Nearly one in twenty men suffer from depression after the birth of their child. If it is a girl, she will most likely be affected when she reaches adulthood.
After childbirth, 10-15% of mothers suffer from depression. If this phenomenon is well known, what about fathers? How do they feel after the birth of their child? According to a British study published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, young mothers would not be the only ones to be mentally impacted since nearly one in 20 fathers would suffer from depression after the arrival of a baby. If the latter is a girl, then she will probably be affected when she reaches adulthood.
To reach these conclusions, researchers from the University of Cambridge used a study conducted since 1991 on 3,000 families living in Bristol in the United Kingdom. Previous results had already identified postpartum depression in fathers but, for the first time, the scientists here noticed that the daughters of affected men were more likely to experience depression themselves at the age of 18. year.
Why ? Post-natal depression in fathers can aggravate that of mothers, creating tension and conflict in the family, thus affecting children in turn, the study explains, noting however that sons are completely spared this phenomenon. Girls would be affected by the complexity of their relationship with their father in adolescence, say the researchers.
No one ever asks fathers how they feel after the birth of their child
“The findings of this study show how important it is to provide appropriate professional support to fathers and mothers who may be experiencing depression,” concludes Professor Paul Ramchandani of the University of Cambridge’s Faculty of Education, responsible for this research and main author of the paper.
“Postnatal depression in the father impacts the whole family when it is not taken care of, which is often linked to the fact that fathers do not know how to manage their pain, avoiding confronting the problem and very often being angry. From my experience working with families, it’s often just the fathers who suffer in silence but unfortunately they are asked very little about how they feel after becoming parents,” adds Mark. Williams group founder and website Fathers Reaching Out.
Anxiety and distress
In 2017, a Scottish study conducted by the University of Edinburgh had already taken an interest in post-natal depression in men. If these works highlighted the beneficial effects of fatherhood on the health of new fathers, they had noticed risks of distress, anxiety and depression. Based on 63 questions asked to 101 men, the scientists had observed that 12% of the fathers questioned were likely to have developed depression after the birth of their child or in the three to six months following. Most often, the shock is more drastic after the birth of the first baby. Since the father is not sufficiently prepared psychologically for the new life that awaits him, he tends to feel lost and afraid.
In women, the diagnosis of postpartum depression (not to be confused with the baby blues, hormonal upheaval which affects almost all women and passes after a few days), is based on the criteria of a major depressive episode, with the specificity of an onset of symptoms within 4 or 6 weeks following childbirth. Most often, the mother has trouble falling asleep, concentrating, is irritable, anxious and constantly tired, which obviously has negative repercussions on her relationship with her baby.
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