Fathers Suffering From Postpartum Depression

A report in the latest issues of the  Journal of the American Medical Association  indicates that about 10% of new fathers experience postpartum depression.  The data came from over forty studies conducted around the world over the last three decades, including data on over 28,000 subjects.

Depression among new mothers has been the subject of research and is well-known among the general public, but postpartum depression among fathers has received little attention.

As with mothers suffering postpartum depression, this is not just a case of the blues.  New fathers may become severely depressed, losing energy and drive, and may even become suicidal.

The researchers, of the Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Va., found that although the overall rate of postpartum depression for fathers was 10%, the rate was much higher during the period from 3 to 6 months after birth. The study also found that there is some correlation between depression in the mother and the father.

The researchers also found that U.S. fathers were more likely to report depression than fathers elsewhere in the world (at almost double the rate).  This may be because U.S. men receive less time off work after the birth of a child than men in many European countries, and because seeking mental health assistance is more stigmatized for American men.

The authors of the study recommend that hospitals and doctors, who routinely screen new mothers for depression, should include new fathers as well, and that when postpartum depression occurs, it should be treated as a family event rather than the problem of a single individual.

Like depression in mothers, depression in fathers can negatively affect not just the individual but his child.  Parental depression can slow children’s development and predispose them to develop patterns of problematic behavior, and these problems can feed and increase parental depression.  Depression in either parent can also put a strain on the parents’ relationship, and of course depression in both parents would increase this problem.