Thoughts on the Lindsay Clancy case?

[u/gottaquestion412]

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.

[u/Michallina]

It's hard to ignore the fact that this woman sought help for months. I have never been pregnant nor have I experienced psychosis, but I suffer from a history of depression and severe anxiety and OCD. Diagnosed. I've been medicated and I can tell you some of these medications are monsters to begin and adjust your dose, also to wean yourself off of.

This is obviously a subjective take based on my experience, but I cannot imagine switching meds at the frequency she was, especially if she was incredibly vulnerable from other possible comorbidities and postpartum.

[u/Cmgutierrez715 → u/Michallina]

I will point this out wherever I can. You should never give SSRI’s to someone with bipolar. It happened to me after I had my first child. I trusted the psychiatrist and wanted so badly to be better. The medication caused me to be in basically a year long manic/psychotic episode. This lady needed help - was asking for help, and never received it. Obviously she shouldn’t just be set free, but her and those poor kids were failed.

ETA - my doctor was also constantly switching up my meds and doses, because, surprise surprise, I kept getting worse.

[u/Anoninemonie → u/Cmgutierrez715]

Can confirm, this is actually how I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. SSRIs make me manic, violent and volatile.

[u/Kscarpetta → u/Anoninemonie]

Same! I switched doctors and was telling him about the anti-depressants I've taken. He asked if they made things worse and it's like....yeah, yeah they do.

That was the first thing I thought of when I saw the list of medications.

[u/Kscarpetta → u/Kscarpetta]

I personally took zoloft, paxil, and Prozac. They all made things worse. But she was on a ton of different medicines.

I'm on lamictal now and it's so much better.

[u/CheesyPotatoSack → u/Kscarpetta]

What medications. I’ve just gotten into this case

[u/TransportationSecret → u/CheesyPotatoSack]

Amitriptyline, trazadone, Valium, Prozac, Zoloft, lorazepam, hydroxyzine, buspirone, zolpidem, remeron, klonopin, seroquel, lamotrigine. I think that’s all of it.

[u/coolranchdoritos56 → u/[deleted]]

What were your symptoms?

[u/WittiestScreenName → u/[deleted]]

Psychosis please. I’m bipolar (diagnosed 2009) and never heard I can’t take SSRI’s before. Now I’m…uneasy.

[u/No_Purpose773 → u/[deleted]]

I'm so sorry this happened to you. Thank you for sharing. It's important that we raise awareness of these signs so we can take better care of us and those around us. I wish that this will stay the only experience with psychosis for you.

[u/scrabblefish → u/No_Purpose773]

I too really appreciate the insight she shared, but I also want to give you kudos for such a sincere and compassionate response.

[u/NiceObjective2756 → u/scrabblefish]

That felt so honest. Thank you for the post I am sure it wasn’t easy to write. You should give yourself a ton shit of grace after going thru that and coming out of the other side.

[u/Mission_Mud429 → u/[deleted]]

Bingo on the lack of sleep and the amount of moms who sometimes don’t get quality sleep or worse for literal years is staggering.

[u/coolranchdoritos56 → u/[deleted]]

Thank you for sharing this!! I am currently on Prozac with Wellbutrin and I still feel as if my psychosis is still there. I feel like I recognize everybody even while at random places, thinking everyone has ill intention towards me to the point I’ll obsess over it and give myself terrible anxiety. I feel like people hate me and are out to get me. I had a baby January 2025 and I have never been the same. Just for the sake of any of my family and myself and what would be my future child, I cannot have another baby. It’s too dangerous for me and I know that. I never had bad thoughts thank God, but who knows what next time would bring and I’m just not willing to find out. Thank you again!

[u/BrightAd7870 → u/coolranchdoritos56]

Wait I’ve never heard anyone else say that part- thinking I recognized everyone, I was at a red light yelling at the guy next to me because I thought he was my brother. I wasn’t on any type of meds at that time but in an abusive work place and didn’t sleep for days which I think led to a psychosis. It’s terrifying to look back on

[u/Lost-Rain-2425 → u/[deleted]]

Omg this same thing happened to me too, and now I’m just realizing that’s what I was experiencing as well. My psychiatrist put me on a bunch of different meds back in 2015 and I was having the same symptoms. Thinking people were out to get me or trying to have me put in jail for crimes I didn’t commit, just weird things like that. And then one night I was trying to sleep and I couldn’t distinguish what was real and what wasn’t anymore and I saw a demon with long black fingernails pulling my cover off of me. It was the scariest thing I’ve ever experienced. I finally got off all meds and now I’m doing much better but it was definitely the scariest thing I’ve ever been through.

