Suicide rates among new fathers with postpartum depression run roughly seven times higher than among mothers with the condition, according to research led by Swansea University — a figure now pushing governments and health systems to act on a condition most fathers have never heard of.
Paternal postpartum depression (PPD) affects an estimated 8.4 per cent of new fathers, compared with 13 per cent of new mothers, and the two are closely correlated. Despite similar mental health triggers — disrupted sleep, identity upheaval, stress and exposure to birth trauma — fathers have historically received little clinical attention. No routine screening exists for fathers in most countries.
Mat Lewis-Carter, a 37-year-old personal trainer and men’s health influencer based in London, went a full year without a name for what he was experiencing after his daughter arrived in July 2021. He ran long distances to escape the house, suppressed his distress to avoid burdening his partner, and began having thoughts of suicide — the first time in his life he had done so. He only encountered the term “paternal PPD” by accident, buried on page three or four of a Google search. He was among the 40 per cent of people who had never heard the condition existed in fathers.
A system built around mothers
Mental health screening for new mothers has been standard practice in Australia for 15 years and for roughly a decade in both the US and UK. No equivalent exists for fathers in most nations. According to freedom of information requests filed by Ellis-Davies and colleagues between 2019 and 2020, only 20 per cent of NHS England trusts hold specialist resources for paternal perinatal mental health.
An Australian government report published last year found just over a third of first-time fathers face barriers accessing health services, including physician shortages and extended wait times. The 2022 World Health Organization perinatal health guide noted that partners of those who have given birth often feel they have no right to seek support.
No clinician asked Lewis-Carter how he was doing after his daughter was born. “Because everything was happening physically to [Chess]… I felt I wasn’t in a position to come forward and talk about how I was feeling,” he says.
Research catching up
A cluster of studies published over the past two years has shifted the conversation, the announcement says. Ishrat Husain, director for mental health at Canada’s University Health Network, says researchers have only recently documented the full scale of fathers’ suffering and their lack of institutional support.
Paternal mental health carries consequences beyond the individual. Research has linked fathers’ psychological wellbeing to children’s social-emotional development, broadening the clinical case for intervention.
Richard Fletcher at the University of Newcastle in Australia, who has studied fathers’ mental health for over 20 years, says political recognition is growing. “Politicians are saying, this is serious, fathers’ mental health,” he notes.
Screening pilots and targeted interventions are now in development across several countries. Whether they reach fathers at the speed the mortality data demands is a separate question.
Photo by Joshua Taylor on Unsplash
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