2026年9月6日 美国东部时间上午9:32 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
十年前，梅根·克利菲尔还是纽约市一名在职母亲。2015年12月，在生下第二个女儿八个月后，她重返工作岗位：“我承担了大量工作压力，感觉不太像自己，但表面上看，我运转得还算正常，”她说道。“直到2015年12月4日周五，我的人生彻底天翻地覆。”
她说，就在那天，她开始认为自己被“监视”了。“从那一刻起，我彻底陷入了一个完全妄想、令人恐惧的现实，我觉得整个城市都在针对我，”她说道。
梅根·克利菲尔在生下第二个孩子后被诊断为产后精神病。 家庭照片
随后，她开始出现幻觉。“电视画面开始变化，出现了我一名男性亲属的脸，然后他说，‘如果她以为自己能活着摆脱这一切，那她就大错特错了，’”克利菲尔说道。
正如她的丈夫科林回忆的那样，第二天早上，梅根的危机席卷了整个家庭：“我感觉自己像是在和一个完全不同的人互动，”他说道。“尤其是在我们公寓里那紧张的12个小时里，她的行为是我前所未见的……这变成了一场类似史诗级的斗争，你知道吗，她试图‘营救’我们的女儿们（她们正开心地在卧室里玩耍），而我不得不背靠着卧室门，试图阻止梅根进来。然后，她突然转身冲向公寓大门，因为她威胁要爬到楼顶。最后，你知道的，她的出拳力道像泰森一样猛，挥拳打了过来，还真的击中了我两次。”
科林拨打了911，梅根随后在贝尔维尤医院住院两周，期间医生为她开了锂盐药物。直到两个月后，她才得知诊断结果：产后精神病，一种严重的精神疾病。
维尔勒·贝林克医生是西奈山医学院妇女健康部门主任、精神病学家，她研究产后精神病已有20年。她表示，人们不应将其与产后抑郁症混为一谈。贝林克称产后精神病是一种“精神急症”，症状可能极为极端：“躁狂、思维奔逸、精神病性症状、脱离现实，或是伴有精神病性特征的抑郁症，情绪极度低落以至于认为一切都是自己的错，或是这些症状的混合。这些症状会在分娩后的几个月内出现。”
当被问及患有产后精神病的母亲伤害自己或婴儿的案例有多普遍时，贝林克回答道：“不幸的是，自杀是主要的死亡原因。杀婴行为极为罕见。”
产后精神病曾是莉ndsday·克兰西案件审判的核心焦点，该案曾引发全美关注。辩方和控方均未否认克兰西在2023年1月杀害了自己的三个孩子。
因杀害三名子女而受审的莉ndsday·克兰西案最终以审判无效告终。她此前已被诊断为产后精神病。格雷格·德尔/《爱国者Ledger报》/ pooled photo
庭审期间，检察官詹妮弗·斯普雷格辩称：“问题在于，[克兰西]杀害科拉、道森和卡伦时，是否知道是非对错，是否能够按照法律要求约束自己的行为。”
但克兰西的律师凯文·雷丁顿辩称，她未被确诊的精神病使她在法律上处于无刑事责任能力状态：“这名女性在前往地下室时正处于精神病发作状态。她没有作案动机。她爱自己的孩子。”
经过七天的商议，陪审团未能达成裁决，最终导致审判无效。
据克利夫兰诊所的数据，这种作为审判核心的病症被认为是罕见的，美国每年每1000例分娩中约有1至2名女性患病，每年可能影响多达9000名母亲。
贝林克说：“这种病已经被认识数千年了。古希腊人就有相关描述，在所有文化、所有时代都有记载。”
然而，贝林克表示，目前美国研究这种疾病的研究团队不到10个。“我们目前不知道如何预防它，因为没有相关研究，也没有资金支持，”她说。“但如果能做出诊断，我们就能治疗它。在我们的研究中，98%的患者在几周内就有了明显好转。”
产后精神病目前尚无单一明确的病因。症状可能在数天或数小时内发生剧烈变化，母亲可能会间歇性地表现出功能正常——这可能会让她们的家人和临床医生感到困惑。
詹妮弗·佩恩医生是生殖精神病学家，也是弗吉尼亚大学医学院研究副主任，她说：“产后精神病的表现极为罕见，许多精神病医生从未见过此类病例。”
佩恩希望莉ndsday·克兰西的悲剧案件能让公众和法律系统更多地了解产后精神病。她指出，自安德烈亚·耶茨因患有精神病杀害五个孩子并受审以来的近25年里，情况已经有了一些变化。
然而，佩恩说：“我认为法律系统尚未进步到能够妥善处理产后精神病案件的程度。孕产妇心理健康和精神疾病诊断仍然背负着惊人的污名。”
佩恩表示，她希望看到，“当明确患者患有产后精神病，并因该疾病的妄想症状实施行为时，这类案件不应进入谋杀审判，而应转而纳入精神健康治疗流程。”
康复三年后，梅根·克利菲尔和丈夫科林决定生育第三个孩子。“未服用药物的情况下，复发风险是三分之一，”梅根说。“我其实不想服药，因为我觉得自己和我们的生活已经付出了太多努力。我丈夫说，‘绝对不行’。所以，我在产后住院期间就开始预防性服用锂盐，一直持续了一年。说实话，第三次怀孕的结果比前两次还要好。第三次怀孕时，我感受到的喜悦要多得多。”
他们的儿子现在已经六岁了。随着莉ndsday·克兰西审判引发的广泛关注，克利菲尔觉得她需要分享自己的故事。“这是一种真实存在的疾病，”她说。“没有什么可羞耻的。你可以康复。它是一头猛兽，治愈起来很困难，值得投入时间和精力。但请抽出时间来应对，因为这是一种非常真实、极具破坏性的疾病。”
