This edited volume examines depression, taking a social, psychological and biological approach. The selected authors cover three important domains: child development, basic adult psychopathology, and treatment. The book emphasizes innovative and empirically grounded theory and treatment, rather than complete coverage of all relevant models. The authors supply a range of ideas to developments in understanding the aetiology and treatment of this disorder. The book provides the reader with a variety of perspectives on the processes that put adults and their children at risk from depression, as well as the environmental, psychological and biological mechanisms involved in the genesis of an episode, and on how to address the psychosocial context of depression. These chapters share several commonalities, including careful attention to empirical literature, and an emphasis on integration across domains. They also provide an understanding of the environmental and intrapsychic risk factors that contribute to the onset and maintenance of depression.