With honesty and empathy, Sheffield uses her own story as a springboard to alert other mothers to the dangers their unrecognized depression holds not only for themselves, but also for their children, whose risk of developing the illness is three times higher than the risk to children of non-depressed parents. She draws on extensive research by experts in psychiatry, psychology, and child development to explain why and how children with a depressed mother may lose out on a rewarding social life, perform below their academic potential, or fall victim to substance abuse.

Chapters on each age-group -- infancy and toddlerhood, school age, and adolescence -- pinpoint the symptoms and effects of a mother's depression on her children and offer advice on how to recognize these effects and so lessen or avoid them. And because depression's fallout destroys family cohesion and harmony, Sheffield draws attention to its impact on marital relations and outlines a strategy for fathers that will help them and their children weather the crisis.

The detailed information in Sorrow's Web about how to treat depression at any period in a mother's life -- during pregnancy or following delivery, when her children are teenagers, or later in life - - will help readers of all ages choose wisely from...