I think the problem is some men will use this term loosely to get attention/sympathy because they are no longer the centre of attention, and bearing extra responsbilities. Which then demeans those that are really struggling be they man or woman.
That makes me cross too

I wish they could

Well if they did we would never hear the end of it

Seriously, I don't have a downer on men at all but if they don't want ladies in some of their clubs and organisations (fine by me, and nothing wrong with that) then they shouldn't muscle in on women only conditions!

I like your thinking. Yes men can get DEPRESSION all sorts of depression. I have a close male family member who suffered terribly from it for years and is only 'managing it' now.

But it isn't PND which is known to be caused by hormonal imbalance after giving birth. And saying that MEN as well as women who've given birth can suffer from it - to me - trivialises the terrible condition that women can suffer from.

I have also heard they get morning sickness. Sympathetic and like Tang said labour pains. Well if they did truly get either they would only be having the one.

I imagine a significant other with suicidal PND, a baby keeping you up all hours is probably not conducive to feeling a-ok. But no men cn't get PND!

I was reading something the other day though, about why male suicide rates are so much higher, and it made some interesting points including that men are usually frowned upon etc when made to talk about their feelings, just the other day i saw someone tweet about how footballers who cry on the pitch should get banned for three games.

i've had things go wrong for other people and i've had to help pick up the pieces that have made me feel terrible, but as a girl i think it's more acceptable to get how I'm feeling off my chest. if that makes sense.

Your OH is perfectly correct Bitkin. Husbands and Fathers should definitely "man up" and support their partners and mothers of their children in every way possible. PND is exclusively the preserve of their wives/partners and there are far too many excuses bandied about by new fathers about how hard it is on them etc. etc. The trouble being that their noses have been put out of joint by the arrival of this precious bundle of life and they cannot have evrything/everybody dancing to their tune as now there is someone more dependant on support than they are. Jealousy, frustration, annoyance and plain bloody-mindedness are all that's wrong with them' they should grow up and shoulder some of the responsibility, rather than trying to find excuses in the form of imagined PND. Rant over! If you don't want to feed them' or you don't need them, then don't breed them. Bye fer now.

Oh Gordon, as always you make me smile You do sound just like my husband at times.

Sorry folks

PND is a condition and before I start, I'm not talking about the 'baby blues'.

PND is not the preserve of the female.

First off we need to separate the PN from the D

D = depression

Depression is an illness and it's something you either suffer from or you don't.

If you suffer from depression it's a huge battle. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks of the year you are just trying to keep everything in harmony. Even when you're nodding off you're praying that when you wake up the big dark cloud isn't making you feel sick in the morning.

Any change to your life can be like a million ton rock landing on you. Even the slightest change. You spend days, weeks, months, years, convincing yourself that everything is OK.

That's depression - you're lucky or you're not.

PN = Postnatal

Baby comes along.

That's just a trigger regardless of gender.

It's hard to be a new dad, but no I absolutely wouldn't call it PD. For a woman you have a new little creature dependent on you, your hormones are going apecrap, even with the easiest delivery your body has taken a beating to some degree, you probably are sleep deprived on top of everything. Unless a man figures out how to give birth they cannot suffer post partum depression...