What Makes a Mother Murder her Children?
“A mother’s arms are made of tenderness and children sleep soundly in them.” — Victor Hugo
Seconds after a mother gives birth, a surge of emotions invades her brain. Transitioning from excruciating pain to incredible relief creates a sensation of euphoria like no other. Happiness often follows, but even if all goes well and the baby is healthy, problems can arise.
For many mothers, a feeling of confusion can occur due to their “incapability of perceiving [their] current situation and circumstances, and [their] new maternal role[s].” Contradictions in emotions are common and can leave even the strongest mom dazed.
Child-birth requires incredible amounts of bravery, strength, and endurance that neither I nor any other cis man will ever fully comprehend. I applaud the physical and mental fortitude that mothers have. Sadly, the intensity of child-birth can sometimes have detrimental effects on the mother that can cause her to lose her sanity.
On February 26th, 2019, it was reported that a mother by the name of Tierra Rose Ortega took the lives of her two children. Specifically, she murdered her 7-month-old daughter, Ezlynn, threw her 19-month-old toddler son, Jerricho, off a two-story apartment balcony, and then proceeded to jump herself.
Disturbed by this series of events, I, like millions of others across the nation, have kept asking myself,
“Why would any mother do this?”
Anyone capable of experiencing human emotion likely understands the horrifying nature of this situation, but even the most extreme scenarios have some sort of scientific reasoning behind them.
By no means do I condone this type of behavior, but I’d like to try to understand why it happened.
In the U.S., “2.5% of all homicide arrests… are for parents who have killed their children.” This means that, on average, arrests for 500 filicides –murders of children — happen every year.
Filicides by mothers are particularly startling because moms are expected to make sacrifices for their children. They are not, however, expected to make children the victims of sacrifice.
Typically, society tends to think the role of the mother consists of nurturing and loving unconditionally. When this role is unfulfilled and the extreme opposite occurs instead, tragedies take place and fury encroaches the world.
Jealousy
Any relationship can be decimated by jealousy, even one between a mother and son. In January of 2018, it was reported that 33-year-old Melissa Miranda chose to handcuff her son to a school desk in her living room for several weeks.
She did so because she thought her own mother loved him more than she loved Melissa.
The son was also denied a bathroom and starved until he was forced to scavenge the trash cans at his school for food. Although he survived that period of torture, this situation is proof that jealousy can cause a mother to deprive her children of their most basic needs.
In July of 2014, 25-year-old mother Stacie Parsons confessed to bashing her 4-year-old daughter’s head in and wrapping her in plastic wrap. According to her husband, the mother had always been jealous of the baby.
One of the symptoms of postpartum psychosis — which I will mention later on — is jealousy. In Stacie’s case, though, it was rather unlikely that she was experiencing postpartum psychosis, which leads me to question what other factors played a role in her insanity.
Regardless of Stacie’s motive, the tragedy likely could’ve been avoided by seeking psychiatric help.
Delusion
Irrationality results from mental instability and delusion. On October 30th, 2012, Elzbieta Plackowska became delusional when she was convinced her son and a young girl she was babysitting were possessed by the devil. Her delusion led her to stab the two children to death.
Days before the incident, Elzbieta entered a state of psychosis when she began forcing her son, Justin, to watch a variety of religious movies as a way to expel the devil. This went on for 8 days.
The absence of rationality can lead anyone to commit unspeakable acts of violence. Without an adequate amount of self-control, the world would be more chaotic than it already is. According to a study conducted in 1999, 57% of women with postpartum major depression reported “obsessional thoughts concerning harm to their babies.”
Living a nightmare full of false threats and various illusions has caused mothers to convince themselves of many absurdities. In 2002, it was determined that mothers who convince themselves that their baby is ill-fated, someone else’s child, or possessed by Satan are the ones most likely to abuse their babies.
Mental Illness
Most of the time, the underlying cause of these gruesome acts of filicide is mental illness. Specifically, the four mental illnesses most frequently associated with filicide by mothers are postpartum depression, postpartum psychosis, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia.
Before I continue, please understand that most people with these mental diseases would never commit these terrible crimes.
