Paternal perinatal depression: cases.

Abstract

For many years there has been a debate among psychiatrists as to whether and how the patient's gender modifies the psychopathological picture of depression. Despite many years of research on trigger mechanisms, clinical features and the consequences of perinatal depression in women, one can still get the impression that too little is known about this mental disorder in the perinatal period in women. As for men, there are only few reports showing the consequences of paternal depression for the physical and emotional development of a newborn child. The article describes several cases of male patients who struggled with symptoms of depression in the perinatal period of their partners. In all stories one can find a cause-and-effect relationship between the episode of depression and the perinatal period. In spite of similar life circumstances and traits characteristic of depression in men, many differences in the course of the illness were also observed. Each of the patients required pharmacological treatment. Depending on the clinical and life situation, parallel psychotherapy was recommended, and in one case 24-hour hospitalization. In one of the men, an important trigger factor was the episode of postpartum depression in the partner. In the depressive state, all three men had to temporarily give up their care role in relation to their partner and then the child. Applied comprehensive treatment in all three fathers brought symptomatic and functional remission. Good mental health translated into a good adaptation to care for a little child and satisfaction as a father. The article presents perinatal depression in fathers as a real clinical problem that requires further in-depth research.