Postpartum Depression in Fathers

Postpartum depression may also affect fathers.

In the New York Times (12/8, D6) "Mind" column, psychiatrist Richard A. Friedman, MD, writes that about "10 percent" of women "plummet into severe postpartum depression" after giving birth. Now, "it turns out that men can also have postpartum depression." But, although a study conducted by psychiatrist Paul G. Ramchandani, of the UK's Oxford University, found that "four percent of fathers had clinically significant depressive symptoms within eight weeks of the birth of their children," postpartum depression in fathers "isn't something most people, including physicians, have ever heard of." Notably, "the strongest predictor of paternal postpartum depression is having a depressed partner," with "fathers whose partners were also depressed" having "nearly two and a half times the normal risk for depression."

Citation: AMA