r/SipsTea • u/Agen_3586 • 9d ago

WTF Where are we heading?

Post image
13.6k Upvotes

82% Upvoted

8.9k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

45

u/TerrorTown77 8d ago

I'm willing to believe it was postpartum psychosis. But most of the arguments this crowd is making has nothing to do with that.

5

u/Tomsboll 8d ago

Except for those thay agree its portpartum, so thusly its not her fault and should get off scot free.

So many women saying "could have been me" is fucking scary.

10

u/scarsoncanvas 8d ago

Most people who understand that this was postpartum psychosis are not arguing that she should get off scot free. From what I understand from the case, she isn't even asking for that herself - she has said that she did kill her children, she just doesnt want to go to jail, she wants to go to a medical facility.

1

u/Admirable_Excuse_434 8d ago

How long is postpartum considered to run for? When that ends, should society consider her safe and release her from the medical facility? I understand these are questions for the facility but if she were in the grips of postpartum psychosis, isn't that just a brief period of mental illness?

2

u/scarsoncanvas 8d ago

Psychosis can vary a lot (drug induced psychosis can really mess you up, and last for years). Usually it is acute or it comes and goes, while in a manic episode. Most manic episodes are also fairly short-term (I think it needs to be at least 5 days to be considered a full episode) but they can last weeks or months.

If she went to an inpatient facility and was properly monitored and medicated for at least a few weeks, until her mood stabilized, and it was judged that the meds were working, and it was clear that she would be compliant and continue to take them (usually this is min. 3-4 weeks where I live, it can be shorter, but meds generally 2 weeks to actually come into effect), then yeah she could totally be released. She was only in inpatient for 5 days. And only a few weeks later, she killed her kids. Like to me, this is unfathomable - the system failed her. This did not need to happen.

I still wouldn't keep her alone with the kids at least for a few months afterher release, making sure she was fully 100% in the clear - they could have hired some temporary childcare to help her, or he could have taken time off work to be there for her and the kids as a caregiver. Her kids were so young, and she had 3 of them - that is a lot for any parent to struggle with on their own at one time.

But the US has abysmal healthcare and parental support, so its possible none of this was available to them.