Study: Dads also susceptible to postpartum depression

May 18, 2010 by Shawn Douglas
Filed under: News, Pregnancy

A new study has convincingly showed that dads are also prone to suffering prenatal and postpartum depression.

Depression and motherhood have been linked in the past, but are fathers also susceptible to prenatal or postpartum depression? New research out of Eastern Virginia Medical School seems to indicate “yes.”

“Depression affects both parents and both parents should be on the lookout for it,” lead researcher James Paulson said of the results of his team’s research, set to be published in the May 19 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Paulson and his team analyzed the results of 43 medical studies, which represented 28,004 participants and discovered that 10.4 percent of fathers became depressed in the prenatal and postpartum periods. The team also discovered that between three and six months after birth, the numbers jumped to 25.6 percent of fathers becoming depressed.

He also noted that those rates were eerily similar to the rates found in women. “[T]he findings look remarkably like the research documenting the effects of mom’s depression,” Paulson told MSNBC. This has led Paulson and his team to question the old school of thought about prenatal and postpartum depression in women.

“The traditional thinking was postpartum depression among women was related to hormonal changes,” Paulson told National Public Radio. With this new evidence, the issue of what causes the depression takes on a more complex look.

While hormones could play a part in the equation (24 percent of women were found to become depressed at pregnancy and nearly 42 percent between three and six months after birth), the researchers questioned the societal structures in place in the U.S.

“Three months is when family leave runs out [in the U.S.], and I can’t help but wonder if that has something to do with it,” Paulson said. “But there is also a lot going on with the child by that time.”

The researchers noted a marked difference between depression rates of both women and men in the U.S. and other countries. They found that paternal depression rates were 14.1 percent in the U.S. and only 8.2 percent elsewhere around the world.

Paulson stressed that a stronger family approach to this depression should be taken. “Going from being a single person to a parent is a real shock,” he told NPR. “And certainly both parents trying to cope with a big change in life can be stressful.” He suggested that the entire family be looked at as a whole when diagnosing and treating prenatal and postpartum depression.