Children of parents with major affective disorder: a review

Abstract

The authors review published studies of the children of parents with major affective disorder and report the rates of diagnosable disorder in the children, their clinical symptoms and other behavioral disturbances, and the differing impact of parental illness at different ages and stages of development. There is significant risk to children in having parents with major affective disorder, and considerable impairment is evident in these children. The authors discuss the methodological issues in the studies and offer suggestions for future investigations.