Intrigued by a comment from a blog reader I started looking into male postnatal depression. According to research papers published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry this is common in about 10-15% of new dads (about the same % as in women). I had no idea this even existed ... I was happy as can be when I became a dad. However it seems this is a real problem for 1 in 10 dads out there, so I found out some more on this.

Postnatal depression amongst women is usually classified as a "hormonal element" which is obviously different for men. The depression experienced by dads is usually related to realising the enormity of the change along with the responsibility and a feeling of having to deal with this alone as "mum" is now focussed on the child. Changes in the nature of the sexual relationship with partners is also a contributing factor.

A key point of the various studies was to establish whether there are male-specific factors for post natal depression - and YES THERE ARE! Here's the gist of it:

* Compared to women, men may have more sparse support networks, relying primarily on their partners for support
* The responsibility for providing material support for the new family may produce additional financial and work stresses
* Many men may lack good role models for fathering, having been brought up in times when men were less involved in birth and child-rearing.
* Young men tend to have a more idealized view of pregnancy, childbirth and parenthood compared than young women.

Another thing I didn't know is that there is a standard way of assessing the extent of postnatal depression called the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS).

So I'm wondering whether there are any dads out there who could comment on this and what they did about it?

-Stef

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