(Logan Mahan/ Inside Hook) — Recent research has found anxiety in new fathers is appreciably more prevalent than what is commonly being reported. A 2020 study published in The Journal of Psychosomatic Obstetrics & Gynecology by researchers from the University of Colorado found anxiety in men during the perinatal period (which includes pregnancy through the first year of postpartum) was 11% — a percentage drastically higher than prior reports, which found anxiety during this period in men was under 4%.
This new research even puts anxiety rates among new fathers considerably higher than the global World Health Organization regional prevalence rates.
“It’s a real problem, frankly, that we’re not talking about it,” Erin O’Callaghan, a licensed psychologist and director of therapy at Brightside, a telehealth service with a primary focus on anxiety and depression, tells InsideHook. (…)