Being a parent is difficult and demanding on the best of days. But, as the L.A. Times reports, when parents are depressed, it gets much tougher–and kids are the ones most affected.
The fallout from parental depression doesn’t just go away. […] Children caught in the cold grip of a parent’s depression can carry patterns they grew up with into their own parenting — and beyond, says William Beardslee, a professor of child psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. “The payoff for dealing with this well is so high that it can have a positive effect on the next few generations.”