O Comportamento Parental de Companheiros de Mulheres com Depressão Pós-Parto

Abstract

Recent research concerning post-partum depression (PPD) seems to conclude that the partner’s support has a very favorable impact in the way the new mother adapts to mothering. Our objective was to investigate how fathers experience the PPD of their partners and its influence on the couple behavior and on the relationship with the baby. We used the Ground Theory to investigate seven (7) post-partum depressed cases. Five fathers, six mothers and two pediatricians participated in the study. We concluded that the partners of post-partum depressed women refer some “perplexity” when facing this unexpected situation, which seems to “reactivate previous experiences and conflicts”, namely the precocious relationships with their own mothers and other significant ones. The “expectation towards the partner” determines in some cases the rising of “resenting feelings” and in other cases “comprehending feeling”, which leads them to help their wives throughout this difficult period in their lives. Despite the different postures adopted by the fathers, all of them wind up “assuming a maternal role” in an attempt to compensate the internal indisposition of the mothers