The online arguing about Lyndsay Clancy occurs because we are discussing two separate people. Groups pick the wrong poster child all the time, and may even prefer poor choices because it separates the temporary fans from the True Believers. Anyone can agree with you when you're right! To find out who your real supporters are, you have to see who is still there when you are dead wrong. Those are the people who support what you symbolise for them, without regard to your desert. George Floyd and Michael Brown were terrible choices to rally behind. Who would choose Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden as the best hills to die on?
I do have a little to say about Real Lyndsay. That she showed organisation and planning is not an argument against her being mentally ill. Ted Kaczynski was well-organised. James Hodgkinson was well-organised. The later one's symptoms develop, the more adult skill and planning is in place. I have known many organised psychotic people. Legal definitions of insanity differ among states, and that is going to matter when it comes time to go to court. Knowing the difference between right and wrong can be key, but so can having control over one's actions, or interpreting events accurately. There is some sense in all of those ways of looking at things. I had a patient who believed the neighbors were killing babies in their basement, but also believed it was not his job to avenge them, so he picketed them instead. I have also had a patient who believed her family was in danger from demons but the family didn't believe her, so she set the house on fire to force them to leave, with the added benefit that the demons were now powerless as well. That Lyndsay Clancy thought this was her last chance to "save" her children sounds believable to me. I don't have the evidence the jury did, but I would tend to accept an insanity defense.
What I don't accept is the idea that she was under such terrible pressure because of being postpartum and not getting enough support that this caused her mental illness and made her snap. Psychosis doesn't work like that. It is not environmental, it is biological. The only environmental situation which may be causal is a difficult pregnancy - which is in itself pretty biological. Lack of support has not been shown to increase the frequency. Pre-existing or some previous psychiatric conditions increase the risk, but only bipolar disorder and schizophrenia have been strongly shown to. Not even postpartum depression, anxiety, or drug abuse looks at present to be implicated. I have only seen about a dozen cases, and most of them had previous bipolar disorder. The symptoms can even start in pregnancy, before the birth. Looking it up, I read that symptoms can start months after delivery, but I had never seen nor heard of that.
I wouldn't go out on a limb and say that postpartum depression is completely unrelated, but it might be, and tying the two together is...well, we're about to see.
Symbolic Lyndsay Clancy is an entirely different person, just as Symbolic Trayvon Martin and Symbolic Luigi Mangione are. They look the same in photos, so you'd swear they were the same, but they may not even be related. SymLinds is built from a need for a poster child. As is usual, groups do not pick their best poster child, they may even prefer bad ones - or maybe once you step outside the bounds of what is observable reasonable and true, anything can happen. Separate discussion, though an interesting one. SymLynds is assembled from the following ideas.
A woman's life is hard.
Motherhood is even harder.
Pregnancy and delivery are harder still, and have both hormonally and environmentally- influenced risks.
Other people do not fully understand how hard it is, especially men and women who have not had children. But even women who have had children can be dismissive and unsupportive.
Additionally, some women feel unsupported even when their support is good, but telling a woman that makes it worse.
Some women develop Postpartum Depression. It is even worse than a typical stress response to a hard situation. It may not be much related to support at all, but it just feels like it should be, because it is very like a typical stress reaction, only stronger.
Women can feel sad, inadequate, guilty, and isolated. Those with PPD feel these even more strongly.
People's responses to this can be very unhelpful: dismissive, falsely cheerful, withdrawing.
Under such circumstances, people can overidentify with anyone whose situation seems similar. Once identification occurs, it is like baby ducks imprinting on a moving figure as mommy, or a prince under a spell falling in love with the first woman he sees. The actual facts of their situation have little to do with it, and this can happen very quickly. The figure imprinted on then becomes idealised, fed by the needs of the duck or the prince.
SymLynds is entirely a projection of the desires of her fans. This is why no facts matter.
No comments:
Post a Comment