Expectant Fathers

The prospect of parenthood can disable a man more thoroughly than it does his wife--particularly if he is unstable to begin with. If he is in the armed forces, it can knock him out of the order of battle as mercilessly as an enemy bullet. These are the conclusions (reported in the Armed Forces Medical Journal) that Psychiatrist James L. Curtis reached after studying fathers at New York's Mitchel Air Force Base.

The Gate for Eight. Dr. Curtis saw 31 expectant fathers with emotional problems, sent to him by the medics handling sick call. Most of the fathers were anticipating a first child, but some were up to their third or fourth or more. He separated the men into Group A, with 17 cases whose problems he rated as serious (seven of the men were unmarried), and Group B, with 14 men whose difficulties were similar in kind but minor in degree. In addition, he compared these groups with 24 expectant fathers who were not referred to him and were supposedly normal--though it turned out that they, too, had their problems.

No fewer than nine of the 17 men in Group A had histories of acting out their aggressive urges at the drop of a hat. Five others had disorders resembling schizophrenia. Fifteen had an attitude of rejection toward the expected child. The emotional symptoms that developed in this group were either severely neurotic or borderline psychotic; 15 became so anxious and irritable that their usefulness to the Air Force was impaired; and eight were depressed--two of them so severely that they attempted suicide. There were some signs of accident proneness, stomach upsets and hypochondria. All but one of the 17 men showed reduced efficiency; eight took to drinking heavily. Others became insubordinate, and six went over the hill. Ultimately three were court-martialed, and no fewer than eight were let out on administrative discharges. One man, shotgunned into marriage, had to be discharged because he developed a severe case of ulcerative colitis.

Eating for Two. Group B contained a higher proportion of sensitive souls who got into the spirit of things so completely with the little woman that eight of the 14 had stomach upsets suggesting "morning sickness." Some lost their appetites, but several began "eating for two" (one pilot had to be grounded because he gained 50-pounds). Alternating diarrhea and constipation were common. So were dizziness and headaches. Some ulcer "symptoms" seemed just like the real thing.

Surprisingly, some of the "normal" men in Group C behaved much the same way: several got morning sickness (though fewer headaches and less dizziness), and two became accident prone and three took to drink. What bothered Psychiatrist Curtis as much as anything was that physicians who referred airmen to him from sick call seemed to have no idea that expectant fatherhood could be disturbing. The military, he concludes, might well find out how many accidents or self-inflicted injuries it causes.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.