The American Psychiatric Association recently held its annual conference. They addressed the topic of depressed moms and their children. Studies show that successful treatment of depression in mothers with medication and/or psychotherapy has a successful effect not only for the mother but also the children. Successful treatment of the mother’s mental health helped to create healthy changes in the child’s rearing environment. It is obvious why a non-toxic environment would be healthy for rearing children. Additionally, a healthy environment decreases precipitating depression in children that have inherited genes for depression. So the bottom line is ‘when the airplane’s cabin pressure is dropping and the oxygen masks drop down in front of us, parents should put their mask on before they secure the child’s’.
