No one in their right mind

Don't know why that didn't post right.....

No one in their right mind could commit such atrocious acts. If one can commit such atrocious acts, there IS something mentally wrong with them.

many times a medication can suddenly stop working with no warning.

I agree. The fact that she was diagnosed and told she needed medication should of been paid attention to closer. She had no right to be around that baby alone. Okay, she is schizophrenia but she still did something horrible and should pay for her actions.

"And people CAN tag someone as mentally ill by their actions."

and no "people" can not tag someone as mentally ill by their actions, only a doctor can.

People can tag someone, people just can't diagnose someone. Everyone can base their opinions on what they believe to be the cause of an action. Only a Doctor can determine if it is true or not. Some of us happen to be basing our opinions on this case on what appears to be a case of mental illness. While we can't diagnose, we can at least have some empathy that others don't appear to have based on what we believe to be the problem.

agreed. That's what I mean we can not diagnose her with a mental illness (which I put in my original post). I was just saying everyone was so quick to tag this as a mental illness. Which probably is, but still with a mental illness it doesn't mean she isn't responsible for her actions.

What if she was taking all her medications as directed and doing exactly what her Doctor told her to do? Would that permit her some empathy from those who are so quick to want harm to come to her?

Yes, she should be held responsible for her actions. I don't believe anyone has said otherwise. But so many are showing such a lack of empathy to this woman without having all the facts regarding the circumstances behind the WHYS of this case. Those of us who are arguing that she has a mental illness are trying to get people to realize it's not as cut and dry as they want to make it out to be and to show a little human decency, a little empathy, to someone who is obviously very disturbed.

I do not wish harm on this woman nor do I think anyone else should. I just pray that she doesn't ever be allowed to do this to another innocent human being.

I definitely agree.

HMM... BECAUSE EATING BRAINS IS A COMMON ACTIVITY OF COLD-HEARTED BITCHES.

LIKE, YOU LOOK AT THE ACTIONS, YO, AND USE LOGIC AND UNDERSTANDING OF HUMAN NATURE TO MAKE DEDUCTIONS. NO ONE IS DECLARING HER LEGALLY INSANE - IT'S MORE ABOUT LOOKING AT THE ACTIONS AND SURROUNDING EVIDENCE AND STATING WHAT SEEMS MOST LIKELY. SERIOUSLY, WHAT SORT OF STATE OF MIND DO YOU THINK SOMEONE WHO IS EATING THEIR BABY'S BRAIN IS IN, YO? LIKE, WOULD YOU HONESTLY THINK THAT AT THAT POINT IN TIME, THEIR MENTAL ILLNESS WAS IN RESPITE AND THEY WERE HAVING A GOOD, RESPONSIBLE DAY? IT IS QUITE POSSIBLE TO USE LOGIC AND DEDUCTION TO WORK OUT WHAT IS MOST LIKELY. AS FOR MEDS, BEAR IN MIND THAT THE WOMAN HAD JUST HAD A BABY, SO HER BRAIN CHEMICALS WOULD BE MESSED UP AND DIFFERENT, SO ANY MEDS THAT SHE WAS ON WOULD LIKELY NOT BE HAVING THEIR USUAL EFFECT.

THE FACT THAT A BABY HAS BEEN KILLED AND THAT THIS IS TERRIBLE DOESN'T NECESSARILY MEAN THAT THE PERSON WHO CAUSED THE DEATH DID IT WITH MALICIOUS INTENT. LIKE, THAT DOESN'T MAKE IT OKAY THAT THE BABY IS DEAD, BUT SOMETIMES A SITUATION IS SIMPLY SHIT FOR EVERYONE. A BIG FAT MAN COULD SUDDENLY HAVE A HEART ATTACK AND FALL OVER IN THE STREET, LANDING ON A LITTLE CHILD AND KILLING HER. YES, IT'S DREADFUL THAT THE CHILD DIED, BUT IT WOULD BE DAFT TO PUNISH THE MAN FOR IT.

I am not saying the woman ISN'T mental. But even if she is, it still doesn't automatically excuse her actions. There are a lot of different things that come into play as well.

