4per cent of new dads have post natal depression

[longwayoff]

Says LBC quoting a Stanford University study. Expert currently pointing out that as pnd is female hormone related, its unlikely to be pnd. What does mumsnet think? Personally I have a cynical eyebrow raised.

@User183737 it's not that there is nothing left for women, that's bullshit.
What we are saying is that men need support too!!!! Why is this so hard to comprehend.
Suicide is the biggest killer of men under 45 in the UK. In 2015, 75% of all suicides in the UK in 2015 were male. Let that sink in!!!

Anyone who would roll their eyes at someone admitting they are struggling with mental should be ashamed of themselves

I agree. Particularly a man when it’s well documented males struggle to acknowledge this and ask for help

@Rufustheyawningreindeer have you read this thread?

So you had reactive depression Runningdad you hadn’t physically given birth to a child or had your hormones and body wrecked or dealt with nearly dying or a fourth degree tear that fucked your urinary system up . But you had mental health problems and you got treatment and that isn’t any less important than your wife suffering but that still isn’t post natal depression no matter how much you think it is .

It's great that mental health in men is getting more attention. Young men have huge rates of suicide. Recognising the times at which depression is most likely to occur and providing support is vital. Recognising men's mental health issues can only benefit women not detract from them.

So as well as having my body fucked up beyond recognition , having a high risk pregnancy in which I bled for 3 months and was on bedrest and couldn’t work so lost wages while getting my other children to school and caring for them you are telling me I’ve also to worry my husband might become depressed and want to kill himself so I need to also be aware of his mental health as well as my own ? NOPE

I’d like to see the statistics that show more men kill themselves than women in the post natal period .

Yes blue which is why i am asking the question

I think the vast majority have said that yes men can get depressed

In 158 posts i may have missed the one that said that male depression following the birth of their child does not exist

But i dont know where it is

Of course men can't have post natal anything, how ridiculous. Whether it's hormones or whatever, it's specifically about having given birth. Men don't give birth. I am sick of the whole "we're pregnant" trend.

Pretending men give birth is detracting from women at the most fundamental level.

I think it’s entitely reasonable to call it pnd. As far as I know women presenting with this are not given any hormonal tests to find the reason behind it in their particular circumstances. Why would anyone feel undermined by whether or not someone’s depression is caused by situation or hormones, both are responses over which you have no control. I suffer from birth related ptsd, as does DH there’s a wide range of situations that lead to that. In the birth trauma forums no one has a go about whether someone can have ptsd or not, there’s just an acceptance people need help and support.

@ichifanny
I’ve also to worry my husband might become depressed and want to kill himself so I need to also be aware of his mental health as well as my own ? NOPE

I give up

If you don’t care about your partners menta health then perhaps you shouldn’t be in a relationship with them!

I would always be aware of and concerned for a partners mental health. At any point.

Atcthe same time....Having suffered from severe health problems during both pregnancies that have left permanent damage to several parts of my body and will likely impact my future health and well-being until I die, I would be very uneasy having men in general co-opt PND, or frankly postnatal anything.

This comes at a time where men are attempting to remove women’s rights to their reproductive freedom in the USA, remove women’s right to be protected under the equality act in this country.
These things don’t happen in isolation- this is why women push back against such appropriation. Because it matters.

That stance is not antithetical to also believing that men’s mental health is important and underfunded.

If men can have PND if they experience depression following a major life change, then am I allowed to describe my post-childbirth bladder issues as having symptoms of prostate cancer?

My partners health is of the upmost importance to me but unfortunately when I was psychotic with post birth trauma and depression it wasn’t at the forefront of my mind no .

Men’s health is far better funded than women’s in general , you only have to look at how ‘ women’s problems’ are treated compared to how men receive priority should they suffer genitourinary problems .

ichi I agree. 8 years to average endometriosis diagnosis for example.

Women are dismissed and belittled at all points of interaction with the healthcare systems.

Men do not get PND. They can get reactive depression and that can be severe and require help. But it's not PND and it shouldn’t be labelled as such

Yes if you are a man with erectile dysfunction here’s some viagra , a woman with damaged pelvic floor and mangled vagina , get on with it .

PND is hormonal so it can't be that.

Men’s health is far better funded than women’s in general

It’s so well funded in fact that men die on average five years before women do.

Women have a higher life expectancy for many reasons many that we have no control over .

@Bowlofbabelfish
Sure no problem I'll keep it short so as not to bore people.
My other half found me in tears in the kitchen cutting my arm with a kitchen knife.
My mother was a mental health nurse and she took me to see a doctor and they gave me some help. She had heard of this group through work and got me to go along.
It was a great help and finding out that you weren't alone and could talk to people about it who were feeling the same.
I could write a massive list of things that could be done better or that could happen but I'll be honest I'm not sure they would go down to well here.
Needless to say that if you think about the ante and post natel information and courses you can get or can go on are by and large aimed at women and the birth experience.
As they should be but there is very little for men that should change.

@runingdad
Very true actually didn’t think of it like that. Loved the antenatal course I did and it helped a lot but it did zero to prepare my DH for what he experienced and saw

yep...its still the case that most women diagnosed with 'PND' don't have anything wrong with their hormones. They are depressed for entirely the same reasons that men can get depressed.

So unless you actually reserve 'PND' for the minority of women for whom hormonal problems are driving the problem, then it isn't reasonable to tell men they don;t have PND.

This is in fact exactly what should happen. Women who have serious hormonal imbalances should get this tested and treated and have PND. Women who have PTSD from their birth experience should get diagnosed and treated for PTSD. Men that have PTSD from their experience of seeing their loved one butchered should have it diagnosed as that. Everyone suffering from depression due to suddenly becoming a parent should get treatment for depression.

Bundling all this together is doing a lot of harm to women, and isn't helping men either.

Dad what made you self harm if you dont mind me asking. I am prejudiced here and trying to challenge my views as they are wrong. Because I would have had no sympathy for my partner even having found this, just sighed and wondered why i had another child to look after, why would he not take responsibility etc. I get that isnt nice which is why im trying to understand.
Where for women pnd is down to having given birth etc, was it the birth which directly affected you, or the thought of raising a child etc? Or just underlying depression which was made worse by the pressure?
I agree men need more support. Surestart near me host baby and dad sessions, perhaps something like this antenatally might help?
Feel free to ignore.