Postpartum depression affects one in 10 fathers
We don’t often hear about it, but fathers also suffer from postpartum depression, but talking about it can help
Lauren Pelley (Jan 25 2016). The Star. Retrieved from: http://www.thestar.com/life/health_wellness/2016/01/25/postpartum-depression-affects-one-in-10-fathers.html
Billy Monk’s second child, an eight-pound,
four-ounce boy named Conway with a mop of strawberry-blond hair, was
born in the spring of 2014.
Soon after, the Burlington dad was hit by an
overwhelming feeling: He wanted to run away from everything in his life.
At his job as a software developer, Billy kept his head down, avoiding
coworkers as much as possible. He tried to steer clear of neighbours
while walking his dog. And friends? Billy stopped hanging out with them
altogether. “I just wanted to be alone,” he recalls.
Back at home, where Billy couldn’t escape,
life became a mess. “I would have these outbursts where I would more or
less say, ‘Everything’s terrible, I’m unhappy, everything sucks, I don’t
see the point in anything,’ ” he says.
It was a similar feeling to what he’d
experienced after the birth of his older son, Nolan, but much more
severe. The major eye-opener, according to his wife Danielle, was some
silly disagreement where Billy just flipped. “He started yelling about
how this isn’t his life,” she says.
It was totally out of character. Billy — a
hip-looking 31-year-old with colourful tattoos and a red-tinged beard —
is a loving father, an optimist and “the most wonderful person,” as
Danielle, 27, puts it.
But at the time, he was likely dealing with a condition people rarely talk about in men: Postpartum depression.
While depression in women during and after
pregnancy has long been discussed in parenting classes and media
coverage, dads with the so-called “baby blues” are often left in the
dark. And that’s a problem. PPD hits moms more often — up to 20 per cent
of women who give birth every year have postpartum depression symptoms,
according to the Centers for Disease Control — but a surprising number
of men deal with it, too.
One 2010 American study, looking at data involving more than 28,000 men, found 10 per cent of new dads have postpartum depression. And, as a recent Canadian study shows, plenty of fathers experience depression before
the baby is born as well. Led by a team from the Research Institute of
the McGill University Health Centre, the Quebec-based research found
around 13 per cent of expectant dads dealt with symptoms of depression
during their partner’s pregnancy.
Other studies coming out of Europe and
Australia have signalled similar rates of 10 to 14 per cent, says senior
author Dr. Deborah Da Costa.
But dads often don’t hear about it. “When we
would walk into clinics or prenatal classes, men were shocked that we
would want to talk to them,” Da Costa says.
On top of that, experts say men are less
likely to talk about their feelings than women, leading to a lack of
understanding and awareness about depression in dads. While moms may be
more inclined to show their sadness and stress outwardly by crying, dads
tend to express it in different ways — often through anger — and may
also self-medicate with alcohol, detach from family life and, as in
Billy’s case, lash out at their partner.
Bernadette Kint, manager for healthy families
with Toronto Public Health, says dads coping with depression can become
hypercritical of themselves and others, and can sometimes resort to
escapist behaviour like watching television for hours on end or staying
out as late as possible.
If it goes unaddressed, depression can have a
host of negative implications for child development, bonding between the
dad and kids, and the relationship between the parents, says Brian
Russell, provincial co-ordinator for Dad Central Ontario.
The good news? Men, just like women, can eventually overcome depression as a new parent — with some help.
Any dads struggling with depression symptoms
should connect with their family doctor to get a referral for
specialized treatment, says child psychiatrist Dr. Andrew Howlett, who
runs the Fathers’ Mental Health Program at St. Joseph’s Health Centre in
Toronto.
“Major depressive episodes without treatment
can last months, with gradual improvements over time,” Howlett says. But
for dads who do go through treatment, things can start to improve after
just a few sessions.
Men also need to be open about what they’re
going through — even if talking about their feelings is a bit foreign to
them — and ask for help from their support network. “Whether it’s their
own parents, siblings or friends, they’ve got to be able to talk with
other people,” says Russell.
Communication between both partners is key as
well, since each parent may go through a bout of depression, with the
periods sometimes overlapping. That was the case for the Monks, with
Billy’s depression spanning the first three or so months after each
child’s birth, and Danielle’s following after.
Billy finally sought out help in the months
after Conway’s birth — after urging from Danielle — and started opening
up to others about his experience at a fathers group in Mimico.
“That was a big help,” he says. “In these
groups, you’ll find people in a very similar situation to you. They’re a
lot more likely to open up to you in a situation like that than someone
would be in the office.”
Looking back on the parenting classes they
took together before having kids, Billy says he never learned about PPD
in men. The classes just stuck to the ABCs of being a parent, like how
to change a diaper. “It didn’t broach the subject of the emotions — it
did for women, but not for men,” he recalls.
Canadian researchers like Howlett and Da Costa are hoping to change things.
On Father’s Day in 2014, Howlett launched the Fathers Mental Health Network
with fellow Toronto psychiatrist Dr. Benjamin Rosen. The network’s
website is meant to be a mental-health information tool for both doctors
and patients, linking dads to community resources, treatment programs
and depression screening tools.
Da Costa is also developing an upcoming
website for dads, based on research that revealed many men aren’t
satisfied with the information available for parents online since it’s
usually tailored to moms.
Now armed with knowledge about the impact of
depression, the Monks regularly go to counselling together and Danielle
is on medication to help with her PPD symptoms. And, with baby number
three on the way, they also have plans in place to exercise, watch their
alcohol intake and maintain a healthy diet in hopes of staying healthy
as parents in a growing family.
Despite the dark moments, Danielle says the
experience brought their family closer together. “Every moment that
we’re able to, we’re together and doing things and supporting each
other. I feel so much pride looking at our family and what we’ve
overcome, and how we’ve bonded as a result.”
As for Billy, who eventually overcame his PPD,
he’s relishing every beautiful moment with his growing kids. “There’s
no part of being a father that I don’t like,” he says.
Related:
Dads Get Sad Too: Depressive Symptoms and Associated Factors in Expectant First-Time Fathers
Da Costa etal. (2015). Retrieved from: http://jmh.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/09/16/1557988315606963.abstract
This cross-sectional study aims to determine the prevalence and
determinants of depressive symptoms in first-time expectant
fathers during their partner’s third trimester of
pregnancy. As part of a prospective study examining depressive symptoms
in men over the first postnatal year, 622 men (mean
age = 34.3 years, ±5.0 years) completed standardized online self-report
questionnaires measuring depressed mood, physical
activity, sleep quality, social support, marital adjustment, life
events,
financial stress, and demographics during their
partner’s third trimester of pregnancy. The Edinburgh Depression Scale
was
used to assess depressed mood. Partners also
completed the Edinburgh Depression Scale in the third trimester. The
results
revealed that 13.3% of expectant fathers exhibited
elevated levels of depressive symptoms during their partner’s third
trimester
of pregnancy. Significant independent factors
associated with antenatal depressive symptoms in men were poorer sleep
quality,
family history of psychological difficulties, lower
perceived social support, poorer marital satisfaction, more stressful
life events in the preceding 6 months, greater
number of financial stressors, and elevated maternal antenatal
depressive symptoms.
These findings highlight the importance of
including fathers in the screening and early prevention efforts
targeting depression
during the transition to parenthood, which to date
have largely focused only on women. Strategies to promote better sleep,
manage stress, and mobilize social support may be
important areas to address in interventions tailored to new fathers at
risk
for depression during the transition to parenthood.
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