Understanding Male Post-Partum Depression

We've all heard that women can become depressed after the birth of a child. But they may not be the only members of the family who have postpartum emotional difficulties. Every day in the United States, more than 1,000 men become depressed after the arrival of a new baby. In fact, says Dr. Will Courtenay, a psychotherapist based in Berkeley, Calif., who specializes in helping men with postpartum depression and runs the Web site SadDaddy.com, some studies show that the number may be as high as 3,000 per day, meaning that as many as one in four new dads could experience this problem—roughly the same as the percentage of women affected. Courtenay spoke to NEWSWEEK's Christina Gillham about the causes of postpartum depression in men, how to spot the signs and what to do about it. Excerpts:

NEWSWEEK: What kinds of men are most susceptible to postpartum depression?
Will Courtenay: Men who have a history of depression, or a man who has a rocky relationship with his partner or who is experiencing stress about becoming a father. Also, having a lack of support from others or economic problems can make a man more susceptible. It's likely that sleep deprivation also plays a major role in triggering men's depression. The thing that best predicts whether a man will become depressed, however, is whether his partner is depressed. Half of all men whose partners have postpartum depression are depressed themselves. Finally, men's hormones change, too, both during pregnancy and early in the postpartum period. Our testosterone levels go down, and our estrogen levels go up.

Why is that?
We don't know why, exactly. It depends who you ask. If you ask an evolutionary biologist, they'd say it's part of nature's way of keeping men around the home and the baby after the baby's born so they don't go running off.

You mentioned economic concerns. Is that because there's pressure on men to support the child financially?
Certainly some men still see their role as a primary breadwinner. And the economic concerns of raising a family certainly can contribute to men's anxiety, and that anxiety can then contribute to depression, but we don't have any good data on that. Any kind of stress, like economic stress, in combination with these other possible risk factors, can contribute to this development of depression.

What are the signs of postpartum depression in men? Are they different than they are in women?
When we think of a depressed person, we usually picture someone who's sad and crying. But if we picture instead a guy who's working 60 hours a week, is a little short-tempered, drinks a couple of beers at lunch, slips out of the office to have an affair, then speeds home to his wife, that's not what we picture when we think of depression, but those are some of the signs of men's depression, which can often look different.

Having an affair is a sign of depression?
Increased impulsiveness—whether it's having an affair, gambling, going on spending sprees or suddenly deciding to go off on a two-week backpacking trip with his best buddy—those kinds of impulsive decisions are one of the ways that men deal with depression. But that's not to say that we don't also see the classic signs of depression, which can include a sad mood, a loss of pleasure in hobbies or sex, a sense of worthlessness and thoughts of suicide. But we do have to remember that men are more likely than women to try and hide depression. So it's really important to look out for any sign of anything unusual.