The Patriot Post® · The Silent Fight: Postpartum Depression, Anxiety, and Psychosis

Two women have been frequently in the headlines over the past couple of weeks: Hayden Panettiere, the famous actress who died on August 16 from a possible drug overdose, and Lindsay Clancy, the mother who is currently on trial for confessing to the murder of her three young children.

These women, despite being in different walks of life, shared a similar struggle: postpartum depression (PPD), postpartum anxiety (PPA), and — allegedly in Clancy’s case — postpartum psychosis (PPP).

What happens postpartum, that delicate period after giving birth? Every mother undergoes a hormonal crash after her baby is born. Many experience the “baby blues” — intense anxiety and sadness that lingers for days or weeks — but not every mother deals with PPD, PPA, or PPP. Both PPD and PPA can persist for months if left untreated, and PPP will get progressively worse and more dangerous without treatment. Mercifully, postpartum psychosis is rare. According to PubMed Central, for every 1,000 births, only one or two mothers may suffer from the condition, which causes extreme mental distress and makes it difficult for a mother to function, care for herself, or feel connected to her baby.

Some argue that these aren’t real medical conditions, suggesting that mothers suffering from a mental health crisis are somehow just lazy or selfish. I beg to differ.

After giving birth to my first child, I suffered intense baby blues. The anxiety was so intense that I felt like a perpetual motion machine, constantly pacing. Nothing calmed the inner storm except time and mild medicine. Knowing how terrifying that lingering feeling was, how alien it was to all that I am, I have great sympathy for women in the throes of that battle. My experience gave me a small glimpse of how frightening postpartum mental illness can be. I wasn’t being a lazy person, and I wasn’t being selfish — I had a mental health crisis brought on by extenuating factors ranging from biological predisposition to lack of support.

That being said, what would help prevent tragedies like those of Panettiere and Clancy in the future? Were these women overprescribed? Were they underserved? Were they misdiagnosed? Is societal stigma the biggest problem?

Panettiere’s PPD and her public discussion of it cost her brand deals. Neutrogena, the makeup brand, dropped Panettiere as a representative after she discussed PPD on a talk show. It prompted many women to stop using Neutrogena after her death.

Clancy had recently been released after a voluntary five-day stay at a psychiatric hospital, where she was diagnosed with severe major depressive disorder without psychotic features. Clancy’s treating psychiatrist testified that she saw no evidence of psychosis. Nineteen days later, Clancy killed her three children and attempted suicide. Her defense now argues that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis and bipolar disorder at the time of the killings.

It raises the question: Was she originally misdiagnosed? If she was, does that matter? Her children are dead at her hands.

Daily Wire podcaster Andrew Klavan put it best when he said, “As a rule, the person who pulls the trigger is the killer.”

Panettiere had a long history of alcohol and opioid addiction. Given that, it is reasonable to ask whether PPD contributed to the tragic trajectory of her addiction and eventual death. Is justice raging at those who contributed to her addiction? Is her blood on the hands of a career that chews people up and spits them out? Or is the actress herself the real villain, having given in to her demons?

Clancy had a history of mental health problems before having children. Her defense argues that she had bipolar disorder and developed postpartum psychosis. The question is whether insanity means she lacked criminal responsibility because she had PPP at the time she murdered her children. If the defense prevails, Clancy would be found not criminally responsible — but she wouldn’t simply walk free. She would be committed to a psychiatric facility, potentially for years, depending on her current mental state and whether she is considered dangerous. Is this justice? After all, her children, who are voiceless due to her actions, are still dead.

These cases involve very different circumstances, but both highlight the devastating consequences that severe postpartum mental illness can have, and both raise a question that deserves serious attention: What happens when postpartum effects become severe, when the people around a struggling mother fail to recognize the danger, and when treatment does not adequately address the crisis?

This is often a silent fight — an embarrassing and scary one — in which mothers feel out of control and yet still must provide for a tiny, helpless human. For the victims of Clancy’s crime, justice is still up for debate. However, the postpartum struggle that she and other women have gone through is very real. Perhaps a national conversation will help put better protections in place for mothers and their families.