Great Wolf Lodge & Lindsay Clancy: Is There a Mental Health Connection? | The Brief

We're learning about a case involving a mother, a 27-year-old, Metallica Harrison. She's been charged with killing her husband and her 3-year-old son at a Great Wolf Lodge in Pennsylvania. Now, according to the authorities, she then called 911 expressing suicidal thoughts. So we don't yet know her mental health history or what led to this specific tragedy, but almost coming off of the heels of the Lindsay Clancy case, I just have to ask, are we failing to recognize serious mental health warning signs in women, particularly mothers, before they reach a point of crisis? And then fundamentally, what should families be looking for in these cases? Yeah, both great questions. I think, first of all, yes, we are failing to recognize these signs and symptoms. There is research on this very sad phenomenon of familicide, where someone kills members of their family. And what that shows predominantly is that these are usually tied to suicide. So in nearly 60% of cases that have been studied, the perpetrator commits suicide. And if you look at those who attempted and committed suicide together, that number is even higher, just like we're seeing in this case with this woman from the Great Wolf Lodge story. So she was one of those attempters. We also know that some of the risk factors and predictors of familicide, which by the way, is a low base rate phenomenon. I mean, we do hear about it, you know, because it's so rare and so horrific, but it's not particularly common. And women as perpetrators are not the most common scenario either. However, what we do know is that women who do commit these types of acts typically have a history of mental health issues. What's most common is either psychosis or depression. And you could think about Lindsay Clancy as well in terms of both of those types of diagnoses coming up in her trial and being debated. And then they're often planning suicide and they have these very distorted ideas in mind and very clearly irrational ideas that their children would be better off if they were not to be raised without a mother. So then the children become part of the plan. Now, we don't know anything about Metallica and her mental health and what her motives were specifically. I did review some of what has been disclosed around things that she said about wanting to go with them and things like that. But there's very, very little that's known. But coming back to your question around, are we missing something around mental health and how to help people like this? I think we really are. And part of the reason for that, I think, is because we tend to focus on the postpartum period, which is a relatively brief window. But in reality, parents can struggle, you know, and mothers in particular, at any time. And if you look at some of these crimes like Lindsay Clancy and this most recent crime of the Great Wolf Lodge, these aren't infants or one-year-olds that are being who are being harmed they're a little bit older which is actually consistent with what the with what the literature on familicide shows is that they tend to be a little bit older right and and certainly you know from my vantage point as an outsider it seems like between Lindsay Clancy and the Great Wolf Lodge murders you know mothers seem to be experiencing a mental health epidemic i do want to ask you one one last question you know you've discussed how difficult it is to treat uh overlapping psychiatric conditions and how medications can very much complicate those cases. So how can doctors distinguish between worsening mental illness, adverse reactions to psychiatric medications, and a patient who may be entering a dangerous psychiatric crisis? I mean, are there safeguards that our mental health system should be using to recognize these situations sooner? Yes. I mean, I think I'd like to answer both that question and your question about what families can do, because you did ask me that as well, and I didn't quite get to that in the last question. and I think they are related. So first of all, screening women during routine visits to OBGYNs or primary care where they're seen more frequently is one thing that can be done that doesn't really happen routinely enough for psychiatric symptoms and mental health struggles. And asking them directly about suicide. So this is one thing that people tend, both I think lay people and maybe even in the medical profession as well, people tend to skirt around and avoid questions around suicidal thoughts because they're worried about planting a seed, especially people who are not in the mental health profession. And there've been a lot of studies on this that show that the risk of suicide is only reduced by asking about it. It is not increased. So if people can kind of cast those worries aside if they have any concerns around uh around someone close to them and particularly a mom being suicidal and and then sort of blending in they should ask about it and then blending into um you know what families and what doctors can do so screening for for these problems but then also some of the the barriers to women seeking help for these problems is they're afraid they're going to lose custody of their children and though you can't promise someone as a mental health care professional or a health care professional that that's not going to happen. The ultimate goal of these types of screenings and asking these questions is to keep everybody safe. So more often than not, someone who discloses that they're having thoughts of self-harm or even having intrusive thoughts about harming someone else in their family will not have a direct consequence of losing their entire family. They will just get treatment and help. And then, of course, if part of the safeguard against any harm coming to their family is separating them that will happen but that's all in the spirit of safety that the goal of you know child protective services is not to separate families it's to unify them and do that in a safe manner the other thing for families to know is that if a woman in the family is talking about you're better off without me or if they're talking directly about harming a child or having thoughts about that a they need immediate help and that's an emergency but b you can do things to remove lethal means from, remove their access to lethal means, remove medications or firearms or things like that. I mean, it is morbid to think about, but this is the way that we need to be thinking about people who are potentially a risk to themselves or to other people. Hey, if you enjoyed that clip, make sure you click the link below to watch the full episode of this week's The Brief.