Die psychische Gesundheit von Vätern verschlechtert sich lange nach der Geburt des Kindes. Väter erhalten während der Schwangerschaft ihrer Partnerin und in den Monaten nach der Geburt seltener eine psychiatrische Diagnose. Laut einer Studie mit 1 Million schwedischen Vätern nehmen die Diagnosen von Depressionen und stressbedingten Störungen jedoch ein Jahr später zu.

Fathers’ mental health deteriorates long after the birth of their child

Fathers in Sweden are less likely to receive a psychiatric diagnosis during their partner’s pregnancy and in the months following the birth of their child. However, diagnoses of depression and stress-related disorders increase a year later, according to a new study published in JAMA Network Open by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and Sichuan University in China.

“The transition to fatherhood often involves both positive experiences and a range of new stresses,” says Jing Zhou, doctoral student at the Institute of Environmental Medicine (IMM), Karolinska Institutet, and co-first author of the paper. “Many cherish the intimate moments with their child, whilst at the same time the relationship with their partner may be affected and sleep quality may deteriorate, which can contribute to an increased risk of mental ill-health.”

The study covers over a million fathers whose children were born in Sweden between 2003 and 2021. By linking various national registers, the researchers have been able to track how often men received a new psychiatric diagnosis from one year before their partner’s pregnancy until their child turned one.

For those interested, here’s the link to the peer reviewed journal article:

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2846841

As a woman who has given birth and had many pregnancies, I feel like the moment I wasn’t pregnant anymore, any consideration for me went out the window, medically and emotionally. I can only imagine how much the father (or non-carrying partner) gets left in the dust.

We don’t care for parents at all in childrearing, and less so for the one not required for life. Our mindset and culture around raising families really needs to be reevaluated and changed.

No one cared about me when my kids mother was pregnant. I felt mistreated at the time and I was being offensive if I even mentioned it. After, it’s basically the same. It’s like I’m not allowed to feel, just allowed to endure.

I meant makes sense it would come further down the track.  The biological impact earlier on is much lower and there’s no hormonal aspects similar to pregnancy.  Sleep deprivation, overtime etc take time to have an impact.

So it’s less noticeable as it’s more going to be the classic slow creep ‘frog in boiling water’ situation with less of a clearcut point of crossing over into a mental health diagnosis.