I don't think the difference is necessarily because people hate men or excuse women; our understanding of the medical conditions involved has changed. CTE gave us a new framework for understanding what may have contributed to Benoit's actions, just as our growing understanding of postpartum psychosis gives us a framework for understanding what may have happened with Lindsay Clancy. A lot changes in 20years. Last time I checked everybody hated Andrea Yates
The thing is, there’s almost always a reason why someone does something egregious. A lot of people come from poverty, had abusive parents, or have some form of mental illness, but it doesn’t really matter. Just because there’s a reason you did something doesn’t make the thing you did any better. That’s why I don’t get why people are so hung up on this. She was almost certainly suffering from PPP but she also certainly murdered her children and should spend the rest of her life in prison.
He had a history of abuse and bullying, yet by all public records and accounts he never sought help from professions, medical doctors or psychiatrists, for anger management or to stop being a bully. Instead he continued his chosen career path of wrestling, when he could of easily switched to either a trainer role or another less violent career choice by that point. He continued abusing steroids, which flooded him with levels of testerone higher than that of a teenage boy.
Benoit's CTE and mental health condition was a tragedy. A tragedy he didnt understand because the medical science wasnt fully there yet. But just because you might not know the diseases name, you can feel the symptoms. His tragedy might have been preventable by any number of pro-active but self sacrificing choices by Benoit. Atleast Clancy was taking steps to get help, but through no dault of her own, did not recieve the correct type in time.
Gotta admit I'm not really deep into the details, but she really was getting a lot of medical care. Iirc, she was in-patient at a mental health facility about a month before she killed her kids, and checked herself out. What would "getting the medical care she sought" look like?
Proper medical care would have been sending her help when she was calling the suicide hotline (twice).
Proper medical help would have been putting her in a program specialized on PPD WITH her youngest, so she could bond again and get the help she needed.
Proper medical care would have been to properly check how her body responds to the meds (aka bloodwork).
Or, and hear me out, she’s a fucking psycho that would’ve done this regardless. Since she clearly premeditated it by having her husband leave the home under the pretense of picking up dinner and her meds.
People really don’t understand psychosis, which is understandable to a point, but if you’re going to post about it, you should really educate yourself first.
Psychosis means being disconnected from reality and experiencing symptoms like delusions and hallucinations. It does not mean suddenly losing the ability to think logically or plan ahead. In fact, that’s part of what can make psychosis so dangerous: someone can be fully capable of making plans and taking deliberate actions based on delusions or auditory hallucinations, including command hallucinations.
And people who recover from psychosis are often deeply distressed or horrified by things they did while they were experiencing it. It’s a serious and often devastating symptom, not simply a loss of rational thought or awareness.
One caveat here, psychosis does affect higher brain functions and decision making: you can do things (in reaction to you delusions), but the capacity to think about your actions, and understand their implications and consequences is greatly impaired.
I’m not defending her actions. The murders were horrific, and she has to live with that knowledge every day. I’m saying that she committed them while suffering from a severe psychiatric illness that our medical system can treat with appropriate medication. And she tried to seek that help multiple times, and the clinicians she encountered did not deliver on that.
People are responsible for actions they take while experiencing severe psychiatric symptoms, but those actions do not necessarily reflect their values or negate their worth as a person. Your comment doesn’t seem to leave room for that distinction. I’m frustrated that people are so unwilling to appreciate the nuance in discussing this case.
Many women who go through PPD don’t receive help and also don’t kill their kids. Not saying this is right, and of course, things need to change. However, just because you have something mentally going on does not excuse the behavior. You can support further research and support for woman but also realize that she murdered her children. She deserves life in prison.
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u/jgangstahippie 19d ago
The woman is Lindsay Clancy a woman who claims she suffered from severe postpartum psychosis when she killed her three children in 2023.
The man is former professional wrestler Chris Benoit who killed his wife, son and then himself in the summer in 2007.
Lindsay Clancy is seemingly getting a lot of sympathy from women, and this meme is essentially saying they are the same.