I had PPD, and not once did I ever think to eat my child's brain. Coming from someone who has suffered from PPD, and someone who has been around sczophrenic people (my step-mom), I know that the condition can be controlled. I don't know if she was off her medicine, or her brain reacted differently from the med's from just having a baby, but something went terribly wrong here.

Let's forget for just one moment that she has been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Let's pretend she doesn't really have it.......

Postpartum depression is entirely different from postpartum psychosis. Go to page five and read my post about the differences between the two. If someone has postpartum psychosis it is HIGHLY possible for them to behave the way this woman did and do the things she has done.

I read the post you are referring too. I agree there is a difference between the two, but I was diagnosed with PPD, and still had some of the symptoms of postpartum psychosis. I had hallucinations, sucidal, and homocidal thoughts. But I realized what I was thinking was wrong, and I definately was not in the right state of mind, so I got help, and when the medicine didn't work, I went and got another, then tried another, and another until I found something that kept those horrible images and thoughts out of my head, because I realized I needed help.

If you were still competent enough to realize yourself that you had a problem, that's great. Unfortunately, most women don't. It takes someone ELSE to recognize the problem and FORCE her to take action to keep it from becoming a serious problem. And sometimes, in most cases, PPP doesn't manifest itself, most of the time it hits unexpectedly, without warning.

It took me 8 months to get help on my own. I was practically by myself all day with an infant because her father worked long hours, and I was living 17 hours away from anyone I knew. I had to have the strength to seek help on my own. I hate that someone has to deal with something like this, especially in such a SEVERE case. I am guessing my case was mild, because I was able to realize it on my own, and get some help. I don't know what I would have done if I ever hurt my child, I would probably want to die. So I can't imagine this woman's circumstances and I will not pass judgement on her.

BESIDES, HAVING A PRE-EXISTING MENTAL ILLNESS GREATLY INCREASES THE LIKELIHOOD OF POST NATAL PSYCHOSIS, SO THE SCHIZOPHRENIA IS RELEVANT IN THAT RESPECT. IT'S POSSIBLE HER SCHIZOPHRENIA WAS THE KIND THAT COULD BE EASILY CONTROLLED, BUT THAT IT TRIGGERED THIS PSYCHOSIS THAT CAUSED EVERYTHING TO SPIRAL OUT OF CONTROL.

I agree completely. That's not what I was getting at. I was getting at that even without the schizophrenia, if this woman did have PPP it's entirely different from PPD and she still could have committed this crime.

OH YES, TOTALLY. A PERFECTLY SANE PERSON CAN GET POST NATAL PSYCHOSIS.

I DON'T THINK ANYONE SAID THAT BEING MENTALLY ILL AUTOMATICALLY EXCUSES ACTIONS. HOWEVER, LOOKING AT THIS WOMAN'S CASE WOULD SUGGEST THAT HER PSYCHOSIS WAS PRETTY SEVERE.

YOU HAVE HAD PPD, BUT NOT THE PSYCHOTIC FORM, SO YOU CAN'T KNOW WHAT IT WAS LIKE FOR THIS WOMAN. YOU HAVE BEEN AROUND ONE SCHIZOPHRENIC PERSON, WHOSE ILLNESS IS CONTROLLED, BUT THAT DOESN'T TELL YOU ABOUT THE BROADER PICTURE. I HAVE WORKED WITH MANY SCHIZOPHRENIC PEOPLE - IT CAN'T ALWAYS BE CONTROLLED. PEOPLE GO THROUGH BAD PERIODS OF PSYCHOSIS, WHERE THE MEDS DON'T HAVE THEIR NORMAL CONTROLLING EFFECTS. THIS CAN HAPPEN SPONTANEOUSLY, FOR NO APPARENT REASON, SO I IMAGINE IT CAN HAPPEN ALL THE MORE STRONGLY WHEN SOMEONE HAS JUST HAD A BABY AND THEIR BRAIN CHEMICALS ARE IN TURMOIL.

