As per the gurus, the ones in the white suits and clipoards, PND does not exist. For those who are unfamiliar with PND, it simply means POSTNATAL DEPRESSION, or for dads it will be PPND (Paternal Postnatal Depression).

I don’t know much about the subject, so I turned to our greatest source of knowledge. The web just confirmed exactly what I was thinking and what I have been saying all along. It also does warn about self diagnosis and scaring yourself to death, unless you are a qualified psychiatrist, shrink, head doctor or quack etc. My point is that dads suffer from postnatal depression as much as new mothers do and it can last anything from 6 weeks to 6 months. Scary huh?

I want to bring light to this subject because I have this very strange confident feeling that I am suffer from “paternal” PND. Ignoring the small print for a minute that says self diagnosis is not recommended and medical help should be sought, I DO NOT think I need to seek out advice… Oh I know I suffer from it! The other thing I know, is that dads, unlike moms, hate doctors and will avoid things until the last moment.

As in the case of women, they regularly schedule checkups with their gynecologist and/or obstetrician, where issues such as PND are detected early and dealt with accordingly. Dad’s unfortunately do not have an Obstetricians. Wikipedia states that Obstetrics – derives from the Latin word OBSTARE, meaning to “stand by”.

Who “stands by” for Dad’s after baby is born? Pretty much him and himself, unless there is someone he really has to confide in. I don’t have this luxury so I just press on and bite the bullet and yes, probably making things worst on myself and being naturally stubborn doesn’t help. Oh, and I am sure that PRIDE, also adds to it all.


What makes matters worst is that I have been silently suffering from depression anyway, but those events are too personal to discuss so we will leave it there BUT, I am merely adding fuel to the fire by the suspicion of suffering from paternal PND.
Am I going to see a doctor? The answer is NO because, if I didn’t previously, I am not going to now am I now?

I can only laugh because I said YES to almost every symptom that they listed. Lack of sleep, mood swings, anger and irritation, detached from family and friends, cancelling activities… and I have gone through all of them this past two weeks including the violent migraine attacks.

I really do not want sympathy, seriously tho, I merely want to make it clear to moms and dads that there are underlying issues that shouldn’t because it can ruin relationships if not addressed. I wish someone warned me before that PND isn’t taboo and new dads silently suffer and puts up a brave face, trying to keep his mind and his pride intact.