The Lindsay Clancy Case: Postpartum Psychosis & the Law Explained By A Forensic Psychiatrist

Content warning: This episode discusses postpartum psychosis, suicide and the death of children. If that's not something you're in the space to hear right now, please skip this one and look after yourself. Support services are listed at the bottom of these notes.

Hey Lifers. Today's episode is a heavier one, and it's a little different to our usual Friday chats.

So many of you have been following the Lindsay Clancy case, and it's come up again and again in the discussion group. Lindsay is the Massachusetts mum charged with the murder of her three young children in January 2023. Her trial ended in a mistrial in September after the jury couldn't reach a unanimous verdict, and it's left a lot of us with more questions than answers.

This episode is not about the outcome of the Lindsay Clancy case. We're not here to debate the verdict, weigh up the evidence or decide whether anyone is guilty. What we want to do is understand the bigger picture: what postpartum psychosis is, how mental illness is assessed in the justice system, and how to recognise the warning signs in ourselves and the people we love.

We're not experts, and we didn't want to add to the noise. So we found someone who is. Dr Jackie Rakov is a Melbourne-based clinical and forensic psychiatrist. She assesses people facing very serious charges, writes reports for the courts and is cross-examined as an expert witness. Jackie has no involvement in the Clancy case and isn't here to diagnose anyone from afar. She's here to help us understand how this actually works.

We also get into what happens when most of us are getting our information from a three-minute TikTok, and what someone who does this work for a living wishes the internet understood about cases like this one.

Then we head into the courtroom. How is mental illness assessed and proven in a criminal case, and how much room is there for error? What does "not guilty by reason of insanity" really mean for what happens to a person afterwards? Can someone seem completely fine in the hours before a tragedy? And how much rests on the twelve people who end up on a jury?

Most importantly, we cover the warning signs to look for in yourself, your partner or someone you love.

Postpartum psychosis is a medical emergency. If you're worried about yourself or a new parent in your life, please don't wait.

If this episode has raised anything for you:

• Emergency: call 000 or go to your nearest emergency department
• PANDA (Perinatal Anxiety & Depression Australia): 1300 726 306, panda.org.au
• Lifeline: 13 11 14 (24/7), lifeline.org.au
• ForWhen (perinatal mental health support line): 1300 24 23 22, forwhenhelpline.org.au
• 13YARN (crisis support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people): 13 92 76 (24/7)
• Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636, beyondblue.org.au
• Gidget Foundation Australia: gidgetfoundation.org.au

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Why we're talking about the Lindsay Clancy case
4:18 Postpartum depression vs postpartum psychosis, and what causes it
8:26 What the internet gets wrong about cases like this
12:45 How mental illness is proven in court, and what the verdict really means
17:47 How a forensic psychiatric assessment works
33:43 The gaps in perinatal mental health care
37:07 Warning signs for new parents and their families
42:12 Where to find support

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