|
 In the study of almost 4,000 men, about 6 percent had elevated
depression symptoms at some point during their partners' pregnancies
or the nine months after the birth, researchers found.
"I think it’s important for couples to be aware that either of them
can be depressed and they should be seeking help and seeking
support," said the study's lead author Lisa Underwood, who is
affiliated with the University of Auckland.
Underwood and colleagues write in JAMA Psychiatry that 9 percent of
men report depression at some point during their lives. About 3
percent report a depressive episode in the past year.
Pregnancy and childbirth may put men at an increased risk of
depression, they add, though research typically focuses on women,
who are at an increased risk of depression during pregnancy and
after childbirth.
Still, past research also links depressed fathers to emotional and
behavioral problems among children, the researchers write.
For the new study, the team analyzed data collected from the
partners of women who took part in the Growing Up in New Zealand
study and were due to deliver between April 2009 and March 2010.
The researchers conducted in-home interviews with 3,826 fathers
during their female partners' pregnancies. Another round of
interviews were conducted with 3,549 of the fathers about nine
months after their children's birth.
Underwood and her colleagues found that 2.3 percent of fathers had
elevated symptoms of depression while their female partners were
pregnant. During the postnatal period, 4.3 percent of fathers had
elevated depression symptoms after childbirth.
The men's depression symptoms during pregnancy were tied to their
being stressed or in poor health. After childbirth, symptoms were
more likely in men who felt stressed during the pregnancy, or were
no longer in a relationship with the child's mother, men who rated
their health as only fair or poor, those who were unemployed or had
a history of depression.
The researchers can't say whether symptoms of depression cause poor
health and other issues, or vice versa, Underwood told Reuters
Health.
"It definitely points to the fact that we need to be giving couples
more support," she said.
[to top of second column] |
Depression should raise flags about those other health concerns,
said James Paulson, a licensed clinical psychologist and associate
professor at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.
People should also think of depression's influence on the entire
family, said Paulson, who wasn't involved with the new study.
"There are a lot of treatments for this," he told Reuters Health.
"We’ve been dealing with depression for a long time. While we don’t
have tailored treatments for paternal depression, we do have
interventions for depression and those are effective."
Those interventions include medications and psychotherapy such as
cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which can teach people how to
address issues in their life that cause or worsen depression.
"We know that either parent's mental wellbeing impacts on the other,
the relationship and family," Underwood said.
Sometimes people may feel guilty seeking treatments when they just
had a baby come into their lives, Paulson said.
"Consider seeking treatment for yourself as a way to treat the
system that includes your child," he said.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2lcyPCr JAMA Psychiatry, online February 15,
2017.
[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
