Ep. 20 - Becoming Dad: The Catalyst to Mental Health with Dr. Matt Dinh, PharmD
For Father's Day and Men's Mental Health Month, we wanted to get another AAPI dad on the show to talk about their experience in fatherhood in relationship to mental health.
Joining us for this episode is Dr. Matt Dinh, PharmD, who is a Vietnamese American father of two and a pharmacist by trade. Matt talks to us about how his wife did not experience any postpartum mental health disorders, but he himself started experiencing some mild depression when his eldest child was in some challenging toddler years.
When some of these feelings of self-doubt and questions about his worth started affecting the relationships with people that he loved, Matt realized he needed to look for help. We talk about Matt's experience with therapy and what things have helped him improve his mental health over time. Matt tells us how by sharing his experience, no matter how brief, he was also able to inspire other family members to potentially look into therapy too.
It's likely underreported, but 1 in 10 dads actually can experience postpartum depression too. We discuss how entering fatherhood really was the catalyst for Matt to truly see the importance of addressing mental health. In AAPI communities, mental health is already a hard enough topic to bring up, but especially for AAPI males and dads, being able to admit needing help seems to be even more difficult.
It also seems this generation of AAPI males and dads are starting to take charge of their mental health more. Matt's conversation goes over how parenting forces everyone to start looking closely at themselves and how we want and need to show up for our kids. We hope that this episode helps others see that men also are affected during the postpartum period and perhaps start conversations for others to check in with their dad friends and offer support too.
Find Matt at Instagram: @maddenstyles
Resources:
Free PSI Dad Support Group: https://www.postpartum.net/group/dad-support-group/
Note: The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed are the speakers' own. This podcast is not a replacement for therapy or professional/medical advice. If you need more support or advice, please reach out to your own medical professional who can answer your questions with your individual medical history and background in context.
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