How Common Is Postpartum Depression in Dads?

Men can experience postpartum depression, too. Learn why researchers think it happens -- and why it's so important to get treatment -- in this episode of BrainStuff.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff,
Lauren Bogelbaum here. For some time, researchers and mental health
experts have known that postpartum depression is not something solely
experienced by new mothers. New fathers too may experienced depression.
We spoke with Brandon Eddie, an assistant professor in the
Couple and Family Therapy program at the University of Nevada,

(00:24):
Las Vegas. He learned a little about postpartum depression when
his wife experienced it after the couple's first child, and
has studied how postpartum depression affects men too. He wrote
about it for a paper in the February twenty nineteen
edition of the Journal of Family Issues. It's titled Forgotten
Fathers Postpartum Depression in Men. Already, Eddie's hearing from many
who applaud his efforts to force this illness more into

(00:46):
the open. Eddie said, I had a former co worker
who read it and sent me a message. He said,
I really appreciated your study. I could really relate with it,
he said. Everyone asks how's your wife, how's the baby,
and it ends there. I desperately want someone to ask,
how are you doing. Many parents of new babies go
through the baby blues. Mood swings, anxiety, trouble sleeping, and

(01:07):
general sadness are all symptoms, but when those moods become
more intense and last longer, when overpowering fatigue sets in,
when a parent has problems bonding with a newborn, or
has thoughts of suicide or of harming the baby, those
are all signs the postpartum depression has set in. Postpartum
depression can be especially difficult for men. Because of a
widely held belief that it's a woman only illness. Much

(01:30):
of the available information on postpartum depression is still aimed
exclusively toward women. Even the National Institute for Mental Health
defines the condition as quote a mood disorder that can
affect women after childbirth. Yet a twenty ten studies shows
that somewhere around ten percent of dads and in the
three to six month period after birth experienced postpartum depression.

(01:52):
Eddie's research sites another study that says that between twenty
four and fifty percent of men whose partners have postpartum
depression also experience it, and of course, as with any
serious depression, it can impact all aspects of men's lives,
their work, friendships, and relationship with their partner and children.
With the stigma that surrounds paternal postpartum depression, the idea

(02:14):
that it's for women only. Men don't get it. You
didn't carry a baby for nine months. Just suck it
up and be strong. Finding men willing to talk openly
about their depression was not going to be easy, so
Eddie and his fellow researchers went to a source where
anonymity rules and fathers felt free to speak their mind,
the Internet. After conducting searches for phrases like depression and

(02:34):
new fathers, Eddie and his co authors scoured chatboards, blogs,
and other forums like Reddit to pull information from twenty
seven new dads. Eddie said, no one knows who they are,
so there's not the same sense of shame. It's not
like all eyeballs are upon you. So sometimes that makes
it a lot easier to share their experiences. These people
were in a safe place where they were able to

(02:54):
express themselves. Eddie's research uncovered six main themes from those
online comments. First, father's need education. It became clear that
although they may not have known what to call it,
many of the commenters were living with paternal postpartum depression. Second,
men experiencing postpartum depression were anxious about adhering to gender expectations.

(03:15):
One commenter said, I wanted to cry and give up
being a father, but I was afraid to acknowledge those
thoughts and feelings in myself. It wasn't becoming of a
man and father to feel those things. Third, the fathers
were repressing their feelings. For example, one said she's with
the kids all day every day, and I'm home to
help for six hours and can't handle it. Fourth, the

(03:36):
men felt overwhelmed. One said I have the feeling that
I'm constantly on the edge of bursting into tears. Fifth,
their own negative feelings led to some resentment of their babies.
One said baby cries can unearth some darkness in me
I've found. And six, the fathers themselves felt neglected. One
said I blamed both my wife and my son for

(03:59):
my feelings of loss and insignificance. My wife seemed to
consider me selfish and irresponsible. These were the common threads,
and although of course it sucks to have these feelings,
they're completely valid. These feelings are real, recognized by scientists.
And caused. Some experts believe at least impart by chemical
changes in men's bodies. Postpartum depression and women has been

(04:20):
tied to a dip in the hormone estrogen. But women
aren't alone in dealing with falling hormone levels. Men experience
a drop in testosterone from early to late pregnancy, and
that's been linked to depression too. Most importantly, fathers need
to know that help is available. A talk with a
help practitioner maybe the first step towards shaking postpartum depression.
If seeing a psychologist is intimidating, a family doctor can

(04:42):
help you reach a diagnosis, prescribe medications that may help,
and put you in touch with a mental health practitioner
that you'd be comfortable with. Eddie said, the sooner you
get help, the better. If you put this off, you're
going to have more distance grow between you and your partner,
You're going to isolate yourself, and you're going to put
yourself in a bad situation. So seeking out help as
soon as you recognize something is off is really the

(05:02):
way to go and the way to limit how much
it impacts you and your family. Today's episode was written
by John Donovan and produced by Tyler Clain. Brain Stuff
is a production of I Heartmedia's How Stuff Works. For
more on this and lots of other mental health topics,
visit our home planet, how stuff Works dot com. And
for more podcasts. For my heart Radio, visit the iHeart

(05:24):
Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
favorite shows.