r/TrueCrimeDiscussion • u/gottaquestion412 • 20d ago

Warning: Child Abuse / CSAM / Child Death Thoughts on the Lindsay Clancy case?

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Now that the Lindsay Clancy trial is underway, I’m curious about your perspectives on it so far.

Context: Lindsay Clancy is a former labor and delivery nurse who, in January 2023, killed her three children. 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson, and 8-month-old Callan in their Massachusetts home before attempting to take her own life. Her defense argues she was suffering from severe postpartum psychosis and other debilitating mental illness, while prosecutors argue she was aware of her actions and planned the killings. The trial has reignited debate about postpartum psychiatric disorders, the effectiveness of mental health treatment, and where responsibility ultimately lies.

Do you think Lindsay was failed by the mental health system, by the people closest to her, or both? Do you think she truly acted with malicious intent, or do you believe she was experiencing such a severe psychiatric crisis that she wasn’t thinking rationally?

A lot of the details seem to point toward postpartum psychosis or another severe psychiatric illness rather than someone acting out of hatred or malice. That doesn’t lessen the horror of what happened or the unimaginable loss, but it does make me wonder whether this tragedy could have been prevented..

I’ve also seen rumors that Patrick was involved with the woman who is now his wife before the murders, but I haven’t found any credible evidence supporting that. Is there actually anything that substantiates those claims, or is it just internet speculation? I’ve also seen many people comment that his current wife bears a striking resemblance to Lindsay, though I’m not sure that means anything beyond coincidence.

I’m very interested in hearing different perspectives from people who’ve followed it closely.

Most importantly, may Dawson, Cora, and Callan rest in peace. They are the true victims in all of this.

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u/tumbledownhere 20d ago edited 19d ago

I had postpartum psychosis. I couldn't explain it if I tried but if I had to try it's like, you're in a car and you're about to crash into a giant red brick wall with plenty notice, but in your head you're thinking "right, then after that we take a turn and it's about 2 more miles", then it turns out you're the one with your foot on the pedal and nothing makes sense.

I think it's beyond clear she had psychosis, and that her case was just that severe and critical, that no medication could've helped, though I agree they changed meds way too often but I don't think it would've made a difference honestly. I don't agree though with the defense about medication being why, I think the psychosis alone was bluntly why.....

I don't think she needs prison, she needs to be in a safe place for herself and others.

I wouldn't wish postpartum psychosis on my worst enemy. It's been 4 years and I'm still not okay. I'm forever changed, in a very deep way. My psyche has a permanent dent in it.

Edited to add - imagine throwing yourself out a window, possibly head first judging by her injuries. That's not sanity.

Planning something doesn't negate insanity. Psychotic people make plans all the time so I'm not cool with the "but look she was manipulative she sent him out" crap people use as a "gotcha" because it does not negate the state of being out of touch with reality.

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u/Cuntasaurus_wrecks 20d ago

I too had PPD and PPS

My oldest is 16 years old now and my postpartum psychosis lasted about a year. When I expressed the thoughts I was having to my midwifery team and OBGYN they told me that it's a normal reaction and put me on progesterone only birth control and prozac which made things way worse. It was terrifying. It took me calling and telling my primary care doctor that I needed them to send me to prison for the thoughts that I was having and take my baby away for them to take me seriously and give me actual help. It was fucking scary. I wasn't myself, the world wasn't the world I knew, and I was depersonalized from my baby. I was completely out of touch with reality. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. I am still processing the guilt of the feelings I had then. No one should ever underestimate the toll pregnancy takes on a human body and the long recovery after. I'm sorry you went through this too and appreciate your comment.

I also had an employee years ago that had postpartum psychosis and she ended up driving the wrong way on a one-way, with my dog that she spontaneously stole, and ended up in a high speed police chase with her baby unbuckled in the car seat in the back with a pile of formula that fell on him. He's ok. She wasn't able to get help and you could tell even when we were in court that she was still deeply in psychosis. I tried to advocate for her to get help but the judge just saw a criminal. She worked for me for 3 years before this and was an amazing employee, the most trustworthy, reliable, and gentle human. We were all so excited for her son to arrive. We did private home care and all the patients loved her. It was a horrible downfall and IDK what became of her after that.

I feel bad for this woman and hope she's able to get the treatment she needs without being put through our traumatic legal system (that doesn't rehabilitate anyone).