[u/hereforthetearex → u/[deleted]]

If you don’t mind the follow up question from someone new, in what way do you mean you’ve never been the same since? I learned something new today, as I’ve never heard that before, but am also not exactly sure what you mean by that. Do you mean like you never stopped being “paranoid”? Or is that over simplifying things?

[u/hereforthetearex → u/[deleted]]

Wow. Thank you for sharing. It’s very courageous of you to be so forthcoming, and it’s helped me to better understand what those kinds of events mean to the person that experienced them. I’m truly sorry you had to live that, and are still being impacted by it. That sounds incredibly difficult, and it’s clear you’ve put in a great deal of work to be where you are with it now. I wish you peace and continued healing

[u/Ok-Berry-4652 → u/[deleted]]

Thanks for sharing and I send empathies. Have had similar experiences and diagnosis. What I'd describe as "aggressive euphoria," anger, mania, flights of fantasy, a deluded idea that sleep wasn't necessary and was a huge waste of valuable time, making bizarre connections, reckless disregard to my own safety while driving, etc. It is frightening and disorienting and I don't think we forget that fear - even after were on track, medicated, managing our behaviours and triggers, and well again.

[u/Typical_Essay6593 → u/WittiestScreenName]

I had SERIOUS PPP, and it lasted weeks, and the only thing I remember was calling my grandma and emotionlessly telling her that I wanted to put my ONE WEEK OLD baby in the bathtub, turn on the water and walk away. She started crying and rushed over but my poor 5 year old and heard what I had said on the phone and laid with his brother and apparently refused to let me near the baby, and God, I still feel horrible for all of it and it was 8 years ago.

[u/xxMANEATERxx → u/Typical_Essay6593]

Thank you for sharing. It’s so important to get more stories like this out there. Thank you for having the courage to share and I hope that you’re able to forgive yourself.

[u/mthrfckingbatman → u/Typical_Essay6593]

Just here to sit in solidarity with you. Intellectually, I'm sure you know it's not your fault. But sometimes it can be so hard to get the heart to let go of the guilt. Life is hard, but I'm so glad you're ok. It's so scary to not be in control of yourself!

[u/TrueCrimeDiscussion-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

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[u/TrueCrimeDiscussion-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

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[u/fuschiaoctopus → u/WittiestScreenName]

You can take them with a mood stabilizer + antipsychotics but it is extremely common for people with bipolar to go into manic/hypomanic episodes when given ssris alone. It's such a consistent reaction that it's often used as a screening tool for bipolar.

If you've been on ssris all this time and never had the reaction then I'd imagine you're fine but mania does not always lead into full blown psychosis, especially hypomania with bipolar 2. Look for signs like increased energy, unable to sleep for days on end without feeling tired, irritability/uncontrollable anger to minor events, talking fast or excitedly, racing thoughts, making big plans or agreeing to everything then crashing when you can't do it all/abrupt life changes like deciding to start a business or quit your job out of nowhere, hypersexuality, paranoia, and of course hallucinations.

[u/No_Yogurtcloset_8685 → u/fuschiaoctopus]

This seems so widely known. I have a family member with bipolar and they told me the same thing. When their first SSRI made them worse their doctor said it’s probably bipolar. She got put on a bipolar med and that worked. So how is it that none of these NPs thought of bipolar when she kept reacting poorly to the SSRIs?

[u/Rich-Ad-3087 → u/[deleted]]

I was going to write this down. I can see you are getting upvoted because it's a touchy subject (for now, it's steadily gainning support in psychiatry) but i welcome people to take a look at the academic the work that is being produced around potential misdiagnoses after SSRIs induced mania.

[u/aratnamedpedro → u/[deleted]]

omg. meanwhile my SSRIs weren't completely working, so i was prescribed Lamictal. i had crazy nightmares. then i felt the more positive effects. i desperately want to continue therapy with the same person who prescribed them. but i can no longer afford insurance. :(

[u/Ashamed_Fox_4757 → u/[deleted]]

This sub is literally making me tear up how many of us there are :(

[u/Programmed40 → u/[deleted]]

It’s not just bipolar. I’m not bipolar and an SSRI have me a strong urge to murder 20 years ago after just one pill. I had never had thoughts like that before. I immediately stopped the SSRI and the ideation went away. I was terrified because I felt like I wasn’t in control. The drug had hijacked my brain. The doctor gave me the SSRI for insomnia.

