Everywhere I look about dealing with a depressed spouse talks about getting help for that person.<p> My depressed spouse has been and is getting help. Counseling for years and several of the great new medications, Prozac, etc. They help and she's trying, but she's been depressed as long as I've known her and it runs in her family, so I'm long past expecting it to go away. She's not malicious, but she is very irritable and isolates herself.<p> My challenge is co-parenting with a depressed person. The kids never know what they're going to get with her emotionally. Vast majority of the time they get told to stay away. I eat meals with the kids, but when I'm not there they think it's normal to eat in front of TV while parent eats in front of TV in bedroom.<p> The boys are displaying some indications of emotional trauma (bedwetting for a nine-year-old, tantrums). We're in family therapy mainly oriented to grief counseling over a recent death in the family (which made my wife's depression worse and resulted in the boys having to spend more time with her).<p> The boys and I cope with the swings of depression, alcohol binges, household disarray, unpredictability and irritability.<p> But the habits they boys are being taught and the emotional buffeting they experience makes me feel guilty leaving the boys at home.<p> I've read a lot of the good things from Dr. Harley, but I've never seen "The Guide to Co-Parenting with a Depressed Person."<p>[ March 28, 2002: Message edited by: dc guy ]</p>