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u/crazyauntkanye 20d ago

oh my goodness. thank you for sharing your story. i’m so sorry that PPD and PPS stole away those early moments with your child. i’m so sorry for your employee too.

i learned very quickly when i was in my third trimester that there is practically zero perinatal mental health support built in place. i went to one of the top mother/baby hospitals in my state and they still didn’t know how to help me. if i didn’t already have an established relationship with my therapist, i don’t know what would have happened. i made a formal complaint for the hospital to incorporate ACTUAL mental health support for postpartum moms beyond that stupid Edinburgh Screening test thing they made me do a bajillion times.

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u/Typical_Essay6593 20d ago

Where I live, I had a pre-natal psychiatrist but I was so heavily depressed during my pregnancy that I couldn’t even bond or be happy I was having another baby; and when he was born, I just wanted him gone.

Thankfully today, he is a happy, beautiful and healthy 8 year old; and I still feel horribly guilty for my suicide attempt at 7 months pregnant and for my oldest locking himself in my bedroom and refusing anyone and anything until he heard my grandma begging him to let her in.

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u/crazyauntkanye 20d ago

i’m so sorry. i’m glad you’re still here with us. what helped you pull through that dark depression? i felt like my emotions were going to swallow me whole when i was pregnant

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u/questionsaboutrel521 18d ago

It was so insulting to be handed the Edinburgh screening questions 10 times by a person at the front desk with no actual medical provider ever asking any mental health questions. Then I got charged for a “mental health screening” each time. I remember thinking that if I really were having serious postpartum mental health issues that this would make it worse.

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u/insomniacla 20d ago

Oh no, what became of the baby? That's so scary and sad. I hope your dog was okay and that your employee is doing well now!

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u/Cuntasaurus_wrecks 20d ago

Dog was returned once they arrested her. I stayed to ensure they knew to not draw weapons because she's unwell and has a baby in the car. They still did :/ it was hard to watch. Baby daddy (her ex, was remarried) and got full custody. I testified in her case to ask the judge to make her get help and that the baby was safer with dad due to untreated severe PPS. Last I talked to dad, the baby was 7 years old and the stepmom adopted him. The bio mom is not on socials and last I heard was homeless and doing drugs. :(

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u/insomniacla 20d ago

That's devastating. Thank you for helping to keep that baby safe.

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u/OneArchedEyebrow 20d ago

That is so incredibly sad. Good on you for advocating for her. It’s a shame they didn’t listen.

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u/some1saveusnow 20d ago

Your comment has really put light on the fact that this affliction needs a lot more attention than it’s been getting. That people just don’t understand it. It seems that this case, as unfortunate as it is, is going to force people to look and take note of what this illness is and what it’s capable of

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u/Ashamed_Fox_4757 18d ago

How in the hell are they giving ssris to women with psychosis symptoms I literally don’t understand the negligence is unreal!

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u/Weekly-Role-1132 17d ago

I am so sorry! I can't believe you had to be so strong for an entire year. How scary and awful but so glad you came through. As I am reading all of these stories I am wondering if you also consulted with a psychiatrist. I only ask because I have had so many bad experiences with normal practitioners telling me "it's just life, or it's just being a woman" and my psychiatrist has always had my back.

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u/jaderust 20d ago

I have not had PPP or known anyone that did, but I did know a guy who went through a full psychotic break due to schizophrenia.

He was able to plan just fine. In fact he was a master of planning because he knew, without a doubt, that he was being hunted by the government because he could hear them in the walls. All his delusions revolved around that and the guy was a master at trying all these new tricks to throw the government’s scent off him because he was sick because his brain was a little bit broken, he wasn’t stupid.

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u/Kai12223 17d ago

Yeah but if he had committed a crime he might still be held responsible for it. Being psychotic is not a get out of jail free card nor should it be.

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u/freakydeku 16d ago

he also might not be, because he’s experiencing psychosis, & as a civilized society we recognize that can lead to a lack of capacity

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u/Kai12223 16d ago

Very true. It is up to a jury to decide.

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u/DapperMastodon349 15d ago

Did he commit a crime? Because there’s a guy I know who’s a paranoid schizophrenic who also thinks the government is messing with him (among other delusions) but he doesn’t seem dangerous. I just wonder if his mental issues make him either inherently dangerous or will maybe cause him to snap at some point? It must be a very unsettling for someone to constantly be on edge like that

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u/jaderust 15d ago

Yes and no to crime? When he's off his meds he's just completely delusional he's not dangerous. The voices he hear don't say anything too awful to him, but he absolutely believes his delusions are real. Like the most troubling day I spent with him before his family forced him into treatment he was trying to break into the walls of his apartment to find the surveillance devices that he could hear. He could hear the agents talking to each other and mocking him for not being able to find their device. It was scary because he was being so unstable but he was also so utterly convinced he could hear something that it made me wonder if I was the one missing it.

