Researchers estimate postpartum psychosis afflicts 1 to 2 of every 1,000 new mothers
In the weeks after giving birth, Bridget María Chesterton found herself curled up on a bathroom floor, her words disconnected from the room around her. When she reached the emergency room, she kept repeating a single question: “What’s going on?” She had lost touch with reality, according to The Associated Press.
Her family would later learn she had postpartum psychosis, a severe mental health disorder now in public view through the trial of Lindsay Clancy, a Massachusetts woman accused of strangling her three children. A central question at trial is whether postpartum psychosis drove Clancy’s actions.
Postpartum psychosis is a mental health emergency distinct from — and less common than — postpartum depression. Researchers estimate it afflicts 1 to 2 of every 1,000 women after delivery, a small fraction of new mothers.
Although most women who develop postpartum psychosis do not harm their children, mothers with severe cases may attempt to harm themselves or their offspring, according to the AP report. The Clancy trial continues.