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and_dont_blink t1_j67lkm4 wrote

Reply to comment by EducationalElevator in 8-month-old baby injured in Duxbury family tragedy dies, DA says by Jezebels_lipstick

>Am I cold, or are the social media posts going around about this story unnervingly sympathetic to her? Yes, postpartum psychosis is terrible.

You're being cold, though admittedly I've seen severe PPD up close (but not pp psychosis) and a psychotic break of an acquaintance completely out of the blue that ended with them stopping their car and trying to break into the nearest home. With a lot of illnesses, how you react to it can be influenced by how much exposure you have to it in general.

Everyone likely knows someone who has had kids and struggled mentally with some form of PPD, they likely know someone who has struggled severely though not to this degree (post partum psychosis is very rare). It isn't someone with severe mental issues having children, it isn't someone developing them and it being clear what should be done -- it's people imagining they have a kid and it happens to them because it really can happen to anyone.

Who do you get angry at here? It's hard to be angry at the mother, she threw herself out a window and if she's able to become lucid her life is a horror film now that no one would wish on them. She was seeking treatment. The father, who called it in? Perhaps he was irresponsible, or maybe he had to pee for a moment and no one knew how severe things were -- either way his life is a nightmare and we just don't know. Perhaps the treatment professionals, but this is rare and these things can take a sharp left turn quickly -- you're often looking at involuntary hospitalizations that can be difficult. What you're left with is tragedy, and a "therebut for the grace of god go I."

If more info come out and there was severe negligence that'll be another story, but right now based on what we know who do we get angry at?

>But she can simultaneously be a sick person who is also a killer.

That doesn't really track, we aren't talking about anti-social personality disorder, we're talking about postpartum/perpetual/postnatal psychosis. Maybe you are confusing psychosis and psychopathy?

This is psychosis, and hence aren't viewing reality like we are, and aren't really "them." Their judgement is impaired, and it often combines hallucinations and false beliefs/delusions -- the entire idea of psychosis is you aren't experiencing reality properly. It isn't really them.

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EducationalElevator t1_j68cpjn wrote

I don't really follow your last point. Because it was psychosis and not psychopathy, that makes her less of a murderer? I just get the sense that if this wasn't a wealthy white family there wouldn't be as many heart emojis floating around the internet for someone who violently murdered three babies.

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and_dont_blink t1_j68egbs wrote

>I don't really follow your last point. Because it was psychosis and not psychopathy, that makes her less of a murderer?

It was a response to the comment that someone can be sick but still a killer. That person isn't that person, they're the illness -- and post partum psychosis is usually treatable and not permanent. It's akin to blaming you for a dream you had.

>I just get the sense that if this wasn't a wealthy white family there wouldn't be as many heart emojis floating around the internet for someone who violently murdered three babies.

That sounds like you are projecting your own baggage onto the situation? I can't speak to the heart emojis you are seeing somewhere, but when these cases come up (and if you search you'll find them) the response is generally shock and that it's a horrible tragedy.

You see the exact opposite for something like Munchausen by proxy cases, or the rare cases where a mother actually is a killer and something happens to a child so she can be with another man etc.

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