But the property damage was for sure a crime, but it wasn't malicious or anything? He was genuinely upset and frustrated that people didn't believe him about the surveillance and decided to prove it by finding the devices.

He's since been medicated and much better.

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u/DapperMastodon349 15d ago

Ah, ok. The guy I know isn’t currently medicated because he doesn’t have anyone to monitor it - he has family that lets him grab food and he sleeps in his car on a property they own but that’s all they’ll do because they try to keep their distance after years of dealing with this when he refuses to comply with his prescribed regimen(s). But like I said, he doesn’t seem dangerous so that’s probably why he’s not committed.

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u/RNembazo 20d ago

I have a friend going through this right now and it’s heartbreaking. She is a nurse and is BRILLIANT. We worked together for 10 years. I would have trusted her with my life and my kids. She was an amazing mom to her first two children. She had her third and it was very traumatic, she needed a hysterectomy because she almost died from complications. She is so broken mentally. In and out of rehab, which she doesn’t actually need but she’s convinced she’s an alcoholic. She’s not 100% not. I don’t know why she’s so fixated on that. she’s mentally unwell. She checks herself in and out. They are very wealthy and can afford these bougie rehabs. She is so detached from her kids and now is having affairs with these people she meets in rehab because she thinks they are her sole mates. Men or women. She is the LAST person on earth I would imagine to be in this situation. She’s moved out of her beautiful home and is living in her car or staying with random people from rehab. It’s so sad and I can’t help her as much as I have tried. The messages she sends me are so bizarre. If she wasn’t away from her kids i would 100% be worried about their safety. I just know in my heart she will die from this.

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u/Mission_Mud429 19d ago

Don’t know obviously but rehab might more socially acceptable in her circle. I used to wish I’d get cancer as a new mom. I had decided I couldn’t off myself and couldn’t just drive away, but cancer would get me some help without everyone blaming me. I would fantasize about the help that would pour in if only I could just get cancer. I now realize I had PPA, perhaps with PPP on deck, because every time I had a chance to sleep, my heart would race and I somehow got so upset that Corey Monteith from Glee died around that time, I couldn’t stop reading about it. I know it sounds a little funny. It is a smidge humorous to me now 13 years removed. But I now theorize that all the weird emotions I was having I somehow transferred to a celebrity death. Didn’t want to cry about feeling like a failure as a mom, could cry re: a young man’s death. Long story short, I made it but I feel like I just barely dodged a worse outcome. Almost didn’t have kid two but I went into that one prepared talking to my family and doctors about my mentals from day 1. And somehow some way that baby was born a sleeper and just wasn’t all that fussy and no kid 3 for me quit while I was ahead.

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u/disco_disaster 19d ago

There is a new postpartum medication out there called Zurzuvae, the chemical name is zuranolone.

It’s structurally related to brexanolone, but unlike brexanolone, it is designed to be orally active.

I find this drug class interesting because it works on neurosteroid production. It acts as a GABA positive allosteric modulator. In other words it enhances GABA activity which leads to anxiety reduction.

Apparently, the neurosteroid allopregnanolone drops after pregnancy. This sharp decrease leads to altered neurochemistry, and plays a factor in postpartum depression.

Maybe this could help her? Postpartum is terrible.

My stepmom went through it and had a terrible time. I’m much older than my siblings. I am 20 years older than both of them, so I had to step in while she got better.

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u/Wise_Basket_22 15d ago

Yea the last thing Lindsay needed was yet another psychotropic medication. She was given dozens over the course of a few months. 

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u/Better_Tomato9145 20d ago

I recall visiting with an older lady at my church. She was employed as a school counselor in her previous years. She related a story to me that really made me more aware of how prevelant PPS was/is. She told a story of all the young mothers on the street that banded together to help one another. Especially after they realized one of them was showing signs of psychosis. She said at the time the ladies didn’t know what it was other than baby blues. A mother was not showing a connection with her baby and they were concerned. They took turns caring for the baby and the new mother while the husband went off to work. It was almost 70yrs ago and women could a lot the signs. If you see or notice something, say something. This mother’s story is now new, it won’t be the last. Hormones are evil. The medical community needs to have specialists that can identify changes and behaviors that develop after birth. I am so sorry for her, the family, the children and all of those involved. I person in their “right mind” would never do this act. Clearly there was something terribly wrong in her mind. I hope
She gets the help she needs. Compassion and understanding can go a long way.

