1 - Psiquiatria da Infância e Adolescência, Área da Mulher, Criança e Adolescente, Hospital Dona Estefânia, Centro Hospitalar Universitário de Lisboa Central, Lisboa.
- Reunião internacional: póster apresentado no 19th WPA World Congress of Psychiatry, Lisboa.
Introdução: It’s undeniable that father has a fundamental role on their children’s cognitive and emotional development. In the last years, most studies focus mostly on the effects of the maternal depression on the children’s well being. However, just like the mothers, fathers are exposed to several stress inducing biopsychosocial factors that can lead to depressive symptoms, having a negative impact in the whole family.
Objetivos: Understanding the impact of paternal depression on children development.
Métodos: Non-systematic review through the research in Pubmed and Medscape using as keywords: "paternal depression", "children of depressed fathers" and "approach on paternal depression".
Resultados: Evidence suggests that paternal depression has a deleterious effect on parental behaviors, leading to the father having a lesser emotional availability to stimulate their children. Consequently, children of fathers with an history of depressive symptoms have worse outcomes on social, behavioral and emotional levels, affecting mostly the male gender. Studies defend that there’s even a greater chance of depressive symptoms in their adolescence.
Conclusões: These results indicate that paternal depression has a significative impact in the child’s future, comparable with maternal depression. Consequently, an early intervention to identify and answer the fathers’ needs is crucial. This way, there should be done further research in this area.
Palavras Chave: approach, consequences, depressed father, development, paternal depression