A very interesting and moving piece on last nights "Newsnight" showed how devasting can be a rare condition called Post Partum Psychosis. It highlighted three women who had suffered this condition, sadly they could only interview two because the third had killed herself and her baby girl.
The symptoms the mothers describe sounded exactly like those of Sheila. They described the belief that their babies were evil and telling them to do bad things. one of the mothers was in a secure psychiatrac ward for 6 months before she was cured. The condition can escalate from 1 to 10 over a couple of days.
Hi April,,,apologies for taking this subject to the other thread,but as there appeared to be nobody about on the relevant thread,,,and I'd only just seen the programme advertised,I posted on the one with the latest post in the hope that someone would watch this interesting subject. ( intake of breath )
It was most interesting in that it was the same pattern of each patients' mindset,,as Sheilas' was,,,except that Sheilas' illness was far more advanced,,and there weren't the same resources as there are now. Plus,,Sheilas' drug habit only led to inflame an already fragile situation.
Chances are,that when you read of tragedies where a mother has killed her children,,9 out of 10 times,it's following the birth of a baby,,and the most frightening thing is,,that you can't pin-point any particular person,as it's not recognised at all.
The mothers can't even understand what's happening to themselves when they get these thoughts of wanting to harm their children that they love so much. It's a very cruel and well hidden illness and nobody knows why it happens.Scary,indeed.