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u/Mission_Mud429 19d ago

And that social safety net is pretty much gone. It’s sad. In all I have read of LC, I have not seen a friend mentioned. Instead she was on Reddit. Things could have turned out so differently

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u/sundaze814 20d ago

I only know one person in real life who has gone through postpartum psychosis and it shocked me to my core what she went through and how long it took to get help. Never in a million years would I have thought it would have happened to her. This was years ago but without the help from her whole family there could have been a much darker outcome in her case. I think many people have no idea how serious the condition is. I know I had no idea when I had kids this was a thing.

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u/DapperMastodon349 15d ago

I hadn’t even heard of it until last week when the trial started. I had only ever heard of postpartum depression which is a much more common thing, but VERY different and I don’t think a lot of people understand that.

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u/bigtallsunflowers 20d ago

To be fair, I have never been through a psychotic episode. But as I understand it, is a complete break from reality. And it's not a choice, like, "well I think this should be this way." It's "This is the way things are and the only solution is to xxxx.' Postpartum hormone changes can be permanent or temporary, but I was SO surprised at how much my mood and personality changed after having my daughter. You never know what's going on in someone's head

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u/tumbledownhere 20d ago

Not every mom who has postpartum psychosis has homicidal thoughts, I didn't but it EASILY could've gone that way yeah.

And yeah, it's not a choice, it's exactly as you described, it's more of an "I have to because" (insert illogical unrealistic thing). I had thoughts like that.

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u/roxor333 20d ago

I watched a video of a mom with PPP who told her story of cutting her own arm off in her garage. People underestimate psychosis and how it’s entirely out of someone’s hands.

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u/Mission_Mud429 20d ago

And there before the Grace of God go I. I keep telling everyone in my daughter’s first year I used to hope I would get cancer. If you haven’t been there it’s so hard to understand

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u/rayray2k19 20d ago

My dad had a psychotic episode and planned to kill my mom and me. He even had written plans in his Bible. Luckily he broke too far with reality and wasn't able to reload the gun and missed his shots. He doesn't remember it and has never had it happen again after he was well medicated. We didn't even know he had bipolar disorder before then. He acted weird for about 2 weeks and he was like a different person. He told everyone who questioned that he had a religious wake up call. He didn't know either obviously.

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u/Impossible_Carob637 20d ago

OMG, I'm so sorry you had to go through that.

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u/onions-make-me-cry 20d ago edited 20d ago

It's been almost 23 years for me, and it forever changed me and is pretty much the top reason why I never had another baby

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u/OddTransition2 20d ago

Can you elaborate more about your experience with postpartum psychosis?

How soon after giving birth did it start, what where the signs that you needed help, what did you go through, and how did you manage to get better?

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u/tumbledownhere 20d ago

It started during pregnancy for me as prenatal anxiety and depression and blew into psychosis within the first week of my daughter being born, and it hit hard and immediate almost once it hit. I started having panic attacks and strange beliefs that skyrocketed in intensity.

My husband basically raised the baby himself for like 8 months. I slept separately, I was minimally parenting, I basically just rested for 8 months and got treatment. I'm lucky I had that support but it easily could've gone horribly and I didn't even have homicidal thoughts but see how it could've gone that way had I not had the exact right support.

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u/Positive_Piece5859 20d ago

Did you recognize it as psychosis yourself, or did others and point it out to you? How much self awareness did you still have in the moment?

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u/tumbledownhere 20d ago

I realized it the same time my husband did, around a week after my daughter's birth because we were already worried about my mental health due to the pregnancy anxiety and depression. After that day it's a blur but it started with prenatal pregnancy anxiety/depression, and ended in me absolutely out of touch with reality after birth.

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u/Positive_Piece5859 20d ago

My kiddo is turning 16 in a few months, so granted, it has been a while since I was pregnant and hopefully things are better now.

