When Dr. Christopher Choukalas first held his newborn twins, the joy he expected simply wasn’t there. He spent his early fatherhood days obsessively controlling nap schedules, struggling with panic attacks, and even darkly imagining ways he might escape his new life. Despite being a successful physician, he couldn't even begin to diagnose what he was going through.
Christopher's experience sheds light on an often-overlooked mental health crisis: paternal postnatal depression. In this episode, we explore how getting help transformed his relationships with his daughters, his wife, his patients, and ultimately, himself.
His memoir is called Even the Darkest Night: A Father's Journey of Hope and Healing from Paternal Depression.
Full transcript is available here at relationscapes.org.
Show Notes
Postpartum Support International's resources for fathers.
Fellow Traveler Episodes
More than the Baby Blues (with Teresa Wong)
The Postpartum Psychosis Prophecies (with Ayana Lage)
About the Guest
Christopher G. Choukalas, MD, MS is author of Even the Darkest Night: A Father's Journey of Hope and Healing from Paternal Depression. He spent twelve years on faculty at the University of California San Francisco as an anesthesiologist, intensive care physician, researcher, academic author, and teacher to hundreds of students, residents, and fellows. He is now a husband and father, living with his wife, Lindsey, and their twin girls, Pia and Isa. He practices as an anesthesiologist in Marin county, California.
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