Editorial: Intergenerational Benefits of Treating Maternal Depression: Recognizing Externalities.

A recent systematic review and meta-analysis by Cuijpers et al.1 demonstrates that treating maternal depression with psychotherapy produces benefits that extend beyond mothers themselves, including small but significant improvements in parental functioning, marital distress, mother-child interactions, and child mental health. These findings reinforce the importance of viewing children within broader family systems and illustrate the concept of positive externalities (ie, benefits gained by people other than the identified patient). Mental health research and clinical care often focus narrowly on outcomes for the individual receiving treatment, potentially overlooking consequential effects on children, parents, siblings, and family relationships. Future studies should systematically measure externalities and examine how they vary by treatment modality, timing, and clinical context. Care models that reduce barriers to maternal mental health treatment, including co-located or integrated services for parents and children, may capitalize on these intergenerational benefits. Explicitly accounting for externalities could support treatment decisions and mental health systems that improve outcomes for entire families rather than isolated patients.