About 10 years ago a survey by Myrna Weissman and colleagues revealed that major depression and anxiety disorders were commoner among offspring of depressed patients than among children of non-depressed parents.1 The offspring of the depressed patients have recently been re-examined.2 This work might have gone unnoticed had it simply confirmed studies showing that depression is familial and has a genetic component to its complex aetiology.3 Instead, it built upon the earlier survey addressing key clinical issues: the validity of depression as a diagnosis among children, the continuity between child and adult psychiatric disorders, psychiatric comorbidity, and the underidentification and treatment of juvenile depression.