Dads get PND apparently

The immense change that having a baby brings about can trigger depression in new fathers, as well as mothers. Yes, women experience the hormonal changes associated with giving birth, but there are a number of studies which suggest that fathers experience smaller, albeit significant hormonal changes too when their child is born. Given that OED defines post-natal as 'Relating to or denoting the period after childbirth', I don't have a problem with describing what men experience as post natal depression. Call it Male PND if you wish. The fact is that such a life changing event can trigger depression in men, and depression does kill. So rather than quibbling about the semantics, I think for the sake of all families, fathers, mothers, and children, we should maybe focus more on making sure that anyone who experiences depression after the birth of a child is able to seek help, and not face stigma.

Men can get reactive depression/anxiety due to a new child triggering experiences from their own childhood, but I strongly disagree with the assertion that it is "PND".

Sorry should read poor mental health.

My DH couldn't cope for a little while after DS came along.

I get the issue with the name, but, it is good to recognise men can experience poor mental, at the time of becoming a father.

Calling it PND is perhaps not right but I don’t see the need to ridicule men for having a mental health issue. As a PP said having a baby is a huge upheaval and feeling overwhelmed and depressed by that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s a shit dad. Anything that encourages men to open up about their feelings and struggles is a positive imo, it’s the patriarchy that tells them to “man up” in the first place

Doctors can only formally diagnose you with a perinatal mental health problem if you are pregnant or have given birth to a child in the past year.
The NCT and the NHS describe Postnatal Depression and Perinatal MH issues as being experienced by women that have given birth. The enormous impact on the female body of creating a new human being (and then popping it out and keeping it alive) should never be underestimated.

Partners can experience MH conditions but they are not PND and therefore driven by a specific physical/hormonal cause and it is wrong and confusing to call it that. It is not about men's feeling not being as important - men's MH is equally important - but it is not helpful in so many ways to ascribe a female only condition to men.

I’m glad I’m not the only one fuming 😤 fucking Beeb!
I wanted to slap those men into next month. ‘I don’t know who I am anymore.’ ‘Not getting the attention.’ I read that as how the mother should feel. I had very little sympathy for them, especially the guy who was on his fourth dc 🤦🏼‍♀️ He needed a biology lesson or the snip.

I work with couples who are new parents and although it's not as common some men do suffer depression after their baby arrives. PND is not only hormonal it can be a grieving process due to the massive life change and men have that too. Maybe we need a different name for it. I have also known lots of men with trauma from a bad birth. There is a lot of awful birth experience out there these days with long term fall out for both parents. A massive feminist issue that not enough is being said about.

My DP had a huge mental health crisis shortly after our DS was born. It was absolutely triggered by becoming a father and the things it brought up for him about his own childhood (which was fairly horrific).

He would never refer to this as him having PND. He didn't grow and birth a baby and have the huge physical, mental and hormonal changes that I did. He knows it was all to do with becoming a father but he doesn't try and claim it was PND.

It's just insulting.

I agree calling it PND or perinatal depression is a step too far, I do think that men's mental health should be taken seriously and why wouldn't a time of immense change, such as pregnancy and a newborn, be a catalyst for a new dad?

That's not excusing the shit dads, the ones who will use any excuse to avoid responsibility, remember there are decent men who suffer in silence because of attitudes like the ones shown here.

Unbelievable, isn't it?

It's more a case of men can't handle no longer being the centre of attention... my wife/partner is more interested in the baby than she is in me... I'm not getting sex on demand... she's tired and looks like shit... she's put on weight... I am being expected to step up and take responsibility... she's expecting me to actually help with looking after the baby...

Men like this can just FUCK OFF.

My ex claimed he had PND. Funnily enough it was an excuse for him to do nothing all day, not help out with the baby at all, but he was still fine to go out partying every weekend

its exactly reactions like this that discourage men from coming forward with mental health conditions! no they don't experience hormones but that doesn't mean mens feelings are any less important than womens ffs

They could at least give it a different name - as men will not experience the crashing rollercoaster of hormones.
It's not the same!

What he means is he has just discovered that he doesn't really want kids, his life has changed beyond anything he has ever imagined and his wifes tits no longer belong to him.
This apparently is "PND".