The woman, identified as Lizzy, believed her baby was the second coming of Jesus and that Satan had possessed her body, according to BBC News. She also thought nurses were trying to kill her and refused to shower, wash her hair, or clean her teeth because she believed God told her she would die if she did, BBC News reported. Postpartum psychosis is often associated with infanticide, with four percent of sufferers killing their infants when left untreated, major media reports indicate.
Examples include Lindsay Clancy, who allegedly strangled her three children in 2023 while her husband was picking up takeout food, and Andrea Yates, who drowned her five children in a bathtub in 2001, according to major media. Systemic issues in the UK's mental health care system forced Lizzy to travel 90 miles for emergency care during her crisis after giving birth, major media reports show. She was sectioned and taken from York to Derby while soaked in urine in a hospital car, and some women from Yorkshire have been sent as far as London for specialist care at mother and baby units due to availability issues, according to major media.
It's lit a fire in me to get the word out there that this is a problem and that it is so needed, because there are so many families torn apart.
NHS data showed around 100 women from across Yorkshire were sent to mother and baby units outside of their local area over the last five years, major media reported. Lizzy began eight weeks of intensive treatment in Derby, but her husband and relatives spent thousands of pounds on nearby accommodation, and his paternity leave ended, forcing daily visits to stop, according to major media. She gradually stabilised and her section was lifted, but believed being far from home prolonged her recovery, as she needed a safe place and could have integrated back into real life more easily near York, BBC News reported.
She has since recovered fully and returned to work, major media said.
I was getting increasingly anxious and confused. I couldn't make a cup of tea or change Patrick's nappy.
I started screaming, I ran at the windows. I thrashed about on the floor for hours and I thought I was in hell.
I was soaked in my own urine because I'd been pushing as if I was giving birth again every time I was in psychosis.
I felt really lonely.
I didn't have my home comforts around me and I needed Adam, he was missing out on a lot. There were a lot of firsts that Adam was missing out on, and I needed him as well - I was in a depression.
I was so vulnerable at that time and I needed to be somewhere I could feel safe. If I'd been near York I could have seen friends and family and started integrating back into real life.