1) Postpartum Depression
One in 10 pregnant women will experience depression at some point during their lives. It’s crucial that depression is treated during pregnancy, since postpartum depression can lead to a greater risk of miscarriage or premature birth.
Up to 80% of new mothers experience “baby blues,” a mild form of postpartum depression. Severe postpartum depression affects roughly 13% of new mothers.
Some symptoms of postpartum depression include:
· Depressed mood/mood swings
· Loss of appetite
· Difficulty bonding with baby
· Irritability
· Anger
· Thoughts of harming yourself and your baby
This illness can be treated with psychotherapy and antidepressants. Baby blues can be diminished by forming connections with other recent mothers, avoiding alcohol and drugs, and accepting help from your family and friends.
2) Postpartum Psychosis
For every 1000 births, there’s one case of postpartum psychosis (P.P.). While it is usually temporary, untreated postpartum psychosis has an estimated 4% risk of filicide in the newborn’s first year of life. Along with this, there’s a 5% risk of suicide.
Symptoms of postpartum psychosis include:
· Delusions
· Attempts to harm yourself and your baby
· Hallucinations
· Paranoia
· Rapid mood swings.
Now, it is perfectly normal to be apprehensive about the possibility of an impulse to harm your babies. Something less normal is to have actual impulses to harm your children or, even worse, to act on those impulses.
3 in 4 mothers with P.P. have a bipolar disorder or schizoaffective disorder. 12% of mothers have schizophrenia, so there is a correlation between these mental illnesses and this form of psychosis.
To treat P.P., take prescribed antipsychotic medications and mood stabilizers. If your situation is severe, electroconvulsive therapy is a better option for patients who don’t respond well to medication.
3) Bipolar Disorder
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 2.6% of the U.S. population has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. 83% of these cases were classified as severe.
Symptoms of bipolar disorder include:
· Mania (which includes psychotic episodes)
· Hypomania (less intense than mania)
· Depression
· Anxious distress
In the case of Elzbieta Plackowska, her father’s death triggered a string of psychotic episodes that resulted in her slaughtering her own children.
Treatment of bipolar disorder involves taking medications, continued treatment, day treatment programs, substance abuse treatment, and hospitalization in cases of dangerous psychotic behavior.
4) Schizophrenia
About 1% of North Americans suffer from schizophrenia, a complex, long-term medical illness. Before I discuss the symptoms, I’d like to remind you that it is possible to live well with this illness, along with the ones previously mentioned.
The symptoms of schizophrenia vary from person to person, but a few include:
· Hallucinations
· Delusions
· Minimal interest in life
· Cognitive issues
· Disorganized thinking
Some methods of treatment for schizophrenia are taking medications, taking first or second-generation anti-psychotics, having psycho-social interventions, hospitalization, and electroconvulsive therapy. Psycho-social interventions include individual therapy, social skills training, family therapy, and job rehabilitation.
Preventing further tragedy
Preventing filicide after childbirth requires routine psychiatric evaluations assessing the potential harm parents can do towards their children. Psychiatric hospitalization is also a possibility to consider if you feel you or a loved one is at risk of endangering your children.
Although writing about any subject concerning violence is difficult for me and probably a bit unsettling for you, I think it’s necessary to have a discussion concerning ways to prevent these horrid events from occurring ever again.
Personally, I believe that hiding from our problems is much more dangerous than confronting and resolving them.
Because mental illness is incredibly complicated and I am by no means a psychologist, I’d like to emphasize once again that there are plenty of people with these illnesses who are fully functional human beings.
That last part is especially important; they are human and deserve love and understanding like the rest of us. Although a couple of the previously mentioned scenarios involved mothers who suffered from mental illness, that doesn’t mean every mother with a mental illness will act in the same way.
If you are currently dealing with any of these diseases, I encourage you to seek help and find treatment, because unfortunately, the former can be dangerous. However, most people with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia pose no danger to others.
Together, we can prevent these types of crimes and save thousands of lives. To do that, we must first admit our imperfections and accept help from each other.
There is hope. Better yet, there’s treatment.
If you have any questions or concerns about schizophrenia, I recommend you visit http://schizophrenia.com/
If you have any questions or concerns about bipolar disorder, visit http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/conditions/bipolar-disorder
