Bridget María Chesterton Shares Recovery From 1-in-1,000 Postpartum Psychosis as Clancy Trial Renews Focus
Updated
Updated · The Associated Press · Aug 23
Bridget María Chesterton Shares Recovery From 1-in-1,000 Postpartum Psychosis as Clancy Trial Renews Focus
1 articles · Updated · The Associated Press · Aug 23
Summary
Bridget María Chesterton, 52, publicly recounted her recovery from postpartum psychosis, saying she wants families to recognize the condition and know there is hope.
About two weeks after her 2019 delivery, Chesterton lost touch with reality, forgot she had a baby and was hospitalized twice for roughly two weeks before antipsychotic medication began to help.
Her daughter’s nearly two-month stay in neonatal intensive care and extensive family support — from her husband, parents and a postpartum doula — helped stabilize the situation until Chesterton recovered over several months.
Researchers estimate postpartum psychosis affects 1 to 2 of every 1,000 women after childbirth; doctors say it is a mental-health emergency marked by delusions, disorganized thinking and possible risk to mother or child.
The account comes as Lindsay Clancy stands trial in Massachusetts over the killings of her three children, a case that has intensified debate over whether postpartum psychosis is real and how quickly families should act.