YES, SOMETHING DID INDEED GO TERRIBLY WRONG HERE. THINGS DO ALAS SOMETIMES GO TERRIBLY WRONG. IT IS SAD - A TERRIBLY SAD THING TO HAPPEN, BOTH FOR THE BABY AND FOR THE MOTHER. IT SEEMS TO ME INCREDIBLY UNLIKELY THAT A PERSON WOULD COLD-BLOODEDLY DECIDE TO EAT THEIR BABY'S BRAINS FROM EVIL/CARELESS/SELFISH MOTIVES. EVIL GENERALLY DOESN'T WORK LIKE THAT - THERE HAS TO BE GAIN FOR ONESELF AT THE OTHER PERSON'S EXPENSE. EVIL MIGHT KILL THE BABY AND TRY TO MAKE IT LOOK LIKE AN ACCIDENT. IT WOULD NOT EAT THE BABY'S BRAINS. UNLESS IT WANTED TO BE CRUEL TO SOMEONE WHO LOVED THE BABY AND WAS EATING THE BRAINS IN FRONT OF THAT PERSON TO TRAUMATISE THEM. BUT THIS DOES NOT SEEM TO BE WHAT HAPPENED HERE.

Just because your mother's schizophrenia is well controlled doesn't mean the same goes for others. There's many many schizophrenics who NEVER get full relief for their condition... who have been on numerous different medications, but yet will always (for the rest of their lives) suffer from their delusions and hallucinations because no drug (even when taken exactly as prescribed) has managed to completely control their symptoms. I've met several schizophrenics like that.

Exactly. Something went terribly wrong.

You were fine. Your step-mom managed to regain some level of control.

It doesn't work like that for everyone. The whole "I went through it and I'm fine. I know so-and-so and they're okay" line of thinking is such utter bullshit.

Nobody every seems to care that there freak accidents and other variables that come into play here. It's quite possible that her brain may hafve reacted differently because she was on her medicine.

No-one here is diagnosing her with a mental disorder. That can only be done by a psychiatrist by taking a full psychiatric history and doing a proper mental state examination. However, all we are saying is that from the few details we have, it sound highly likely that she has a psychotic illness (and I see we now know that she's suffered from schizophrenia for several years, so in fact has already been diagnosed). And we are making this point because others have been so quick to jump in and claim she's evil or that she deserves to be killed for what she's done... showing very little recognition of the fact she probably wasn't in her right mind at the time.

Also I don't believe anyone has said that having a mental illness means people are not responsible for their actions. That would be a ridiculous statement to make. The vast majority of people with mental disorders are perfectly aware of what is right and wrong and are in a position to take responsibility for their own actions. However, in a very small number of cases, an acute episode can be SO severe that the person really does not know what they are doing, and even if they know somewhere deep down that something is wrong, for some reason they feel they HAVE to do it anyway (e.g. they feel someone else is controlling them, their actions are not their own and they cannot resist them).

Similarly, compliance with medication is a common problem with schizophrenics because a lack of insight is one of the main symptoms... they simply do not believe they are unwell. Would you take a tablet if you felt perfectly fine and someone was insisting you had a disease which you were SURE you didn't? Would you take a tablet if you believed someone was trying to poison you with it? That is the big issue with these people. Not taking their medication isn't a rational decision, it is a decision made by the disease itself.

That said, psychiatrists can force patients legally to comply with medications (this could be a monthly injection), under the mental health act, if permission is granted by the court. If the patient does not comply, they are picked up by the police and detained in hospital until they DO comply.

I agree that she didn't do this out of evil heartlessness, but I'm not one to jump on a pity party for a brain- eating child murderer.

I guess me being a mother, I'm biased on my opinion when it comes to crimes against children. I guess it's just the mothering nature of me to be outraged and say things without thinking. I don't think she is a monster. But I believe she has some SERIOUS ISSUES and should never be allowed to be alone with children or someone who can not defend themselves around her ever again.

No offense, but when you say "I guess me being a Mother" you make it sound like only those who do not have children would be able to afford this woman some empathy based on the mental illness and the only people who would be "jumping on a pity party" (which, btw, is NOT what people are doing) are people who do not have children. But I have children. I've had them for many years. I, too, have a very mothering nature and feel very strongly about crimes against children. I am outraged that this was allowed to happen, but being a Mother doesn't keep me from feeling empathy for this woman's particular circumstance.