Postpartum depression is well-known in women who have given birth.  As many as 15 percent of new mothers may experience all the symptoms of major depression in the months following a delivery.  These symptoms can include low mood, low energy, tearfulness, altered sleep patterns, changes in appetite, inability to concentrate, low self-esteem.  They can even include suicidal thinking or bizarre and false beliefs called delusions, which are a form of psychosis. 

Thankfully, awareness of postpartum depression in women has increased dramatically amongst clinicians and the general population. 

What many fewer people realize is that new fathers can fall victim to postpartum depression, too. In my own practice I have seen it happen several times, and research indicates that perhaps 10 percent of men become acutely depressed in the postnatal period.  Their symptoms mimic those of women with the disorder, but they may be even less likely to get help because they believe admitting to their suffering would make them look weak at a time when they want to be seen by others as especially strong.

In the men I have treated, the joys of having a new son or daughter have mingled with complex worries about whether they would be able to support larger families, whether they would lose the affection of their wives and whether they would be equal to the daunting task of being role models for their children.   For some, becoming fathers seemed to bring them uncomfortably in touch with their own mortality, as they contemplated being survived by their offspring.

I have noticed a particular vulnerability to postpartum depression in new fathers who had strained or frankly painful relationships with their own dads.  The recreation of a father-child bond, albeit in a different time and place, with a very new role, can bring a man into unbearably close contact with unresolved conflicts from his own childhood.   “How am I supposed to be a father when I wasn’t fathered at all myself?” one of my patients asked me.

Fortunately, postpartum depression in men responds to the treatments that relieve clinical depression in other settings.  Psychotherapy can be invaluable, as can antidepressant and anti-anxiety medications.  A new technologies, called rTMS (repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation), has also been approved by the FDA. 

Using the tools in our therapeutic armamentarium, psychiatrists can defeat depression in over 90 percent of cases.  That means that recognizing the signs and symptoms of the condition is half the battle. 

So if you know a man struggling with his mood and his energy level weeks or months after his partner gives birth, don’t assume it’s all about staying up with the baby. Share what you now know about postpartum depression:  It doesn’t just affect new mothers.

Dear Yvonne,
My wife has several sex toys, some of which we both enjoy. However, she does have a few in the phallus department that are somewhat large. I am concerned these will stretch her vagina out and her sensitivity to me will diminish. She says she will shrink back to a smaller size. What are your thoughts?
—Jeff

Dear Jeff,
Given that a female’s vaginal canal can stretch to handle a baby, you really don’t have much to worry about. Whether she’s planning to give birth or use a large object when self-pleasuring, a woman can maintain her pelvic musculature and sensitivity by practicing Kegel exercises. Learning to properly flex her pubbococcygeus (PC) muscle, a.k.a. pelvic floor muscles, a woman can have a “fit” vagina, which allows her to better grip phalluses of all sizes for more amazing sensations — for both of you!

Dr. Yvonne Kristín Fulbright is a sex educator, relationship expert, columnist and founder of Sexuality Source Inc. She is the author of several books including, “Touch Me There! A Hands-On Guide to Your Orgasmic Hot Spots.”

The other day I was asked if I expected an increase in the number of babies that I will be delivering in 2009 and I said “Absolutely, I expect an Obama baby boom.”

Now this is a topic that I know a lot about. Pregnancies come in cycles. I mean let’s face it, some pregnancies are accidental, some pregnancies are planned. But the trend has always been that life-changing events tend to bring people together. And you know what happens when we bring people together―nine months later, we have a blessed child.

I don’t know what it is about these life-changing events―maybe fear or euphoria is the most attractive indicator―but nonetheless, as someone who runs a hospital that delivers more than 6,000 babies a year, I have a pretty good idea when we can expect our birth rates to go up.

Now let’s talk about those life-changing events. Politics in and of itself does not make a very sexy scenario to plan a pregnancy. But I can go as far back as 1961 with the election of John F. Kennedy to tell you that following his election cycle, we saw an increase in births. The last four Republican presidents have also seen a spike in the birth rate during their presidencies. So if the trend continues, I do expect president-elect Obama to give us a significant increase in the national birth rate.

However, I think that this Obama baby boom might be more significant than others. The reason? There are two key factors president-elect Obama is bringing to the table that we have not seen on a national level in many years. Number one: Obama has such a positive optimism in some of the changes he has offered, which have resonated in the psyche of many Americans. And two: One of the top priorities on president-elect Obama’s agenda that he would like to try to accomplish in the early phases of his presidency is healthcare reform.

So I hope that president-elect Obama sets his sights on women’s healthcare with a focus on giving women the access to prenatal care that they truly deserve. Yes, this is going to be “change that you can believe in.”

Her parents were told she was stillborn, but less than a day later, a baby girl born in Bombay was heard making gurgling noises at the cemetary where her family had brought her to be buried.

Is it a miracle? Or is it malpractice? The hospital where the infant was birthed has launched an investigation to see if medical staff erred when they pronounced the baby dead.

A woman whose baby was stuck in the birth canal for 13 hours before doctors finally removed by see section has been awarded $20 million in damages.

The woman’s daughter, now age 10, suffers permanent disabilities from the incident.

During my sixteen years practicing psychiatry I have treated dozens of men experiencing major depression after fathering a child.  These men have come to my office with symptoms like low mood, tearfulness, decreased self-esteem, impaired sleep and decreased concentration.  Some have even struggled with suicidal ideation.  It was enough to make me suggest to my publisher a year or so ago that we consider my writing a book on male postpartum depression.

Now, my clinical experiences have been borne out by a scientific study from the Center for Pediatric Research at the Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk.  Dr. James Paulson and his colleagues found that about 10 percent of new fathers displayed symptoms of major depression, far more than the three to five percent of men in the general population who suffer with the condition.

For the men I treated, becoming fathers represented far-ranging changes in their views of themselves.  Many felt ill equipped psychologically or economically or both to be valuable to a child.  For some, the birth of a child had made them dwell on their own fractured relationships with their dads.  For others, becoming a father made them feel as though their sex lives would be forever changed or even non-existent, lost in the translation from coupling to parenting.

More study is needed here, but one thing is clear:  It’s time for family physicians, obstetricians and pediatricians to be aware that post-partum depression affects mothers and fathers.  That means that children can be impacted early on in ways not previously understood or even considered.  The bonding necessary between mother and child has its counterpart in father-child bonding.  When depression interferes, the man isn’t the only one who suffers; so, too, does his son or daughter.

Here’s the good news:  Depression, including the postpartum variety, is highly treatable.  The vast majority of patients recover fully.  So lots of growing families can be helped by finding fathers for whom the joys of parenting are obscured by the shadow of a mental illness once thought to afflict only mothers.  

Watch Dr. Ablow discuss this topic on America’s Newsroom.

Dr. Keith Ablow is a psychiatry correspondent for FOX News Channel. His book, “Living the Truth: Transform Your Life through the Power of Insight and Honesty,” is a New York Times bestseller. Check out Dr. Ablow’s Web site at www.livingthetruth.com.

Artificial human sperm could come to the aid of infertile men, according to a team of scientists who have used lab-grown sperm to inseminate female mice.

Artificial sperm could also make males totally redundant, permitting women to give birth without a biological male mate.

What is your opinion?