Rearing the Sad Or Mad: Differentiating the Family Environments of Depressed Versus Conduct Disordered Youth (Report‪)‬

The Depressed Parent As any parent will attest, raising one or more children is a task that requires a great deal of energy, patience and attention. For those parents who suffer from depression, such a task may seem overwhelming and even hopeless at times (Sheppard, 1994). The symptoms of depression most often include listlessness, inattention, lack of motivation and a general self-centeredness that is focused on the needs of the person who is depressed (DSM-IV-TR, 2000). Depressed persons may also exhibit irritability, anger and frustration often due to their feelings of hopelessness and their inability to effectively deal with others. Gizynski (1985) offers the following description of a depressed mother's relationship with her infant, "Her attention is turned inward, seeing only the bleak winter landscape of the chronically depressed person, so that she does not notice the cues that the baby is sending her about being hungry or cold or upset (p. 105)."