What is postpartum psychosis?

Attorneys for Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts nurse on trial for killing her three young children in 2023, argued Tuesday that she should not be held criminally responsible, citing a diagnosis of postpartum psychosis. According to The 19th, the rare condition affects roughly one or two women out of every thousand and can cause a dangerous break from reality, unlike the far more common postpartum depression. Clancy's husband said she had described intrusive thoughts of harming herself and the children about a month before their deaths. The 19th notes a similar defense was used in the 2001 case of Andrea Yates, whose murder conviction was later overturned on grounds of insanity.

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