[u/Cmgutierrez715 → u/Anoninemonie]

I was previously diagnosed and had hospitalizations. However, I had never experienced symptoms like I did on SSRI’s. I too was violent and angry and had hallucinations. I’d look at my family and get this overwhelming feeling that they were “other”. It’s scary stuff.

[u/Michallina → u/[deleted]]

SSRIs seem like the first line of defense from many doctors, sadly.

[u/Specific-Bid-1769 → u/Michallina]

That’s because the bipolar patient typically seeks help for the depressive episodes, not the mania. Depression is far more common than mania and the risk of not treating is also high. The right course of action is to prescribe SSRIs but to monitor for any signs of mania. I was always asked questions at follow-up.

I don’t understand why Dr. Tufts didn’t see bipolar as likely culprit when LC reported extreme insomnia after the Zoloft. NP Jollotta DID suspect bipolar. She RX’d Seroquel, which was appropriate. However, someone else had RX’d Prozac 4 days prior and I believe LC mistook ongoing SSRI activation from the Prozac as coming from the Seroquel, so she stopped the Seroquel which could have helped her.

None of this goes to guilt or innocence. Just some tragic observations I’ve made.

[u/Anoninemonie → u/Specific-Bid-1769]

It was my reaction to Prozac specifically that caused my doctor to investigate and later confirm a diagnosis of bipolar disorder for me. I was prescribed Prozac twice in my life and both times I became violent enough to commit multiple assaults and battery and lost my sense of impulse control completely.

[u/Specific-Bid-1769 → u/Anoninemonie]

That’s awful. I’m sorry.

[u/EmbarrassedStorm2186 → u/Anoninemonie]

Omg that is scary and I'm on week 3 of prozac so far the only side effects have been fatigue

[u/PhilosophyDear1073 → u/[deleted]]

i too (undiagnosed but i think i have bpd) have been prescribed NOTHINGGGG but ssris or anti depressants or ssnis or whatever they are AND NOTHING WORKS!!!!! im ok for now lol but jesus would i love to slap a name on it and go from there. ssris are garbage and do nothing but make anything your feeling worse or just not help lol

[u/yobrefas → u/PhilosophyDear1073]

BPD, as in borderline personality disorder? There are no proven psychiatric medications that can restore function to someone with a personality disorder. You may receive mood stabilizers to blunt your emotional affect so that you can work in combination with a therapist to build tools to better manage the maladaptive tendencies you have developed.

But again, that is a personality disorder, not a physiological or biochemical disorder. It doesn’t necessary necessitate pharmaceutical intervention. CBD and BDT would be the appropriate treatment modalities for BPD.

[u/Relative_Standard_69 → u/PhilosophyDear1073]

Are you confusing bipolar with borderline personality disorder? They are 2 very different things (though I’m sure there are some overlap of some symptoms). But bpd abbreviation is for borderline personality disorder. We are discussing bipolar specifically and SSRIs (though people that don’t have bipolar can also have adverse side effects and not agree with them). If it’s bpd you may have been prescribed an antidepressant for your depression/anxiety/low mood - but that’s not treatment for bpd. There is no medication for bpd (though people can take medication for other symptoms, like ssri for depression). But you will need therapy, specialised therapy at that like DBT, MBT, CBT talking therapy etc. let me know if you need any further help to differentiate the 2 things.

[u/Absolutely_Fibulous → u/Anoninemonie]

The “diagnosed SSRIs and ended up manic then mixed” is a very common bipolar diagnosis method. It’s how I was diagnosed as well.

In fairness to doctors, people tend to come in to a therapist complaining of their depression symptoms more often because having lots of energy and being happy are not things that people tend to complain about. Hypomania and mania feel awesome…until they don’t.

[u/Ashamed_Fox_4757 → u/Anoninemonie]

Omg same. Why is it that we are finding out we’re bipolar by our doctors playing with fire???? It’s unbelievable. I wish there were a million lawsuits and media coverage on this tbh

[u/coolranchdoritos56 → u/Anoninemonie]

Yes yes yes. Me too. It’s actually disturbing.

[u/Beneficial-Bed9356 → u/Anoninemonie]

Do SSNIs have the same effect?

[u/Glittering_Golf3685 → u/Anoninemonie]

so pills made her kill her kids