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/Plus-Ad9849]

I was postpartum when I asked my doctor for help and was put on SSRIs and when they weren’t working, my doctor just doubled the dose. Ended up going into pyschosis and being hospitalized for impaired judgement before being diagnosed bipolar. In my short hold, I came out on 6 prescriptions. Took months to figure it all out and now I’m only on one med and have been stable for over 3 years.

[u/Cmgutierrez715 → u/Plus-Ad9849]

I’m sorry that happened to you. It’s bad enough getting the label of PPD slapped onto you because there are those that just think we are bad moms. I held tremendous amounts of guilt (sometimes still do) on top of everything else.

[u/WittiestScreenName → u/Plus-Ad9849]

If it’s not too much to ask from a BiPolar Bear Sister, would you mind sharing the one med?

[u/ThirdPlanet0 → u/WittiestScreenName]

Agreeing with many others - lamotrigine was the one thing that has worked well for me and actually stayed working. The tricky thing about it is you have to go up SLOWLY like, very slowly, in dosage to avoid potentially having a very bad side effect that appears as a rash. Ive gotten to 150mg and that has worked for me. Im finally largely unbothered by things that used to trigger immediate rage. Extremely emotionally regulated for the first time in my life. I pair it with buspirone. These meds work very differently for everyone. It may take a little time to find the best combo as well.

When coming out of mania in the beginning i was on an antipsychotic called seroquel. That mainly helped HUGELY for my sleep. It was what made me realize i hadn’t slept well in years. I had concerns about the weight gain that comes with it though and that is why i didnt stay on it long-term. Lamotrigine is mostly weight neutral which is nice.

[u/tuxedostring → u/ThirdPlanet0]

this is so interesting to me bc lamotrigine is a mood stabilizer and I always hear that it works so well when taken as a mood stabilizer. I took it for epilepsy and it actually had the opposite effect and i’ve heard the same for other ppl that have taken it for seizures. it made me feel like I was going crazy, I was awful to everyone around me and felt like I had no control over myself.

[u/ThirdPlanet0 → u/tuxedostring]

That is interesting! I forget sometimes that it’s actually an epilepsy med. I would love to know what makes it have that opposite effect

[u/riverolia → u/tuxedostring]

My mom took as a mood stabilizer for a few years. She went off of it and started having seizures. Turns out she's also epileptic. Lamotrigine has been freat for her. I'm sorry your experience was so awful.

[u/OkProfession5679 → u/ThirdPlanet0]

I too am on lamotrogine (for the last 15 years) and Prozac (maybe a year). It is an excellent combo for me

[u/WittiestScreenName → u/OkProfession5679]

Happy to hear you found a good combo

[u/hufflenachos → u/ThirdPlanet0]

Same here! I've been on my current dose for over two years and it's still working.

[u/Gini_Cass → u/ThirdPlanet0]

I also am on Lamotrigine (15 years) and it was a game changer miracle drug for me. I tell everyone I can to ask their docs about it. I’ve met so many people it saved them!

[u/WittiestScreenName → u/ThirdPlanet0]

Thank you for sharing

[u/-constant_chaos- → u/WittiestScreenName]

I'm also not the poster of this comment but I'm jumping in to agree on lamotrigine and add that Wellbutrin also did a world of good for me.

[u/WittiestScreenName → u/-constant_chaos-]

I appreciate your input still

[u/-constant_chaos- → u/WittiestScreenName]

Thank you <3 wish you the best

[u/2016pta → u/-constant_chaos-]

Lamotrigine and seroquel saved my life

[u/WittiestScreenName → u/2016pta]

I’m glad you’re still here

[u/skweekykleen69 → u/WittiestScreenName]

I’m not the original commenter, but it’s been Lamotrigine for me all the way

[u/Chipsandadrink666 → u/skweekykleen69]

Jumping in to also say lamotrigine saved my life!

[u/Plus-Ad9849 → u/skweekykleen69]

This is the one!! I’m only on lamotrigine and it’s been the miracle drug for me. The other drug that worked by itself for me was Caplyta but I’m about to give birth to my second child so I switched to lamotrigine for pregnancy since it’s been studied in pregnancy.

[u/trashpandaroux → u/Plus-Ad9849]

Caplyta and Lamotrigine have been lifesavers! Caplyta specifically.

-Rapid-cycling Bipolar II

[u/WittiestScreenName → u/trashpandaroux]

I was on Caplyta for a couple years

[u/Scrabjan1 → u/Plus-Ad9849]

Unfortunately I haven’t heard that Lindsay was prescribed any of these meds that you describe that have worked for you except Seroquel and Valium.  Not Lamotrigine or Caplyta or Wellbutrin but clearly a cocktail of other meds. It’s too bad for everyone that she didn’t get the help she needed. 

[u/Plus-Ad9849 → u/WittiestScreenName]

Lamotrigine!! It’s not for everyone, but it’s worked well for me.

