Why More Attention Needs to Be Paid to Paternal Mental Health
We know that pregnancy, giving birth and navigating the first few months as a mother can have an immense toll on women’s mental health. In recent times, there has been an increased push to provide resources for new mothers to help address mental health issues such as postpartum depression. Fathers don’t seem to be getting the same kind of support and resources even though they too experience a multitude of emotions and mental health outcomes after their children are born.
Unlike the old days when families had strictly defined gender roles and fathers weren’t as actively involved in their children’s upbringing, plenty of modern fathers are pulling up their sleeves and jumping into the trenches of active and involved fatherhood. More dads are actively involved in parenting of their children, with a survey finding that more than 80% of modern fathers were actively involved in day-to-day parenting activities.
While this shift is a major win for the new generations of fathers, it has also created an issue affecting modern fathers: unaddressed mental health. In the first year of his child’s life, a father’s brain will undergo a variety of changes as the level of stress hormones such as prolactin and vasopressin increases and testosterone levels drop.
On top of the stress of taking care of and providing for a new child, working dads also have to contend with stressors from their workplace. As such, juggling family responsibilities with work and workplace politics can have a negative effect on the mental health of working fathers.
More than 35% of parents reveal that balancing work and family has resulted in negative mental health outcomes. But while mothers are often provided with maternal leave to recover from the birth and take care of their newborns, fathers are often expected to continue working even having a baby, with little or no time off.
According to a report from Boston College Center for Work and Family, more than 90% of working fathers felt that their supervisors didn’t expect any change in their working patterns after they became parents.
However, new fathers often have to wrestle with complex psychological issues such as their relationship with their own fathers as well as handling emotional uncertainty and the impending responsibility of fatherhood, resulting in high levels of stress and anxiety. If they rely solely on their wives for emotional intimacy and support and don’t have enough outside support, their desire for connection may not be fulfilled as parenting claims center stage.
Ensuring fathers have access to mental health resources before and after becoming parents can help them deal with negative postnatal mental health outcomes.
The novel mental health treatments being developed by entities such as Cybin Inc. (NYSE American: CYBN) (NEO: CYBN) may be helpful to those who are found to have been adversely affected by the process of new parenthood.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Cybin Inc. (NEO: CYBN) (NYSE American: CYBN) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/CYBN
Please see full terms of use and disclaimers on the BioMedWire website applicable to all content provided by BMW, wherever published or re-published: http://BMW.fm/Disclaimer
We know that pregnancy, giving birth and navigating the first few months as a mother can have an immense toll on women’s mental health. In recent times, there has been an increased push to provide resources for new mothers to help address mental health issues such as postpartum depression. Fathers don’t seem to be getting the same kind of support and resources even though they too experience a multitude of emotions and mental health outcomes after their children are born.
Unlike the old days when families had strictly defined gender roles and fathers weren’t as actively involved in their children’s upbringing, plenty of modern fathers are pulling up their sleeves and jumping into the trenches of active and involved fatherhood. More dads are actively involved in parenting of their children, with a survey finding that more than 80% of modern fathers were actively involved in day-to-day parenting activities.
While this shift is a major win for the new generations of fathers, it has also created an issue affecting modern fathers: unaddressed mental health. In the first year of his child’s life, a father’s brain will undergo a variety of changes as the level of stress hormones such as prolactin and vasopressin increases and testosterone levels drop.
On top of the stress of taking care of and providing for a new child, working dads also have to contend with stressors from their workplace. As such, juggling family responsibilities with work and workplace politics can have a negative effect on the mental health of working fathers.
More than 35% of parents reveal that balancing work and family has resulted in negative mental health outcomes. But while mothers are often provided with maternal leave to recover from the birth and take care of their newborns, fathers are often expected to continue working even having a baby, with little or no time off.
According to a report from Boston College Center for Work and Family, more than 90% of working fathers felt that their supervisors didn’t expect any change in their working patterns after they became parents.
However, new fathers often have to wrestle with complex psychological issues such as their relationship with their own fathers as well as handling emotional uncertainty and the impending responsibility of fatherhood, resulting in high levels of stress and anxiety. If they rely solely on their wives for emotional intimacy and support and don’t have enough outside support, their desire for connection may not be fulfilled as parenting claims center stage.
Ensuring fathers have access to mental health resources before and after becoming parents can help them deal with negative postnatal mental health outcomes.
The novel mental health treatments being developed by entities such as Cybin Inc. (NYSE American: CYBN) (NEO: CYBN) may be helpful to those who are found to have been adversely affected by the process of new parenthood.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Cybin Inc. (NEO: CYBN) (NYSE American: CYBN) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/CYBN
Please see full terms of use and disclaimers on the BioMedWire website applicable to all content provided by BMW, wherever published or re-published: http://BMW.fm/Disclaimer
