Paternal Depression - Father's Mental Health Day 2018

Today marks International Father’s Mental Health Day. As such we wanted to talk specifically about the impact that becoming a Father can have. Having a baby is an unquestionably life changing experience for both parents. Research from the NCT has found that more than 1 in 3 new fathers were concerned about their mental health.

Your world changes immeasurably in every way possible when a new little bundle enters the house. The pressure  in those changes can be immense. So what if you can’t feel the feelings that you are “supposed” to feel upon a new arrival? It can be incredibly hard for Mums who struggle with post natal depression to talk about these feelings. But what about Dads? Is there an unsaid pressure to feel okay and carry on as normal despite there being huge changes for them too?

Factors that are hard to cope with for Dads can include:

Sleepless nights
Change in relationship with partner
Work pressures
Extra financial pressures
Meeting expectations
Concern for partner

If you add on top of that witnessing a traumatic birth (in some cases genuinely believing a partner and / or their baby was going to die) or factoring in the loss of a previous baby, it’s not hard to see how things can soon build up with the onset of paternal depression. In this Elle article Mark Williams talks candidly about his own paternal depression and struggle with PTSD following witnessing the traumatic birth of his son:

https://www.elle.com/uk/life-and-culture/culture/longform/a39596/male-post-natal-depression-story/

Whilst women are regularly screened for depression by midwives, health visitors and doctors following a birth, a father is not. With statistics showing that the biggest killer of men under 45 in the UK is suicide, can we do more to keep an eye on and help Fathers? If you suspect a father is having a difficult time, they don’t need to suffer in silence. They are not alone and there are people out there to help (see details below).

New NICE draft guidelines suggest that people who have suffered a traumatic event should be offered CBT within a month to try and help prevent the onset of PTSD. If a family has been through a difficult birth, an early recommendation to see their GP for referral could help enormously.

https://www.nice.org.uk/news/article/therapy-offered-within-one-month-to-prevent-ptsd-says-nice

Help available

The National Childbirth Trust (NCT) has a support page for dads and a shared experiences helpline 0300 330 0700.

The charity Mind can offer help and information by phoning 0300 123 3393 or texting 86463.

The Samaritans offer 24-hour support on 116 123. You can also email The Samaritans in confidence at jo@samaritans.org.

References:

https://www.nct.org.uk/parenting/postnatal-depression-dads
https://www.elle.com/uk/life-and-culture/culture/longform/a39596/male-post-natal-depression-story/
https://www.samaritans.org/about-us/our-research/facts-and-figures-about-suicide
http://www.reachingoutpmh.co.uk/international-fathers-mental-health-day-june-18th-its-time-we-looked-out-for-dad/