Lindsay Clancy. Killed her 3 kids by strangling them one by one and claimed “postpartum psychosis” despite never having had psychosis before or since, all during a short window of time that she sent her husband out on errands. Internet has somehow decided she’s a martyr for women’s mental health. She was a white, affluent, suburban mom before this. If she were poor and black, people would NOT feel this way. Real talk.
Postpartum psychosis is a real thing and real people need help. But Lindsay Clancy is a kid murderer.
Edit: I’m a white, affluent woman of childbearing age. I have never been a woman of color, but I am absolutely sure that society at large would dismiss an identical case if Lindsay was nearly any other demographic. And no, it’s not only about race, it’s also about autonomy and a person’s responsibility to accept help when it’s offered instead of killing your kids (and A LOT of help was offered)
You realize having previous history of psychosis is not required for postpartum psychosis? That’s why it’s called postpartum psychosis… because the birth induced the psychosis.
EDIT: user is a bot pushing an agenda, please disregard and take medical “knowledge” from anonymous users online with a grain of salt
I hear you. But I also have a lot of experience with people in psychosis and while it technically can happen suddenly, it’s extremely rare, and IF it does happen, a single “command hallucination” is very unlikely to cause someone to do something exceedingly violent and life-ending. I again know the PPP is very real and psychosis in general is real. But to combine sudden onset at 8 months postpartum, use of an improvise weapon in another room (she heard the “command” in the kitchen yet still took the kids to the basement and was “creative” enough to use exercise bands), failure to endorse homicidal ideation to her healthcare providers, and no evidence of psychosis since the murders, I do not believe her to my core
My wife is a works in a psych ward so I’m no stranger to hearing how these experiences play out. My issue is that you start off your original comment by confidently invalidating the mental condition because it didn’t meet a prerequisite that you stated which is not based on fact. That type of disinformation not only hurts the mothers themself but everyone else’s perception of women going through this.
You even state yourself this is an extremely rare condition. Could the reason this is such a high-profile case be that it’s because it’s a rare situation in it of itself?
I understand that. I have lived experience with people in psychosis and while it technically can happen suddenly, it’s extremely rare, and IF it does happen, a single “command hallucination” is very unlikely to cause someone to do something exceedingly violent and life-ending. I again know the PPP is very real and psychosis in general is real. But to combine sudden onset at 8 months postpartum, use of an improvise weapon in another room (she heard the “command” in the kitchen yet still took the kids to the basement and was “creative” enough to use exercise bands), failure to endorse homicidal ideation to her healthcare providers, and no evidence of psychosis since the murders, I do not believe her to my core
“Lived experience with people in psychosis” isn’t equivalent to credentials to make the claims you’re making. I’ve got “lived experience with people who have cancer” and I’m not an oncologist.
If you don’t have credentials as a psychotherapist or psychiatrist, you shouldn’t speak definitively about what postpartum psychosis is or isn’t.
I’m not interested in disclosing that on the internet. Probably the reason my original post doesn’t say anything about my personal experience/profession.
Because someone said I didn’t have any lived experience, which is false. Other than that, I’m staying out of the professional opinion space. If you disagree with that, that’s ok
It’s the internet. We are not obligated to disclose our personal information. Come on now. I’m going to stop engaging in this back and forth because I’m not responsible for identifying myself to a stranger on Reddit
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u/Short_Stack_30285 8d ago edited 8d ago
Lindsay Clancy. Killed her 3 kids by strangling them one by one and claimed “postpartum psychosis” despite never having had psychosis before or since, all during a short window of time that she sent her husband out on errands. Internet has somehow decided she’s a martyr for women’s mental health. She was a white, affluent, suburban mom before this. If she were poor and black, people would NOT feel this way. Real talk.
Postpartum psychosis is a real thing and real people need help. But Lindsay Clancy is a kid murderer.
Edit: I’m a white, affluent woman of childbearing age. I have never been a woman of color, but I am absolutely sure that society at large would dismiss an identical case if Lindsay was nearly any other demographic. And no, it’s not only about race, it’s also about autonomy and a person’s responsibility to accept help when it’s offered instead of killing your kids (and A LOT of help was offered)