This week, First Opinion published a must-read for anyone following the heartbreaking trial of Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts woman who has admitted to killing her three young children. Much of the discourse has focused on how the system failed Clancy, but on STAT, three reproductive psychiatrists and neuroscientists write that there’s an even bigger problem: The very science underlying the system is still unfinished.
“Even if the system worked perfectly — and it rarely does, especially with complicated cases — there are limitations in what we can currently offer women experiencing postpartum mental illness,” Jamie Maguire, Lauren M. Osborne, and Jennifer Payne write. “This case exposes the gaps in current diagnostic and therapeutic systems and the challenges of identifying which women are at greatest risk, predicting who will respond to treatment, and recognizing early when a patient is deteriorating despite receiving care.
Recommendation of the week: The golden era of narrative podcasts seems to have ended — will we ever again get anything as enthralling as “Wind of Change”? — but Radio New Zealand’s “All in Her Head,” an investigation into treatment of the sometimes-controversial Ehlers Danlos syndrome, is worth the listen.
