Diagnoses and Dysfunction in Children at Risk

Abstract

In Chapter 1 the major studies of offspring of parents with affective disorders were discussed and their general findings were noted. Across the various projects a generally dismal picture emerged: children of mothers and fathers with depression or manic depression were significantly more likely to have diagnoses and impairment than were children of normal parents. In this chapter the findings are reviewed in greater detail, with primary interest in the studies that employed direct interview methods and DSM III criteria. Such studies permit us to compare rates of disorder across studies, by different parental diagnoses.