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Public reactions to the Clancy trial reveal cultural expectations about what a “good mother” should be.

Severe mental illness can coexist with caregiving, daily functioning, and expressions of maternal love.

Framing mothers as either “monsters” or “mentally ill” can obscure the complexity of women’s mental health.

The Lindsay Clancy trial is about criminal responsibility, but the public conversation surrounding it is also about something larger: what we expect from mothers, how we recognize women’s psychological suffering, and what happens when those two narratives collide.

Clancy is on trial for killing her three children in January, 2023. Her defense argues that severe mental illness, including postpartum psychosis, rendered her not criminally responsible. Prosecutors argue that she understood her actions and planned the killings. The jury must decide the legal question.

As a therapist and researcher, however, I am interested in a different question: What do the discourses surrounding this trial reveal about motherhood and women’s mental health?

The Discourse of the “Good Mother”

Motherhood carries powerful cultural expectations. A “good mother” is imagined as loving, protective, patient, emotionally available, and willing to sacrifice herself for her children.

There is much less cultural space for a mother to say: I am overwhelmed. I feel disconnected. I am frightened by my thoughts. I do not recognize myself.

The Clancy trial exposes the tension between idealized motherhood and psychological suffering. Testimony has described a woman who had been considered a loving and involved mother........

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