Postnatal Depression Dads are also Concerned

Postnatal Depression Concerned annual scientific conference, psychologists have said, studies in support, that men can also be victims of postpartum depression after the birth of a baby.

What if postpartum depression was not exclusively female?
At the annual conference of the American Psychological Association in San Francisco (USA), two psychologists presented work combining several scientific and clinical studies indicating that fathers of newborns sometimes suffer from postpartum depression in the same way as young moms.

But if it is mainly the hormonal changes that cause baby blues and postnatal depression in a woman, it would be more social, emotional and physiological changes that would cause depressive symptoms in a young father.

"Bringing a baby home, one way or another, is very stressful and disruptive," said Sara Rosenquist, of the Center for Reproductive Health Psychology in Cary, North Carolina, and one of them. of the two psychologists, at Inside Science. "You have to reorganize your sense of selfishness, your entire social network, your whole life and we are not doing a particularly good job - in fact, we are doing particularly bad work regarding how we support new families this transition" regrets the psychologist.

According to Sara Rosenquist, in the weeks following the birth of a child, biological and adoptive parents of either sex may exhibit a wide range of physical and psychological symptoms underlying depression. Studies show that about 10% of new fathers experience depression during this period, which is statistically similar to the 7% to 15% of young mothers affected by postpartum depression. The adoptive parents have symptoms at similar rates, said Sara Rosenquist.

Also Sara Rosenquist and her colleague Dan Singley of the Center for Men's Excellence in San Diego both recommend that doctors examine fathers as well as mothers for signs of depression after birth. 'a child. They also invite young parents to surround themselves with a network of supportive friends, to help them overcome the challenges of parenting. Finally, psychologists suggest to society itself to adapt, proposing why not a family leave in addition to maternal and paternal leave, to give these new families time to find their marks. To prevent rather than cure, in short.