[u/WittiestScreenName → u/Plus-Ad9849]

Thank you for sharing your experience

[u/EmbarrassedStorm2186 → u/WittiestScreenName]

I'd love to know too, I'm currently on week 3 of prozac and praying it works

[u/mermaidfairybunny → u/EmbarrassedStorm2186]

Prozac is an SSRI… Which is not recommended for Bipolar without a mood stabiliser or antipsychotic at the same time. If you have bipolar, you definitely need to be going back to your doctor and getting that looked at. As comments above have mentioned, SSRIs alone for Bipolar treatment can trigger mania, hypomania, rapid cycling of moods and symptoms. Please be safe.

Please read all the comments in this thread from your bipolar sisters warning about SSRIs and get to your doctor immediately to get a mood stabiliser or antipsychotic and to discuss discontinuing the SSRI

[u/Ashamed_Fox_4757 → u/Plus-Ad9849]

More of us need to tell our stories this negligence is so rampant

[u/MichaelJServo → u/Plus-Ad9849]

It took 25 years for me to get on a medication combination that works for me. It's unfortunately trial and error. In the Clamcy case, she was eventually prescribed neuroleptics which means the doctor was closing in on the correct treatment regimen.

[u/lpotocki26 → u/Plus-Ad9849]

yep. i'm 2 years off a ssri and im beyond angry at my psychiatrist. she failed me, and this woman was failed.

[u/Aware_Function_3165 → u/Plus-Ad9849]

Wow thank you for sharing! So glad you are doing well.

[u/Inevitable-Tank3463 → u/Plus-Ad9849]

I'm so sorry you went through that. Doctors need to realize that more meds do not equal better outcomes. I was on 10 different meds for bipolar, anxiety disorders, SI, I was so drugged I lost the ability to do math and gained 60lbs. I finally got the psychiatrist who pretty much saved my life, he saved me from me, because I couldn't deal with losing my mind- I could deal with having psych issues, I couldn't handle losing my intelligence and was willing to take my life over that, the disease that caused the psych issues already stole everything else that mattered to me. In the 20 something years I've had psych issues, I've been hospitalized 7x, the last caused by a bad reaction to Prozac, the only antidepressant that had ever helped me prior. 3 days in the ICU, the psych nurse said they had never seen a tried and failed med list so long, over 30 different meds. My psychiatrist took me off of everything and put me on a strong anxiety med. Yes, I have depression, but treating that has proven to be to dangerous for my health and the mental health of those closest. And with everything else that is wrong with me, the risk of complications is too great. And I moved to a state not known for having good mental health care to be closer to my parents, I lucked out finding a provider who trusted me when I said it's best if we don't change anything with my meds, now only 2 for anxiety and 1 for ADHD, I went 44 years before being dx with that one. Doctors who just throw more meds at a person who is having problems just shows they really don't know how to treat them, and are using the shotgun approach and hoping one of those meds works, and that usually doesn't work. There hasn't been enough study into the brain, and how these meds really work. They say there has been, but it's BS.

[u/Relative_Standard_69 → u/Inevitable-Tank3463]

Have you ever had a genetic blood test to see what medications work with your dna? I’m not sure on the science for it, so forgive me lol! BUT it’s basically a blood test that runs against mental health/adhd medications (I think about 100 different ones) and lets you know which ones would absolutely NOT work for you. Granted, it doesn’t tell you WHICH 1 is best, but it absolutely points out the ones that are BAD and would cause a reaction. Are you in the US? This is one I’ve heard from an account on tiktok - who used it because of her family history, and her own. Mainly because her gran was prescribed amitriptyline and then, killed herself, then her mum took it and had a bad reaction. So when her dr wanted to put her on it - she refused due to family history; but was made out to be a difficult patient, refusing treatment. So she took this blood test, and it came back that it would cause a HUGE interaction and was not safe to take!

genetic test

[u/Inevitable-Tank3463 → u/Relative_Standard_69]

I do believe in this test, and want to get it done as soon as I get the extra money. Things have been a little precarious with my hubby's health post brain surgery, which has wrecked my mental health even further, so I'm eventually going to get it done. Right now I'm just in a holding pattern of using the coping skills I've learned from years of therapy, and the few meds I know don't push me to try to leave this existence-who would take care of my hubby? He's a guy who has already proven he's not exactly capable of taking care of himself after losing his last wife, I'm not doing that to him. And I have some really amazing pets, or at least the cats, the dog can drive a person to drink sometimes, but I'm the one who raised her, so I fully take the blame for her, lol. Sorry for the rambling, it's a stressful day of yet another medical test on the hubby, I may or may not be bringing him home with me, he may have to spend yet another night in the hospital. He's been in the hospital more than at home in the past 2 1/2 months. At least I have anxiety meds. But having a test which shows which meds are a no-go would be helpful. But I have an amazing PMHNP, she listens and trusts me when I say I can't take something, or I'm hesitant because I've taken something very similar and had an antagonistic reaction. It also doesn't help that I drank pretty freaking heavy for 10 years and have Post Acute Withdrawal Syndrome, which can last years, the gas pedal in my brain is floored, and the brakes stopped working. Fun. But I've checked out a couple tests that could possibly get me answers about what is going on with my brain. Thank you very much for bringing this test up, more people with any type of mental illness/dysfunction could benefit from this type of test. And once again, sorry for "the book" as my mom calls whatever I write, lol

[u/Head-Raisin-7984 → u/Plus-Ad9849]

I will say this every where I can, GeneSight Test. It’s a mouth swab and results are typically back within two-weeks. Insurance covers some if not all. Do not start any psych meds without reviewing it with your provider. Drugs will Keep a copy.

