Thaindian News

May 19 (THAINDIAN NEWS) In recent years, it has become common knowledge that women experience what is know as ‘Post Partum Depression’ after having a baby. A recently discovered fact may surprise many people however, that the father can experience this debilitating condition as well.

In a study done at the Eastern Virginia Medical School in which James Paulson analyzed the data that had been collected from watching 28,004 men in 43 different studies, in order to determine if men did in fact get post partum depression. The results were quite surprising.

Of those fathers who were tested, about 10 percent of them experienced depression during the first three months of their wives pregnancy, and within the first year after their wives gave birth. This is in comparison to the 4.8 percent of other men who show signs of depression.

The men were the most likely to experience depression during the first three to six months after the baby was born, with a result of 25.6 percent. Men in the United States are also about 6 percent more likely to get depressed than those in other countries, with 14.1 percent of American men having depression and only 8.2 percent of men in other countries having the disease.

According to the researchers, this means more attention needs to be given to the possibility of a man having post partum depression. It has been proven that a father being depressed can have seriously adverse effects on the child’s emotional, developmental, and behavioral health.