‘Baby Blues’ Can Also Attack Men
February 14th, 2011 | Author: Admin
Many women experience depression during pregnancy and after childbirth. But now, a new study found that fathers also often experience depression before and after his wife gave birth.
After childbirth, many women suffer ‘baby blues.” This is a term for an unstable emotional state, the tendency to frequent crying, difficulty concentrating and depression.
Fact noted about one in five women who give birth experience this syndrome. But according to a new study, the situation after the birth of a child, in which more attention devoted to babies and new mothers, making the father had also experienced ‘baby blues.”
Dr. James Paulson, a child psychologist at Eastern Virginia Medical College, recently studied the results of 43 studies on depression experienced by the fathers around the world. Her discovery is very interesting.
“We use a series of statistical techniques and the objective to find literature or reading materials or studies that examine the level of depression in fathers. Ten point four percent of fathers were depressed significantly. For comparison, in the U.S. alone, nearly five percent of men in general experience depression,” said Paulson.
While the normal hormone changes that could affect women’s suffering, experts expect a sudden change in lifestyle after having a baby may trigger depression experienced by the father. The father who is depressed, more likely to behave negatively than their wives, and according to Paulson, long-term studies have shown that depression in fathers can have serious consequences on families and their children.
“If the fathers were depressed, their children at the age of three and a half years tend to have emotional and behavioral problems. In the age of seven, the same children have greater mental health problems,” she added.
And, if someone suffered depression, are often also infected partner.
“Depression in the mother and the father related. We found no positive correlation, clear, consistent and strong enough. So we can say is that depression in fathers and mothers are interconnected, “Paulson added.
Paulson added that the present health care providers should also be noted that depression occurs in the father.
“We, as physicians, need to be realized that postpartum depression is a significant problem in men, and men at high risk of depression as they await the birth of a child and when they have a baby at home,” he explained.
Paulson research results published in the Journal of the American Medical Association
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