如果您或您认识的人处于情绪困扰或自杀危机中，可以拨打或发送短信988联系988自杀与危机生命线。您也可以在此处与988自杀与危机生命线在线聊天。
如需了解更多心理健康护理资源和支持信息，可以在美国东部时间周一至周五上午10点至晚上10点拨打全国精神疾病联盟（NAMI）求助热线1-800-950-NAMI (6264)，或发送邮件至info@nami.org。
What is postpartum psychosis?
September 6, 2026 9:32 AM EDT / CBS News
Ten years ago, Meghan Cliffel was a working mother in New York City. In December 2015, she was back at work, eight months after giving birth to her second girl: “I had taken on a lot of work stress, and not quite feeling like myself, but outwardly, I was functioning well,” she said. “And it wasn’t until Friday, December 4th of 2015, when things just dramatically changed for me.”
On that day, Cliffel says she began to believe she was being “surveilled.” “And from that moment on, I am just lost in a totally deluded, terrifying reality, where I believe the entire city is out to get me,” she said.
Meghan Cliffel was diagnosed with postpartum psychosis following the birth of her second child. Family Photo
Then, she started to hallucinate. “The TV starts to change, and it’s the face of a male relative of mine, and then he says, ‘If she thinks she’s getting out of this alive, she’s got another thing coming,’” Cliffel said.
As her husband, Colin, remembers, the next morning Meghan’s crisis engulfed the whole family: “I felt like I was interacting with a wholly different person,” he said. “Her behavior in those, like, acute 12 hours in particular in our apartment was unlike anything I’d ever seen before. … It just became this sort of epic battle where, you know, she is trying to quote/unquote rescue our girls (who are happily in our bedroom playing), and I literally have to have my back up against our bedroom door to try to keep Meghan out. And then, just like that she turns around and is trying to get to our apartment door, ’cause she’s threatening to go to the roof. And eventually, you know, I’d say she punches like Mike Tyson, and came out swinging and, you know, clocked me twice.”
Colin called 911, and Meghan spent the next two weeks in Bellevue Hospital, where she was prescribed Lithium. It wasn’t until two months later that she learned the diagnosis: postpartum psychosis, a severe mental illness.
