The aim of our study was to assess the perception of parental depression by their adult offspring. Twenty nine offsprings aged 22.5 +/- 3.9 years were examined with the use of Parental Bonding Instrument, Beck Depression Inventory, Resenberg Scale, Hopelessness Scale, Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire and our own semistructured inventory. The offsprings of depressed patients reported negative impact of the illness on various aspects of life, especially when mother was ill. Surprisingly, the offsprings did not reveal disturbances in their thinking style, neither did they have depressive symptoms.