G. Davis Gammon

Psychopathology in the Children (Ages 6–18) of Depressed and Normal Parents

Data from a pilot family-history study of 194 children (ages 6–18) of probands with major depression compared with the children of normal controls showed children of depressives were at increased risk for psychological symptoms, treatment for emotional problems, school problems, suicidal behavior, and DSM-III diagnoses. The magnitude of the risk was increased 3-fold for any DSM-III diagnosis in the children of depressed probands. Major depression was the most common psychiatric disorder, followed by attention deficit and separation anxiety. The risk to children of major depression and of any DSM-III diagnosis increased linearly if both parents were psychiatrically ill than if only one or neither parent had psychiatric illness. Other significant predictors of risk to children were early onset of the probands depression, an increased number of the probands first-degree relatives who were ill with any psychiatric disorder and/or major depression, and if the proband was divorced, separated or widowed. While diagnoses were based on multiple informants and were made by a psychiatrist who was blind to the clinical status of the probands, the absence of direct interviews with the children make these findings preliminary. A direct interview study is under way.

Suicidality of Childhood and Adolescence

The purpose of this review is to examine the status of suicide and suicidality in the framework of DSM-III-R and to stimulate discussion of alternative approaches for DSM-IV, including the possibility of including suicidality as a new diagnostic category in its own right. (In this review, we use the term suicidality to refer to the spectrum of ideation and/or behavior involving deliberate attempts to inflict death or serious physical harm to the self. To the extent that the data permit, we will try to distinguish between suicidal ideation and action and between attempted and completed suicide.)