Thinking about the Lindsay Clancy trial that began today.
Maternal mental health is important. Period. Society has come so far, yet talking about mental health, in general, is still considered taboo.
Something to think about…
Between 2001-2023, here are all of the wonderful technical advancements:
- Broadband internet & wifi
- Smartphones, iPods, and tablets
- Wearable technology
- AI, autonomous vehicles, & drones
- Smart homes & quantum computing
And still, we can’t seem to make maternal mental health a priority.
Andrea Yates took the lives of her children in 2001. Lindsay Clancy took the lives of her children in 2023. And in that time, we could not bring ourselves to take the conversations about maternal mental health seriously. Sometimes, just knowing there is someone out there who is willing to listen is enough. But, in these two cases, it goes much deeper.
We don’t take postpartum anxiety seriously. We don’t take postpartum depression seriously. We don’t take postpartum PTSD seriously. We don’t take maternal exhaustion seriously. We don’t take maternal time off seriously. We don’t take the time it takes a woman’s body to heal, both physically and emotionally, from child birth seriously. We don’t take postpartum psychosis seriously…until it’s too late.
Both Andrea Yates and Lindsay Clancy were under medical care. Lindsay Clancy knew something was wrong. She was placed on medication after medication, then they were switched and replaced with other medications for symptoms such as anxiety, depression, and insomnia. She SELF-ADMITTED to McLean Hospital and just four days later she is discharged by the hospital with no indication that she is a danger to herself or others.
Four days. This is someone who has been having intrusive thoughts of harming herself and her children. Yet, the institution that boasts themselves as “The Gold Standard in Mental Health” saw no need to keep her for more than just four days.
Have you ever been responsible for a newborn and been running on 2 or 3 hours of sleep per day? Sometimes, maybe less? It’s utter HELL. Imagine caring for a newborn, plus two other children, AND working with ZERO sleep and your thoughts racing; never shutting off. Our system keeps consistently failing mothers.
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