Sympathy And Blaming Mental Illness For Someone Who Suicides And Murders Their Children?

[EmmaOwl]

You can experience psychosis with depression. It can even look a lot like schizophrenia.

I'm sorry, Nessa, for your suffering and his - and people at large who continue to fall into this confusion of diagnoses.

I had a distant cousin who was diagnosed with schizophrenia.. And, well, the story is tragic - a murder-suicide with him and his father. He was early 20's I believe. They thought he was a treatment-resistant schizophrenic drug addict or something. It's sort of past the point of debate but I think you're right that psychotic depression goes undiagnosed, or incorrectly diagnosed, sometimes with utterly devastating consequences.

It's one of those things that drops your jaw down when it is in your family, no matter if it's a second cousin twice removed or whatever, that is more than enough to get me onto the uneasy topic of genetic predisposition and decide that I am hopeless on both sides of my family.

I have no problem believing that people are capable of all sorts of acts that society sees as heinous. If a person has never had such horrible and desperate in his/her mind as a part of his/her depression, then he/she is, in some ways, lucky. To be that depressed and that desperate, is a terrible thing.

Yes. That is a very respectful way to view things, @whiteraven . You captured that very well here - thank you.

 

[Friday]

sed to work as charge nurse on a psychiatric unit, and we had a number of women admitted with postpartum depression/psychosis who had either killed their children or had done something to hurt or attempted to hurt them. In fact, it does happen, it is documented, and I have no doubt that they are at least temporarily without the ability to make a sane and rational decision

"The suicide hours", aka antepartum depression, runs in my family. Every single woman in my bloodline has gotten them. 2nd trimester to birth for at least an hour a day, and usually a couple hours, full on psychosis. My hours were really predictable. Not my first experience with being crazy I would just chain myself up when things got out of hand. (After my son was born chatting with my OB she was all :eek: Honey. We have meds for that. //Oh. Well good to know for next time!) Very serious respect for hormones. I've been out of my damn mind before, but "the suicide hours" were just a whole different ball game, and thank gawd antepartum has a natural end-date. Postpartum depression & psychosis can go for years untreated. Shudder.

 

[whiteraven]

I'm so sorry you had to deal with this, @Friday. I've seen it, and it is a horrible thing.