Commentary: The course of depression after childhood parental death – a reflection on Berg et al. (2016)

Abstract

Berg et al.'s study highlights the long-lasting impact of childhood parental death on depression in adulthood in the absence of early preventive and intervention efforts. Given the long-term effects of childhood parental death, it seems that the most propitious time to intervene is early on after the death. Several prevention and intervention approaches have been shown to reduce the incidence of depression and to ameliorate its course and thus could be potential approaches to intervene with parentally bereaved children. Future longitudinal studies focused on children and adolescents are also needed to examine the biological pathways that set the stage for increased vulnerability across the life span following childhood parental death and adversity in order to inform novel targets for interventions.