Why Do New Dads Suffer From Postpartum Depression?

Mainstream Mental Health Radio

Dr. Carly Snyder is an attending physician on staff in the Department of Psychiatry at Beth Israel Medical Center. She also holds a teaching appointment at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and is an assistant attending with a teaching appointment at Weill-Cornell in the Payne Whitney Women’s Program. Dr. Snyder is on the Postpartum Support International (PSI) Board of Directors as the Research Chair. PSI is the leading national organization providing awareness, prevention, resources and treatment of mental illnesses related to childbearing. She frequently speaks to various audiences, such as ‘The Pregnant New Yorker,’ and at professional conferences and meetings. Dr. Snyder is also a member of the Women’s Mental Health Consortium. Dr. Snyder is the Director of Women’s Health for Family WEBSITE: https://www.carlysnydermd.com TOPIC: Study Reveals Why New Dads Suffer From Postpartum Depression It has to do with hormones. It may sound like a stretch to cite hormones as the reason men suffer from postpartum depression, but a new study in the journal Hormones and Behavior does just that. Researchers found that new dads may experience postpartum depression after the birth of their child due to hormonal shifts in testosterone levels. Their results found that men who saw a drop in testosterone levels after their kid’s birth were far more likely to be depressed. Previous studies have confirmed that testosterone in men and even in animals plummets upon the birth of a child to prepare the male for fatherhood.