Abstract
The reproductive years are a time of tremendous psychological vulnerability for women, with psychiatric admissions occurring more around childbirth than any other time in the female life cycle. In rare cases, some mothers have been known to commit infanticide. When a mother takes the life of her infant anytime in the first year postpartum, which is referred to as infanticide. One mental illness that may precipitate acts of infanticide is postpartum psychosis, which is characterized by disorganized thinking, mania, insomnia, depersonalization, hallucinations, and/or delusions. Such delusions may drive mothers to take the lives of their babies out of fears about their infants’ safety in current circumstances. Fortunately, this psychiatric emergency is relatively easy to screen for because postpartum psychosis has a clearly defined period of onset and clinical picture. Mothers who receive treatment within the first month after giving birth have considerably better short- and long-term outcomes.
Recommended Citation
Barnes, Diana and Brown, Jerrod
(2015)
"Understanding Postpartum Psychosis and Infanticide,"
Forensic Scholars Today: Vol. 1:
Iss.
4, Article 10.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.csp.edu/forensic_scholars_today/vol1/iss4/10