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Alyssa Milano recalls difficult moment: 'I asked to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital'
🇦🇷 Argentina /Health & Science

Alyssa Milano recalls difficult moment: 'I asked to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital'

From La Nación · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources In the courts
  • Actress Alyssa Milano shared her past struggle with postpartum anxiety, including a psychiatric hospitalization, in light of the trial of Lindsay Clancy.
  • Clancy is accused of killing her three children in 2023, with her defense arguing postpartum psychosis while prosecutors allege premeditation.
  • Milano emphasized the need for urgent recognition and treatment of maternal mental health symptoms, noting that while her experience differs from Clancy's, both highlight systemic failures in care.

Actress Alyssa Milano has revisited a deeply personal chapter of her life, sharing an essay from 2018 about her battle with postpartum anxiety. The renewed focus comes as the trial of Lindsay Clancy, accused of killing her three young children in Massachusetts in 2023, brings maternal mental health issues to the forefront.

Now that Lindsay Clancy's trial is forcing a new national reflection on postpartum mental illness and on what can happen when women ask for help but still fall through the cracks, I felt it was important to share it again.

— Alyssa MilanoIntroducing her republished essay on Substack.

Clancy's defense claims she suffered from postpartum psychosis and was unaware of her actions, pleading innocent by reason of insanity. Prosecutors, however, contend that the killings were premeditated, with Clancy allegedly orchestrating a plan to get her husband out of the house beforehand. Milano, a mother of two, republished her original essay on Substack, stating it's crucial to discuss postpartum mental illness, especially when women seek help but remain unsupported.

Postpartum anxiety and postpartum psychosis are different conditions, and my experience is not the same as Lindsay Clancy’s.

— Alyssa MilanoDistinguishing her personal experience from Lindsay Clancy's case.

Milano clarified that her experience with postpartum anxiety is distinct from Clancy's alleged postpartum psychosis. However, she stressed a common thread: the urgent need for maternal mental health symptoms to be recognized, believed, and treated promptly. "The trial has once again highlighted a truth that connects them: maternal mental health symptoms must be recognized, believed, and treated with urgency," Milano wrote.

The trial has once again highlighted a truth that connects them: maternal mental health symptoms must be recognized, believed, and treated with urgency.

— Alyssa MilanoConnecting her experience and Clancy's case through the need for timely mental health care.

In her original essay, Milano described a severe anxiety attack on her first night home with her son, Milo, feeling overwhelmed by inadequacy as a mother. She recounted feeling her heart race and a knot in her stomach, a physical manifestation of her distress. She also spoke of the guilt she felt when returning to work, believing she had abandoned her child. Milano noted that, like many others with anxiety, her pain was not taken seriously, a sentiment that resonates with the ongoing discussion surrounding Clancy's case and the broader challenges faced by mothers seeking mental health support.

My heart started racing. I felt a knot in my stomach. I felt like I was dying.

— Alyssa MilanoDescribing her first postpartum anxiety attack.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by La Nación in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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