenting skills, and providesupport for their children, England said.

    For a start, the U.S. Surgeon General should encourage federalhealth agencies to increase their recognition of depressionin parents and its effects on children's development, alongwith collaborative research into risk and protective factorsand, ultimately, demonstration projects to evaluate innovative services.

    The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the Health Resources and Services Administration should develop collaborative training programs for primary, mentalhealth, and substance abuse professionals to break down the silos that isolate professional groups.

    Payment rules for both public and private payers should be changed to permit care in nonclinical settings （such as home visitsor community centers） and eliminate current restrictions in Medicaid that prohibit same-day visits for mental health and primary care services.

    Impeding use of Medicaid for this group are "low reimbursement rates, lack of benefit coverage to assess for maternal depression,prohibitions against pediatricians assess[ing] parents, anda restricted range of eligible providers…"

    The prospect of achieving such widespread change is daunting,even for members of the IOM committee. "We know what we shoulddo, but we don't know how to implement it," said Beardslee ina follow-up interview. "We need a broad public-health approach.However, there will be a real payoff because medical outcomesare worse in people with depression, so there ought to be anincentive to identify and treat family members."

    醫學會指出，父母抑郁影響孩子的認識上存在很大的缺口，需要多代人間的探討和關注。

    抑郁，通常是，或應該被當初家務事來看待。但是，美國保健系統的非系統性作為一個主要的單元，證實并考驗著成千上萬的父母們，這些父母的抑郁也許影響著孩子的將來，根據一份來自國家研究委員會和醫學會的報告。

    "父母抑郁是普遍的，但是對待這群沮喪的大人們并且防止問題出現在孩子身上、出現在他們的關心上，這樣的綜合對策并沒有。"由Mary Jane組織的一只特別工作隊的報告說到，（Mary Jane England,醫學博士，麻省韋斯頓瑞吉斯學院院長，兼APA美國藥學協會前任會長）她上個月在華盛頓一個記者會上發言并宣布了研究結果。

    報告估計，在美國有1600萬18歲以下的孩子由75萬抑郁的父母帶著。

    抑郁通常被稱為個體失調，但是當那個個體是一對父母時，抑郁也就能影響到其他家庭成員。父母抑郁導致一種逃避的、孤立的家教模式，這種模式干擾了彼此的依戀，并危害孩子身體的、心理的發展及社會的發展。它也會打破年輕人獨有的一套參照標準的結構和常規，且導致孩子身體素質差。 England說，抑郁通常伴隨著其他身體或心理方面的共發癥，最顯著的有焦慮癥或藥物濫用，往往使受困的家庭的結果更糟。

    "我們首先需肯定抑郁父母的父母身份，其次才是抑郁人群的身份。"委員會成員William Beardslee補充道。William Beardslee獲醫學博士，既是波士頓兒童醫院精神科的副主任，也是加德納/蒙克斯教授的兒童醫學院的副主任。現階段，處理抑郁的方式都局限關注于個別的癥狀和診斷，然而卻忽視了對家庭更廣的影響。比如，目前的螢光屏檢查，治療和研究方案，都不考慮患者是父母的可能性。

    問題比原本應該得到的關注更少，原因在于它處在從研究到服務消費的專業性和策略域的界線。

    報道指出，"極少有顯著針對抑郁父母的系統檢測".研究和關注往往集中在母親們身上，卻鮮少有關注在父親們身上的資料。婦女除了在懷孕期和此后的生產中接受外的熒光屏檢查很少，歸結于關于付還醫師的截止點的不充分的指導方針或保險限制。在保健的過程中，有很多道檻：螢光屏檢查、渠道、治療和付還款項。

    England說，綜合性的、多代性并以家庭為中心的保健存在的補救措施，將不僅僅確認和治療這些抑郁的父母們，還會幫助他們提高他們的家教技巧，并為他們的孩子提供幫助。

    對于剛起的頭，伴隨著對危機和保護性因素及最終實證所得出評估的創新服務的協作研究，美國衛生署長應該鼓勵那些聯邦健康機構提高他們對抑郁父母親的認識及其對孩子成長的影響。

    美國物質濫用和心理衛生服務部及健康資源服務部應專門為心理衛生和藥物濫用的行家，建立起協作訓練計劃，以打破分離專業群體的桎梏。

    對于公開的和私自的付款人的支付規則，應該被改成允許在非門診場所保健（如家庭走訪者、社區中心）,并且消除目前公共醫療補助制中存在的一些阻止了當天對衛生健康和主要保健服務求助的限制。

    這個群體對公共醫療補助制的阻礙性使用有"低付還率、對母性抑郁欠利益人口保障額、兒科醫生評價父母們受到的阻礙，并且一個受限范圍的供應者……"

    達成如此深廣之變化的前景是令人望而生畏，即便對IOM（醫學研究所）委員會的成員來說。Beardslee在后面的采訪中說道， " 我們知道我們該做的，但我們卻不知道如何去執行。我們需要一個寬廣的公共健康的途徑，然而，仍需有切實的支付，由于這些抑郁者們的醫療結果往往都更糟，因此最好有動機地去識別并治療自己的家庭成員。"