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If she suffered a psychotic break this could indeed be correct no? There is a reason why we have insanity defenses and the like, sometimes people are not responsible for their own actions. We don't have enough information either way here it appears, but a suicide attempt might be indicative. It also may not be and she is a manipulative murderer.
It does not appear uncommon for parents under stress (and often sleep deprived) to have intrusive thoughts (there was a time period when my first 3 kids were all not sleeping that lasted about a week or 10 days, where I was very close to snapping), and it is probably important that this is talked about, so that people who do have those thoughts don't feel there is no support and the thoughts turn to actions. A Clinical psychologist says:
"Postpartum psychosis is extremely rare, comprising about 0.01 to 0.02 percent of cases of postpartum depression, Goldberg and Sukhera said.
The condition is marked by hallucinations, delusions, hearing voices and a detachment from reality, Goldberg said. Only about 5 percent of those diagnosed with postpartum psychosis will attempt to harm themselves or their children, she said.
"The numbers are very small, but the cases are very serious," she said. "If someone is having thoughts of harming themselves or their child, it should be taken very seriously."
Her husband (who knows her better than any of us) is reported to say she had some kind of condition which might support some kind of mental illness.
"He added that her “condition” had recently worsened, even though he did not specify what she was battling." and “The real Lindsay was generously loving and caring towards everyone — me, our kids, family, friends, and her patients. The very fibers of her soul are loving. All I wish for her now is that she can somehow find peace,” he added.
She should still be tried given the circumstances but if the outcome is that she needs psychiatric treatment then it may indeed have been something that happened to her, like getting cancer or schizophrenia. It's certainly possible she fooled her husband but it would seem the most likely explanation of an otherwise normal mother murdering her kids and attempting suicide who was suffering from some kind of worsening condition according to the person who knew her best is that she was mentally ill. If it is true that more support for future mothers is able to identify cases where kids would be at risk then that seems reasonable as well.
Well that is literally the point, she may not have. That's why psychiatric assessment is needed. With acute mental crisis events, you may not actually know right from wrong, or be aware of what you are doing. Now that may not be the case here. But it does fit some of the cases I was involved in the past when I worked in social care.
https://bc.ctvnews.ca/dad-killed-kids-for-altruistic-reasons-psychiatrist-1.458810?cache=%3FclipId%3D104056
Dr. Roy O'Shaughnessy testified that Allan Schoenborn believed his children were being sexually abused, and felt the only solution was to kill them.
"The distortions in the thinking led him to believe - I think probably at a moment's notice at the time of their deaths - that the only way to protect them was in fact to kill them and put them in heaven," the psychiatrist testified. "In his disillusioned view of the world it was logical."
"A B.C. man found not criminally responsible for the killings of his three children about a decade ago has been granted the ability to take multi-day leaves from the Lower Mainland psychiatric hospital he was sentenced to. Dave Texeira, spokesperson for the victims’ family, confirmed the decision on Friday (March 11). “This is not good for anyone,” he tweeted. Allan Schoenborn has been held at the hospital since 2010 after being convicted of killing his 10-year-old daughter and two sons, aged eight and five, in April 2008."
I find that people who have not much in person experience with truly mentally ill individuals sometimes struggle to understand how disordered their thinking can be. In this case she attempted suicide, but also there was no real attempt to disguise her crime and get away with it. That suggests (but does not prove) some kind of break. A planned methodical killer might have smothered them, or gassed them or staged an accident.
That is not to say she should just walk away, if she was suffering from psychosis (which is much more than just the blues to be clear) then she needs to be committed and treated for a long period of time.
That was part of his defense so they will presumably find the psychiatrist who will spin it their way as much as possible, as the prosecution will do the opposite. I'm not sure how good the legal system is at separating the wheat from the chaff so to speak. Which is another issue indeed.
My experience back in the day with social work is that there are more people than you might suspect who are ok for 90% of their lives and then go haywire for what looks like some random reason (but probably is not). And some who almost go haywire (perhaps the intrusive thoughts those mothers spoke of) but don't. Telling those categories apart before something happens is exceptionally difficult I think.
I think there definitely are bad people, but there are also sick people and that sickness may make them do bad things. Telling the difference is difficult and vengeance upon the sick is probably bad in and of itself. Taking vengeance upon bad people (through the state process so as not to pull in their friends/relatives) seems pretty fine to me. It is a legitimately complicated situation. I also appreciated your input into the conversation. Thanks!
Two opposing analogies:
The genetically determined brute: a man who, by some novel genetic recombination, has random psychotic breaks with homicidal urges, and kills multiple people. Is it his fault? On one hand, "no", because it was "his genes" that determined it. But this abolishes all fault - all human behavior is determined by mechanical causation, or at least partially determined by, if we have souls with will or something. Any time you eat food, is that your "choice", or your genes and causation forcing you to, outside your will?
Or - someone's having a picnic in a city. A homeless guy wanders by, and the guy, ever generous, chats him up and offers him some food. The homeless guy sits there for a few minutes, then wanders away - but, for some inscrutable reason, drops some PCP in our guy's salad. Our guy finishes the salad, goes home, has a drug-induced psychotic episode, and murders his wife. As he comes down, he calls the cops, and gets arrested. At trial, the preceding events are proven beyond a shadow of a doubt with security camera footage.
In the former case, it's the person's "fault", in that they'd probably end up doing the same thing again, so punishing them for it is good. In the latter case, it's not their "fault", in that they won't end up doing that again, so punishing them for it is dumb.
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