Paternal PPD,Catatonia, ECT: New Case Report From Spain

Out on PubMed, from authors in Spain, is this case report: 

Catatonic postpartum paternal depression as a first debut of a bipolar disorder: a case report.

de Juan O, Mas A, Giménez-Palomo A, Gil-Badenes J, Ilzarbe L, Colomer L, Andreu H, Bueno L, Olivier L, Estévez B, Fernández-Plaza T, Tardón-Senabre L, Arbelo N, Valentí M, Gomes da Costa S, Pujol-Fontrodona G, Vieta E, Pacchiarotti I.Int Clin Psychopharmacol. 2023 Sep 20. doi: 10.1097/YIC.0000000000000480. Online ahead of print.PMID: 37729655

The abstract is copied below:

Paternal postpartum depression (PD) is considered an affective disorder that affects fathers during the months following childbirth. Interestingly, it has been observed that during these months the chances of a male parent suffering from depression are double that for a non-parent male counterpart. We present the case of a 34-year-old man with no relevant medical history in who, overlapping her daughter's birth, several depressive symptoms emerged, such as fatigue, lack of concentration, sleeping disturbances and abandonment of care of the newborn. Prior to consultation, patient refused to eat and open his eyes, and his speech became progressively more parsimonious until reaching mutism. The patient was diagnosed with a severe depressive disorder with catatonia. Given the lack of improvement with pharmacological treatment and due to the evidence of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)'s effectiveness on patients with catatonia, acute ECT treatment was indicated and started. It should be noted that PD is an important entity to consider in our differential diagnosis of young parents who present a depressive episode. Few cases of relatively young patients presenting with such clinical presentation have been described and, although this case presents some of the characteristics described in the epidemiology of PD, other clinical aspects are not typical of this entity. Informed consent was obtained from the patient for the purpose of publication.

The report is here.

And from the text:

Here is a very interesting case report from clinicians in Barcelona, Spain (the EFFECT meeting will be there on Saturday, October 7).

The paternal aspect of PPD is often neglected, so this makes for an unusual read. The patient responded quickly, after 3 ECT; the team continued a long course of ECT; it is hard to know if this was necessary... The anesthesia med should read "succinylcholine," not "acetylcholine."

Kudos to our Spanish colleagues for this novel contribution to the ECT/catatonia literature.