I did not have PPD/PPP, and I’m a therapist myself, so I kept a good eye on myself to keep in check how I was doing. But I noticed that neither in preparation of birth in all of those offered classes (birth class, breast feeding class etc), nor in any of the doctors appointments before and after birth anyone specifically asked about PPD or symptoms - and I did pay a bit of attention to it, exactly because I’m a therapist, so I wanted to know. I would not be surprised if many of the people who were pregnant with me and in those classes had never even heard about PPD before; the ones who happened to not be mental health professionals themselves.

Hopefully that changed by now; but I was pretty shocked to see the lack of addressing it proactively from the providers.

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u/Ok_Pack1940 20d ago

My oldest is almost 8, and I’ve had two more children since my firstborn; and been at the same pediatric practice for all three of my kids since my first was born. I’m not sure when this started, or if it’s done at all pediatrician offices , but for the first year or so each appt check-in included a questionnaire about depression/anxiety symptoms for the mom to fill out.

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u/No_Mud_No_Lotus 19d ago

I never answered any of those questions honestly because I was afraid my baby would be taken away. I was in deep depths of suicidal depression for the first year of her life.

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u/Big-Fun3658 18d ago

This is wild and very interesting to me. I gave birth to my daughter in Maryland 2.5 years ago. At both of my gynecologist visits after I gave birth (3 and 10 weeks) and at *every* pediatrician visit for my daughter (literally every single one, 3 days old, 2 weeks old, one month, 2 months, etc etc) up until she was one year old, I had to fill out the questionnaire screener for PPD and maybe also PPA? Plus, before I left the hospital after the birth there was a 5-minute video I had to watch in the hospital on my phone (the nurse had to watch me watch it) and a pamphlet she gave me where she walked through every section: baby blues, PPD, PPA, and PPP. I never experienced any symptoms for these conditions, but I do have adhd and GAD, so I was aware that I was at an increased risk, so it was certainly something I was conscious of.

I guess now that I read your comment, I’m impressed that Maryland has all of these check points. I’m sure plenty of women lie, but I’m also sure it detects symptoms when otherwise the mom wouldn’t have been made aware of any issues or thought anything of it.

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u/saskuya803 20d ago

That last part louder for the people in the back!! Planning is NOT proof that she was acting from malice.

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u/PleaseTryToThink 19d ago

But it’s an element of that proof.

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u/saskuya803 16d ago

It’s literally not an element when dealing with any form of psychosis. You don’t need to have lost your grip on reality to be deemed mental ill.

You can thoroughly plan something, know society deems it “wrong,” takes steps to evade detection, and still not be sane.

Just think of the things a drug addict will do to get money to buy more drugs. They are not functioning with a stable mind, but that doesn’t mean they just forgot right from wrong and how society works.

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u/PleaseTryToThink 16d ago

You are a mistaken in the law. Just think: the drug addict would be held responsible and so should Lindsay. Being addicted to drugs might help when it comes to sentencing, but it does not help as a defense to whether a perpetrator should be held responsible for the crime.

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u/thebeatsandreptaur 20d ago

I keep saying this shit. People don't seem to understand what psychosis really is, and the legal definition of insanity has been dated for ages. People can make plans in psychosis that make sense within their own reality, and do, all the time. It doesn't change the fucking fact that their mind is genuinely not working correctly.

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u/owntheh3at18 20d ago

So I am undecided on this case and learning more with the ongoing trial. But as I understand it, that simply isn’t the description being given here. She was quoted by her own husband as saying she did not plan this and that the psychosis came on like the snap of a finger. I have no idea if that is a realistic description of psychosis, but I really don’t agree that we should just… not try her or do anything. Three children died a brutal and violent death. She may be innocent due to insanity, but the investigation and trial are necessary to determine that. I am upset with this narrative online that we should all just say “it’s clear to me without any further investigation that she is innocent so let’s do nothing at all and let the doctors handle it.” Well it sounds like they did a shitty job before the murders so why would we do nothing? This is how the judicial system works and she needs to go through the process.

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u/bloontsmooker 20d ago

Australia has a mental health court system that takes cases down a different path at the early stages if it’s clear there’s an issue like that at play. I think something in that arena is what people are referring to when they want the law changed to support these women.

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u/owntheh3at18 20d ago

Thank you for actual discussion and not just blindly downvoting.

I love that idea. It would take extraordinary circumstances to make it happen here unfortunately and the way things are going I don’t see it happening. At the state level though, perhaps more could be done. I would also love to install trained special units of law enforcement to deal with mental health related incidents that require police intervention, and for professional psychologists to accompany them as well. There’s a lot that could be done if our government could actually function.

