Paternal depression

Paternal depression is a psychological disorder derived from parental depression. Paternal depression affects the mood of men; fathers and caregivers in particular. 'Father' may refer to the biological father, foster parent, social parent, step-parent or simply the carer of the child. This mood disorder exhibits symptoms similar to postpartum depression (PPD) including anxiety, insomnia, irritability, consistent breakdown and crying episodes, and low energy. This may negatively impact family relationships and the upbringing of children. Parents diagnosed with parental depression often experience increased stress and anxiety levels during early pregnancy, labor and postpartum. Those with parental depression may have developed it early on but some are diagnosed later on from when the child is a toddler (1 to 3 years) up until a young adult. The causes of paternal depression are unclear; however, previous experiences of mental disorders and family history can contribute to the development of paternal depression. Other factors including stress overload, sleep deprivation and unhappy relationships with one's partner or children may also affect its prevalence. Although symptoms of feeling down, baby blues and a lack of sleep are common amongst new parents, a diagnosis of depression is appropriate when symptoms are severe and ongoing. Most health literature provides studies and research on maternal depression and women with postnatal depression. However, there is limited information about men and mental illness. Modern society and culture have changed social stigma of men with mental illness due to changes in gender role perspectives.

Signs and symptoms compared to women When comparing the anxiety level of first-time parents, women tend to have higher levels of anxiety. This is applicable to women in the first three trimesters and immediately after birth. Compared to women, men experience greater anxiety levels within the first 3 months of childbirth and develop paternal depression as the children grows older. Although depression can affect individuals in different ways, there are some gender differences between parents. Women tend to have similar depressive symptoms over all three trimesters, however in men, there are significant changes between the 1st and 2nd trimester, but not between the 2nd trimester to 3 months postpartum. Women are also more likely to experience symptoms such as developing an eating disorder, irritability, crying episodes, extreme sadness, bipolar disorder and low energy levels. Men are more likely to experience substance abuse, a higher frequency of irritability, anger attacks and becoming abusive and violent. Men may also partake in risk-taking behaviour such as drunk driving and infidelity. Despite common symptoms of depression being loss of appetite and insomnia, women are more likely to display atypical behaviours such as oversleeping and overeating. Fatal suicide attempts are also more often associated with fathers rather than with mothers.

Causes In general, the causes of maternal and paternal depression are similar. Common causes include having limited emotional and social support, experiencing financial stress, having an unsatisfying relationship with one's partner, finding difficulty adjusting to parenting, unexpected events in child development and personal histories of mental disorders and drug abuse. According to a study conducted in 2005, 65% of males identified with depressive symptoms when the child was 8 weeks old. The causes of paternal depression include stress overload, caring responsively to the children, undertaking multiple family and social roles and a decrease in direct father to child interaction. Fathers of young boys are most vulnerable to paternal depression during the child's early and behavioural development. This is caused by young boys having the tendency to be hyperactive and harder to discipline. This causes the father to be concerned and frustrated. There is a positive correlation between a boy's misbehaviour and depression in fathers.

Prevalence

Men in the U.S. U.S. studies show that 14.1% of men suffer from postpartum depression, while studies outside of the U.S. have indicated that 8.2% of men experience depressive symptoms. The observation of postpartum depression could be categorised into the time blocks of paternal depression: first trimester to 6 months gestational age, >6 months to birth, immediate postpartum to 3 months postpartum, >3 to 6 months postpartum and >6 to 12 months postpartum. During the period of 3 to 6 months postpartum, the highest rate of 25.6% was recorded in men whilst the lowest occurred during the first three months of postpartum at 7.7%. The high levels of depression during the 3 to 6 months postpartum period is also similar amongst women. These results could be explained by the strenuousness of 3 to 6 months newborn care. Fathers' mental health has received less attention than mothers', but in recent decades there has been an increase in attention to father's mental health. A meta-analysis of 43 studies involving 28,004 participants on prenatal and postpartum depression in fathers published in 2010 found that the peak incidence of depression (25.6%) in fathers occurred between 3 and 6 months after the child's birth, though 10.4% of fathers were found to be depressed even prenatally. Cameron et al. (2016) observed an 8.4% depression rate in fathers during pregnancy and the postpartum period in a recent meta-analysis, with a maximum incidence of 13% between 3 and 6 months postpartum. These differences in prevalence could be attributed to the use of different psychometric tools, different assessment methods (self-report measures tend to over-represent while clinical interviews tend to under-represent), gender differences in symptom presentation, cultural biases, for example, conflicting interpretations of depressive symptoms, social acceptance of mental health problems, or divergent expectations regarding paternal infant care responsibilities.

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