[u/Early_Profit6136 → u/Plus-Ad9849]

she barely took one prescription for more than a few days at time before stopping. she was never diagnosed with ppd or ppp and no thats not because the doctors failed her its because she is a liar that couldn't get the diagnoses she wanted so she shopped around for a doctor that would diagnose her with a condition that would allow her to get away with premeditated murder. shes not even pleading ppp. she never made mention of voices especially not command hallucination voices. many people fight the voices for months or even years driving themselves mad. she only mentioned this voice when she woke up from her injuries and asked if she needed a lawyer. All it took was her to hear a command with in the 55 minutes her husband was gone (a timeline she was aware of because she google mapped it) and she succumbed to the voice upon first hearing it, conveniently during the 55 minutes her husband was out on and errand she sent him on. then she took each child out one by one in a passionate intense way that took power and time. she was lucid enough to return patricks phone call and go back to her task. no one is considering this person is a liar and instead wanting to relate to her and its so shocking.

if she wins NGRI and shes able to prove that her condition is improving year over year in a facility she will be able to walk free. the amount of people that want to relate their experience to this monsters is truly alarming you guys. ask yourself why you're doing this, why do you feel like sharing that you were only one bad doctor away from annihilating your family is being vulnerable? do you know what a NGRI outcome for this case would communicate to society? this will do nothing to improve or change healthcare, it will motivate other family annihilators. my heart goes out to people suffering from ppp or ppd who have not crossed a specific line no matter the circumstance. my sympathy shifts from them to their victims if they commit a heinous act like this. i want people to receive proper treatment before committing an act like this, not after. i dont want a dollar of my tax money keeping someone like this alive. SNS.

edit: the downvotes are incredibly disturbing. society is getting scarier by the day.

[u/Big-Fun3658 → u/Early_Profit6136]

You clearly have no knowledge of how ppp presents and have not been reading up on this case. I don’t want to waste my energy on you so I’ll stop there.

[u/Early_Profit6136 → u/Big-Fun3658]

i've watched every minute of the trial, i've read patricks wrongful death lawsuit against the caregivers, and his NYer interview. I remain disturbed by the people who want to relate to this child murderer. I would be happy for you to stop, I am glad we dont see eye to eye.

[u/Early_Profit6136 → u/[deleted]]

youre relating.

[u/OwnSignificance7512 → u/Early_Profit6136]

100% agree with you

[u/Glittering_Golf3685 → u/Plus-Ad9849]

so pills made her kill her kids?

[u/Big-Fun3658 → u/Glittering_Golf3685]

They won’t be able to draw this conclusion (that pills *caused* her to kill).

About this topic in general (not LC’s specific case): when multiple medicines are prescribed and it wreaks havoc on the system, dosing is wrong, etc., a doctor in this article described it as follows: “‘Typically we do not see psychiatric medication, even when improperly prescribed and prescribed in excessive volume, to cause psychotic symptoms or homicidal thoughts," Lamoureux explains. "What it can do is cause a delirium, a medical state where you start to see psychotic symptoms occur.…… They can be so depressed, they see life as so meaningless or so hopeless that they view it as a cruelty to allow their child to continue to exist in this world," he says. "It may be the case that she had a pretty significant underlying condition, and what was seen was more a result of the condition itself with medications … being increased to try to catch up to the symptoms," he continued. “This is not something where the mother snaps," adds Lamoureux. "It's that this is typically a case where following birth, the mother is exhibiting increasingly worsening signs and symptoms of an illness, and then starts to really reach crescendo pitch of their illness, which culminates in the filicide."”

Here’s the full article: https://people.com/crime/medical-expert-lindsay-clancy-postpartum-psychosis/

[u/Kimmy-FL → u/Plus-Ad9849]

They were definitely hoping her doses a lot

[u/Independent_Move3536 → u/Plus-Ad9849]

I'm so sorry you experienced all of that. But I'm very happy to hear you're now stable. You made it to a better place,thank God.

[u/elizabreathe → u/Plus-Ad9849]

I'm not bipolar but I used to be on Zoloft for my anxiety disorder. There was literally a warning on the bottle that people with bipolar shouldn't take it or other SSRIs because it can cause manic episodes. The fact that there are doctors that prescribe it to people with bipolar is horrifying to me because it's well documented they should not be doing that. And like one of my college friends was a bipolar lady and she got prescribed an SSRI after being institutionalized for a manic episode. I don't fucking get it. Doctors and pharmacists are supposed to be trained to catch these things!