Getting Help as a Depressed Dad: A Lived Experience Narrative of Paternal Postnatal Depression, with Considerations for Healthcare Practice

Lived experience is increasingly viewed as an important means of informing mental health practice. In this case, the lived experience narrative comes from a father who experienced postnatal depression (PND). Yet, whilst men are increasingly sharing their experiences of PND in the public sphere, there have been limited advances in their quality of care and support during the perinatal period. Services for perinatal mental health problems are targeted towards mothers, with fathers not traditionally being seen as experiencing perinatal mental health problems. Despite a recent growth of paternal mental health scholarship, this has not translated into universal practice, although NHS England (2018) have stipulated that, in England, partners (fathers) should be supported if the mother of their child is mentally unwell. This disparity is arguably due to numerous factors, which are discussed here.