Researchers focused on 38 fathers, half of whom were depressed. They were asked to play with and speak to their three-month-old children for three minutes and the face-to-face interaction was recorded.
The results revealed that fathers with depression were more negative about themselves and their infants in their speech, in comparison to fathers who weren’t depressed. Their words also focused more on themselves and their experiences, and less on the infants.
The phrases used by fathers with depression included: “I’m not able to make you smile” and “daddy’s not as good as mummy”.
Dr Vaheshta Sethna, author of the study at Oxford University’s Department of Psychiatry, said: “We found there were differences in the way depressed dads talked to their babies compared to fathers without depression.
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