A study reveals that an astonishing number of fathers – 13% – experience depressive symptoms during their partner’s pregnancy. Astonishing because I had imagined it would be considerably higher.
Very little research has been done on male reactions to pregnancy and childbirth. Instead we live with a lot of inbuilt assumptions – that the man will be as blissful and anticipatory as the mother expects herself to be, and that when the big day comes his life, like hers, will be transformed, not without difficulty but unquestionably for the better.
Time for a reality check. Becoming a first-time father is many things – terrifying, joyful, nerve-racking, exciting – but unconflicted it is not. Although most men eventually come to savour the fantasy of being a father, they also dimly anticipate the reality – and for a father, childbirth is the bonfire of the vanities.
[For more of this story, written by Tim Lott, go to http://www.theguardian.com/lif...sion-affects-men-too]
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