If mom or dad is depressed, kids need help too

When parents are depressed, their children can suffer too.

A new report from the National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine calls for health and social service professionals to pay greater attention to the impact of parental depression on their children.

While depressed parents don't necessarily harm their children -- deliberately or inadvertently -- studies have shown parental depression can increase the chances of children having health, emotional and behavioral problems.

Yet, even if health-care professionals come up with creative ways to include all family members in the treatment plan, obstacles remain. Only one-third of adult sufferers seek treatment for their depression, which means their children probably won't get treatment either.