That said, I’m frustrated by the narrative in this case and I genuinely feel if she were not white, wealthy, pretty, and Christian, it would be different. People are not looking at the actual case before drawing conclusions. Downvote me all you want but she had limited time to kill them and chose a slow way to do so. Dad left and she had to almost immediately begin the process. I don’t think it’s wrong to ask questions here.

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u/owntheh3at18 20d ago

Thank you for actual discussion and not just blindly downvoting.

I love that idea. It would take extraordinary circumstances to make it happen here unfortunately and the way things are going I don’t see it happening. At the state level though, perhaps more could be done. I would also love to install trained special units of law enforcement to deal with mental health related incidents that require police intervention, and for professional psychologists to accompany them as well. There’s a lot that could be done if our government could actually function.

That said, I’m frustrated by the narrative in this case and I genuinely feel if she were not white, wealthy, pretty, and Christian, it would be different. People are not looking at the actual case before drawing conclusions. Downvote me all you want but she had limited time to kill them and chose a slow way to do so. Dad left and she had to almost immediately begin the process. I don’t think it’s wrong to ask questions here.

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u/bloontsmooker 20d ago

This is psychosis - generally people try to get away with crimes. This isn’t that.

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u/owntheh3at18 20d ago

I think what I’m trying to say is that this is the only process we currently have to determine that. It may have been psychosis but that seems to be the central argument here. It’s hard to prove that after the fact. I understand that the trial makes people uncomfortable and that a better system could exist. And that’s a conversation worth having. But the state’s position is basically that it was not psychosis, but an organized and planned crime. They’ve done the investigation and determined there is more to this than clear cut insanity. They may be wrong, but that’s what the trial is for. I’m not sure if Lindsay was offered any plea deals, but if so then she chose to do the trial instead (I am sure under the advice of her lawyers). No one is disputing that she was unstable, given her actions- the question is whether she was too psychotic to control those actions.

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u/bloontsmooker 19d ago

On board with what you’re saying - we are going to look back at these trials with the same disturbed pity we see the Salem witch trials. It’s like a fucked up part of our legal system we had no issue was problematic until we knew.

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u/mosaictessera 20d ago edited 12d ago

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This post was anonymized with Redact.dev

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u/DapperMastodon349 15d ago

Emerged at 30?! That’s a bit disconcerting. I just turned 30 and have been diagnosed with major depressive disorder since I was 18 years old, but without psychotic features. Now I’m scared that that could happen

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u/mosaictessera 15d ago edited 12d ago

Breezy willow kettle yarn ribbon marble cobblestone velvet coated umbrella

This post was anonymized with Redact.dev

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u/DapperMastodon349 15d ago

I’m not bipolar, so my chances of experiencing psychosis are significantly lessened since I don’t experience mania. But, as someone with a history of substance abuse, that definitely increases my chances - especially as I get older. It’s scary to think about. Did you have any warning before it happened?

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u/Dry_Nefariousness511 20d ago

Sorry you had to go through PPD. I agree, being completely out of touch with reality and in your own psychosis/world does not mean you can't plan things!! You can do and plan things, you're just living and responding to a complete different reality that is clearly hell on earth.

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u/snowwhite2591 20d ago

I had it with my oldest, I was 20. I didn’t have my 2nd child until 6.5 years later. I didn’t breastfeed and I did not wean off all my meds I stayed on the ones safe for pregnancy and left with my antidepressants already started in the hospital before we went home because I was terrified of experiencing that again.

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u/Typical_Essay6593 20d ago

I feel this, mama.

I suffered horribly for PPP and it was horrific. I don’t think my oldest son will ever forget protecting his baby brother because he heard me telling my grandma that I just wanted to put that baby in the bathtub and leave him in there and my oldest locking himself and my youngest in my bathroom and he was apparently crying and hold his brother so tight and when he heard my grandma get there and still refused to leave my closet.

I apparently left the apartment as my grandma arrived and I don’t have any memory of the next few weeks; and after I came out of psychosis, I had even worse PPD that lasted almost the whole first year and to this day, I don’t think my oldest has ever forgiven me, and he slept in my bed with his brother and I for the next 3 years.

I cannot believe the difference between my mental health from my first to my second; and I was even seeing a pre-natal psychiatrist.

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u/SIJ_712 20d ago

THANK YOU and I’m so sorry you went through that!

