A study in the Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics found that fewer than one half of pediatricians are screening their patients' mothers for depression. Pediatricians need to consider the whole family when treating children and should ask about maternal depression, use a formal screening tool to detect problems, and then make sure that services are in place so mothers with depression receive help, the study's co-author Bonnie D. Kerker, Ph.D., said in a Medscape interview. Study abstract