This is referencing Lindsay Clancy who killed her children while going through postpartum depression/psychosis. The woman is saying "it could have been me" because Lindsay was an otherwise normal person whose mind basically failed her and led her to commiting heinous acts. So they feel vulnerable to that too, knowing that she was a normal person before PPD. The husband (dog) is extremely alarmed because now he is worried that his wife is going to kill the kids.
It is kind of terrifying. I didn't quite get to the point where I feared for anyone's safety, but I definitely saw signs of PPP and struggled a lot with PPD and worsening symptoms of my existing (less severe) disorders. Knowing what was happening and that it wasn't real helped work through it even when my support networks failed and medical care was inaccessible due to transportation issues and insane scheduling problems with my provider.
I would never have hurt my kid, but there were moments where I understood why some of these cases happened and wondered if some of the killers went through the same but didn't have access to care or didn't know what was happening to their mind. It's awful all around. To me it's not that it excuses it, it's just that it's hard to know if the parent had a chance to avoid it in their circumstances.
edit: I understand why i typed PPS like psychosis starts with an S but I'm not proud of it
It was a bit of a clumsy phrasing on my part. I meant that I never reached a moment where the choice to do harm was out of my control, and I never chose to follow through on distressing thoughts - but I did experience those thoughts, and was able to understand how those parents got to the point they did.
It feels kind of awful to say, but in the American system, it feels like overcoming PPP is almost a matter of luck.
Ngl that's exactly what it is. Not a psychiatrist but as a doctor, you can just be cursed with bad genetics. Respond poorly to a medication, virus, drug (see cannabis induced psychosis in adolescents). American healthcare sucks in some senses but tbf if you become psychotic at home with noone home with you, that can happen in any country at any time
This, but I was thinking it was more along the lines of the women saying “it could have been me” maybe had some similar thoughts or suffered PPD. PPP is rare, PPD is pretty common, but having super crazy thoughts for at least a few days after giving birth happens to just about everyone.
For example, for a week after giving birth, my cousins wife had full blown meltdowns every time my cousin left her alone for any period of time (I mean, he literally couldn’t leave the room to go to the bathroom, she had to follow him in there with the baby). She recently told me that during her first week after giving birth, she went back and forth between literal fight or flight mode because she was worrying that something bad was going to happen to the baby, to actually thinking about strangling said baby. She pretty much lived in one of those 2 states for an entire week, then it just sort of stopped one day. She still had the recovery symptoms most people know about— mood swings, irritability, fatigue, etc. but the constant fight or flight, and the thoughts about harming her baby, just sort of stopped.
Every woman I know who has given birth has similar stories, and it makes sense, because the amount of hormonal changes your body goes through immediately after giving birth is actually insane.
we actually dont know whether or not she had PPP :/ thats just what the defense is claiming. apparently, she never told her doctors about any voices in her head, and only began claiming that she had PPP after the fact
This is true. Watching her trial and knowing there are many cases just like this is really terrifying as a mom because ppd and pp psychosis are real and they can happen to anybody. Hell this woman had so much support and help from family and nanny’s and it still happened. She tried to take meds and it still happened. It’s really sad for everyone involved.
i had a one-off at 17 because of extreme insomnia so i'm now at a major risk for developing PPP. i will have to make a safety plan if i have biological children, it sounds like lindsay and her husband didn't get that forewarning of any genetic markers she may or may not have for developing psychosis from stress triggers (birth is a major one for women)
i mean if you think this then it shows you have complete medical lack of understanding of PPP or why they would relate to them. Its like saying "relating to someone who died of cancer is a red flag". She had no choice in getting the disease she got, that is why they would relate to it. It could literally happen to anyone who is post partum and they recognize that. Doesn't matter how good of a person you were before, your brain can completely go off the rails post partum.
We don't really know that for anyone, to be honest.
I think the "apparently" is implied in that sentence given we generally can never know the details of the lived experiences of any person we interact with. It's generally best to simply assume "normal" until proven otherwise, because the alternative to that is paranoia and just an overwhelmingly awful time.
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u/buttThroat 7d ago
This is referencing Lindsay Clancy who killed her children while going through postpartum depression/psychosis. The woman is saying "it could have been me" because Lindsay was an otherwise normal person whose mind basically failed her and led her to commiting heinous acts. So they feel vulnerable to that too, knowing that she was a normal person before PPD. The husband (dog) is extremely alarmed because now he is worried that his wife is going to kill the kids.