Dads can Suffer from PTSD after Traumatic Birth of their Infant

Exposure to life-threatening situations during pregnancy and childbirth can place men at an increased risk of anxiety disorder.

Researchers from Oxford University in the U.K. found that many dads who witnessed traumatic childbirths got caught in the grip of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for many years.

Post-traumatic stress disorder is a severe anxiety disorder caused by exposure to a traumatic event. PTSD patients relive their traumatic experiences through memories, flashbacks or nightmares. They tend to avoid anything that reminds them of the trauma and face problems with concentration, suffer hyper vigilance or insomnia.

Many previous studies have shown that pregnancy and birth-related complications leave severe consequences on both the baby and mother. However, very little is known about the after-effects of the occurrence on fathers.

To examine the outcome of severe conditions in pregnancy - blood clots, placenta previa (placenta grows in the lowest part of the uterus and covers all or part of the cervix, leading to internal bleeding) and pre-eclampsia - on both men and women, professor Marian Knight, Dr. Lisa Hinton and colleagues interviewed 35 women and 11 men.

The consequences were more severe than what was actually thought, and had affected both physical-mental health and family relationships.

"Many of these emergencies happen during labour or immediately after, and involve severe bleeding. The mums are severely ill and need lots of care. And while everyone is running around looking after mum, it can affect dads too," Knight said in a statement. "One mother described very vividly her continuing anxiety problems, while another dad hasn't worked again more than five years after the birth through post-traumatic stress disorder."

Concerned with the findings, researchers urge for the need to spread more awareness about identifying and giving proper care and treatment to fathers.

Similar to the current study, a team of researchers from the Oxford University had earlier studied the impact of post-natal depression on new fathers. They found that, like mothers, dads also develop post-natal depression after birth, and the severe condition compels many fathers to pass on their problems or negativity to their children.