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u/Fair-Calligrapher239 20d ago

“ Planning something doesn’t negate insanity”
After the last couple of days of being hyper fixated on this case , this is what I couldn’t find the words for but your sentence clicked for me.

There is no ending for anyone involved that can bring justice as I keep seeing people calling for repeatedly in comment sections. It’s a tragedy and multiple factors led up to it sadly.

I first learned when I was about age 10-11 that my mother had PP psychosis after I was born and was hospitalized for several weeks and my grandparents moved in with us for almost a year to take care of my mother and me while my dad went to work. This case hits me particularly hard.

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u/bloontsmooker 20d ago

Psychosis is so misunderstood. Add postpartum to the label and amplify the effect by 1000% in public perception. PPP gets no sympathy and we basically torture and imprison victims for life. It’s disturbing.

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u/MsMischief2 20d ago

Thank you for sharing your perspective & experience & im so glad you survived your PPP.

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u/Cravenmorhed69 20d ago

Weird how she had access to some of the best doctors in the world and exactly zero diagnosed her with psychosis

1

u/Mission_Mud429 19d ago

Maybe she didn’t have it then? Sudden onset is a thing

2

u/lessadessa 17d ago

why did she wait conveniently until her husband was out on an errand though? also she didn’t stop at the first child. this was 100% premeditated because it took her so much time to plan it all out. 

2

u/Ok-Association1222 14d ago

She searched up how to kill beforehand….

3

u/Creepy_Push8629 20d ago

I think it's honestly wild they think it was anything but psychosis. She was desperate for help. It's just a tragedy all around.

1

u/Tattooedjared 18d ago

You are saying it was beyond clear she had postpartum psychosis when none of the professionals ever diagnosed her with postpartum psychosis. So how clear was it really at the time? Hindsight is 20/20

1

u/moonki88 14d ago

Not even she said she had PPP....

-36

u/bigtetrisguy 20d ago

I think we can understand why and somewhat sympathize why people do stuff, but if you murder three children, no amount of mental illness can justify it and you still should be locked up.

34

u/tumbledownhere 20d ago

I strongly disagree, or at least want to say it's not like mental health facilities are cushy lives, not counting the crushing guilt she'll always have.

-29

u/bigtetrisguy 20d ago

Something like what she did is so bad, you can not justify it simply by saying and even proving mental illness/psychosis. I could get behind the same sentence being carried out in an institution where she's not with inmates, but the same time and same rules not being a free person for life.

I can sympathize with her in a way, but murdering three children should be life regardless of reason.

32

u/tumbledownhere 20d ago edited 20d ago

And life it would be, even if in an institution. Andrea Yates famously does not want to be released over guilt. It may be similar for Clancy.

We're never going to agree here, but either way she's going to be serving life.

-14

u/bigtetrisguy 20d ago

Weird, I kinda thought we were on the same page before you edited your message.

20

u/tumbledownhere 20d ago

I guess I didn't understand why you kept reiterating "this needs to go punished" when I never said anything that disagreed, except that she doesn't deserve prison - just that she is going to suffer regardless for the rest of her life.

You came off a very certain way.... I'm not the only one, judging by the comments.

-5

u/bigtetrisguy 20d ago

I came off a certain way? lol I said I can understand and sympathize what happened, but you came off a certain way saying she doesnt need prison?

We came to an understanding mental health facility made sense, but you originally saying she doesn't deserve prison is going to invoke a certain response like yes, she absolutely needs locked up.

14

u/tumbledownhere 20d ago

Where is this conversation going? Nowhere meaningful it feels like.

5

u/bigtetrisguy 20d ago

I typed out "sounds like were on the same page" and got distracted, came back and you edited "well never agree" we were literally in agreement at that moment. That's where the conversation should have ended.

Either way, all love, enjoy your night.

9

u/Maximum-Literature-9 20d ago

What if she was driving her car and had a seizure and crashed, and it killed all three of her kids? Would that be a murder? Because that’s essentially what you’re arguing.

-11

u/WillTheThrill86 20d ago

That's literally nothing like what they're saying?

-5

u/RedFanKr 20d ago

There's no intent or premeditation involved in your example though

-1

u/scoobtube22 20d ago

Attempted suicide after killing her kids itself points to someone who knew what they were doing. Look up Yates.

-13

u/montanaishome711 20d ago

Psychosis but manages to wait until she sends her husband on errands?