[Impact of parents' mental health disorders on psychiatric problems of the offspring].

Psychiatric disorders in mothers and fathers increase children's risks for psychiatric problems in childhood and adulthood. The chronicity and the impact of the disorder on the parent's interactional and functional capacities are more important than the diagnosis itself. Children's psychiatric disorders are more severe and chronic and they start at an earlier age than in families with parents without psychiatric disorders. Behavioral and anxiety disorders emerge in early childhood and school age, while depression and alcohol and drug abuse in adolescence. Children's needs for prevention and treatment are to be taken care of when their parents use psychiatric services.