Lindsay Clancy, a labor and delivery nurse at the prestigious Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, is the latest tragic and high-profile example of a mother allegedly taking the lives of her own three children.
On Jan. 24, 2023, Clancy allegedly strangled the children with an exercise band while her husband ran an errand. Clancy then slit her wrists, cut her neck and jumped from the second floor of their home. She has been hospitalized since, apparently paralyzed from the waist down following her suicide attempt.
At her arraignment, Clancy’s defense lawyer stated that she may have been suffering from an extreme form of postpartum depression called postpartum psychosis. Other women have made this claim, including Andrea Yates, a Texas woman who in 2001 drowned her five children in a bathtub. A court convicted her of capital murder at her first trial, but after a successful appeal, a court found her not guilty by reason of insanity in her second trial.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 1 in 8 mothers, or approximately 12%, experience postpartum depression. Cases of parents killing children, in contrast, are exceedingly rare, with estimates of about 500 of these tragic events per year in the U.S.
Many people wonder whether a psychiatric condition, no matter how severe, could justify or explain the killing of innocent children, especially by their own mother.
As a clinical and forensic psychiatrist, I routinely treat patients after delivery for depression, and I have evaluated women accused of killing their children. The potentially fatal outcomes make it imperative to increase awareness and understanding of postpartum depression and psychosis.
Postpartum Depression Explained
It is important to make a distinction between “postpartum blues” and postpartum depression. Research shows that between 15% to 85% of women have “postpartum blues,” and the incidence peaks around the fifth day following delivery. Postpartum blues can include low mood, tearfulness, irritability and feeling overwhelmed. It is a totally normal, transient condition thought to be a result of the rapid drop in hormone levels following delivery.
True postpartum depression is more severe than postpartum blues. This term
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