Dr. Veerle Bergink, a psychiatrist and director for women’s health at Mr. Sinai’s School for Medicine, has been studying postpartum psychosis for 20 years. She says it should not be misunderstood as postpartum depression. Bergink calls postpartum psychosis a “psychiatric emergency,” with symptoms that can be extreme: “Mania, racing thoughts, psychosis, losing reality, or depression with psychotic features, being so low that you think everything is your fault, or a mixture of these. And these symptoms occur within a few months after delivery.”
Asked how common are cases where a mother with postpartum psychosis harms herself or her baby, Bergink replied, “Unfortunately, suicide is a major cause of mortality. Infanticide is extremely rare.”
Postpartum psychosis was at the center of the trial of Lindsay Clancy, which has riveted the country. Neither the defense nor the prosecution disputed that Clancy had killed her three children in January 2023.
The prosecution of Lindsey Clancy for killing her three children ended in a mistrial. She had been diagnosed with postpartum psychosis. Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger/Pool
During the trial, prosecutor Jennifer Sprague argued, “The issue is whether, at the time [Clancy] killed Cora, Dawson and Callan, she knew the difference between right and wrong, and whether she could conform her behavior to the requirements of the law.”
But Clancy’s lawyer, Kevin Reddington, argued that her undiagnosed psychosis rendered her legally insane: “This is a woman who was suffering from psychosis at the time that she went down to that basement. She had no motive. She loved her children.”
After deliberating for seven days, the jury could not reach a verdict, resulting in a mistrial.
The condition at the center of the trial is considered rare, afflicting an estimated 1 to 2 women per 1,000 births a year in the U.S., potentially affecting up to 9,000 mothers annually, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
Bergink said, “It has been known for thousands of years. It has been described, you know, by the ancient Greek, in all cultures, in all times.”
Yet, Bergink says there are currently fewer than 10 research groups in the U.S. studying the illness. “We don’t know how to prevent it yet, because there is no research, there is no funding,” she said. “But then, if you make the diagnosis, we can treat it. Ninety-eight percent in our studies really got better within weeks.”
Postpartum psychosis has no single known cause. Symptoms can shift dramatically over days or hours, and mothers may intermittently appear functional – which can confuse their family and clinicians.
Dr. Jennifer Payne, a reproductive psychiatrist and vice chair of research at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, said, “Postpartum psychosis is a much rarer presentation, and many psychiatrists have never seen a case.”
Payne hopes the tragic case of Lindsay Clancy will educate the public and the legal system about postpartum psychosis. She notes there has been some change in the nearly 25 years since Andrea Yates was tried for the murder of her five children while suffering from psychosis.
However, Payne said, “I don’t think the legal system has progressed to handle postpartum psychosis cases well. I think that there continues to be an amazing amount of stigma surrounding maternal mental health and psychiatric diagnosis.”
Payne said she would like to see, “when it is clear that a patient has had postpartum psychosis and acted on delusions as part of that illness, that that particular case should not progress to a murder trial, and should instead be relegated to a mental health treatment journey.”
Three years after her recovery, Meghan Cliffel and husband Colin decided to have a third child. “The risk of recurrence was one-in-three unmedicated,” Meghan said. “I actually didn’t want to take medication, ’cause I felt like I’d done so much work on myself and our life. My husband was, ‘Hard no.’ So, I took Lithium prophylactically immediately after birth in the hospital until a year after. And then, honestly, it turned out more beautifully than after my first two. I had, like, so much more joy the third time around.”
Their son is now six years old. And with all the attention surrounding the trial of Lindsay Clancy, Cliffel felt she needed to share her story. “It’s a real illness,” she said. “There’s no shame. And you can get better. It is a beast and it’s hard to heal from, and it warrants time and attention. But take that time, because this is a very real, devastating illness.”
If you or someone you know is in emotional distress or a suicidal crisis, you can reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988. You can also chat with the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline here.
For more information about mental health care resources and support, The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) HelpLine can be reached Monday through Friday, 10 a.m.–10 p.m. ET, at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) or email info@nami.org.
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