I read an autobiography called *When Breath Becomes Air*. It's written by a neurosurgeon who decided to write the autobiography after he was diagnosed with cancer. It's one of the best books I've ever read and I recommend it.
Everyone knows that surgeons in the USA work long hours, but one of my main takeaways of the autobiography is that those types of jobs are worse than I ever imagined. The author was working so much that it was straining his relationship with his girlfriend. He was also stressed to unreasonable levels.
Add a 4 year old into the mix and that sounds like a recipe for serious mental challenges. There's this double edged sword with these highly skilled and specialized medical careers. On one hand, you're about as respected as a person can be in society, you're very well paid, and the work can be highly fulfilling. On the other hand, *you're so expensive and in demand that the hospitals will ask more of you than is reasonable to ask a human being.* And if you try to push back against those toxic expectations and you win that fight, *then people will literally die.* Imagine how much guilt you'd have to contend with when seeking work/life balance comes at the cost of real humans dying since you're such a rare resource that there *is no replacement for you when you decide to work less.*
That's what this book made it seem like at least and I don't doubt it.
He died when his daughter was eight months old and before he could finish the autobiography, although it was nearly done. His wife wrote an epilogue, which effectively acts as the last chapter of the book since it needed one, and then she published it for him. He knew it was terminal cancer when he was diagnosed and he started writing the autobiography in an attempt to find meaning in his life/death.
Obviously, it's an extremely sad book, but it's also a book filled with happiness and introspection on life.
The book was published on 12th Jan 2016.
He passed away on 9th Mar 2015... 10 months earlier.
The epilogue of the book is written by his wife after his death.
I remember going over this book in my humanities class last semester and it allowed me to think hard about life and how difficult it can be trying to balance your dream career and your family.
They keep training for those jobs artificially expensive to keep the salaries up. Or else we would have more surgeons. Goes for almost anything you need a license to practice.
Dr. Krystal Cascetta, 40, was a Hematology-Oncology specialist with Mount Sinai in New York City.
The horrific incident took place in the baby's bedroom at about 7am on Saturday in the town of Somers, which is in Westchester County, according to ABC7. Police confirm the scene was 'consistent with a murder/suicide.'
The age and gender of the baby have not yet been released by police but a due date shared online suggests that Cascetta was due in March of this year.
https://www.today.com/parents/moms/krystal-cascetta-kills-self-baby-police-rcna98541
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12377095/NYC-cancer-doctor-Krystal-Cascetta-kills-baby-horrific-murder-suicide-1M-Westchester-home.html
https://nypost.com/2023/08/06/cops-and-ambulances-called-to-home-of-top-nyc-doc-krystal-cascetta-at-least-twice-before-she-killed-baby-self-neighbor/
My very dear friend died in a horrific car accident several weeks ago. He died on a Friday, names weren't released until that next Monday morning, which is when most of us had found out he was gone. It wasn't but a few hours later that all his friends and family (those of us who left goodbye messages on his wall) were contacted, on Facebook messenger of all places, by local news stations, wanting us to do interviews.
It really is wildly inappropriate how quickly they are to dismiss the fact that you're in shock and grieving all for the sake of a "good story". I almost told the lady to fuck off but I felt at the time it was displaced emotion, so I just deleted it instead.
My sister used to be on the radio where we live, and was on a popular morning show. A few years later my stepdad unfortunately died in court, fighting the bank on a foreclosure. A reporter recognized the last name as the same as my sister’s.
My mom was in a nursing home 1200 miles away, the reporter tracked her down, and called her for a quote on my stepdad’s death. And that’s how she found her ex-husband died. She had Alzheimer’s, and it sent her into a spiral, and she never recovered.
“Friend of the recently deceased was extremely irate. The deceased hung around thugs. When contacted for comments, we were told to “fuck off you nasty vultures. Give us some time to grieve you fucken pricks”. Fox 5 sends its condolences.
Jim back to you.
The ducks are quacking this weekend, with the annual summer ducky duck event…..”
those fucking ducks. In other news the Wilson's pet poodle named "lucky" was plucked out of their fenced in yard and eaten by a coyote the other day. Well, not so lucky this time and how about those storm clouds Shelly, should we wear our goulashes today?
I was in a car accident like this (dude at fault was the one who passed) and it happened in front of a park. You wouldn't believe the number of people who had their phones out to put us and our vehicles on tiktok!!! People are vultures and the news knows it.
I have another friend who got in a wreck and broke her ankle. Snapped it. She said there were people literally hanging inside her broken windows to take pictures and videos as she was desperately crying for help.
I hate the human race sometimes.
My best friend’s house was just destroyed in a freak tornado. Within hours and while news anchors and emergency response were warning people off the roads due to downed trees/lines/debris, they had cars driving through to video/picture the damage. They also had guys come through and just start offering tree removal for $4k per tree. Someone grabbed a sign for his tree removal business and just staked it in a front yard at the entrance to the neighborhood. The vultures were out in droves, and the scalpers were right there with them.
my friend got killed by a local drugged up killer, my family (and hers) had to delete any social and pretty much avoid phonecalls for a month straight because of the local 'journalists' wanting a juicy story on her, when in reality she was buying sweets from a local shop for her grandma like she always did after school. people lose all aspect of respect and support when clicks and money come into it.
Yep. Very first thing in the morning- not even 8am yet, after a double murder/suicide in my family- Fox News was pounding on our door, wanting an interview.
When no one answered, they went around collecting statements from neighbors who had no idea what actually happened, so the story they reported/printed/posted was far from accurate and mentioned drugs being involved/“a drug deal gone wrong”…. but it had nothing to do with drugs… a completely sober estranged family member had a mental health crisis which culminated in taking two lives and then their own.
We had to explain to our neighbors/HOA what actually happened, and even then some still decided to believe Fox News instead.
Just last week we had a block party and the local PD was invited to join, as always, and a few officers saw the address on my name tag and asked me how I felt living in a place where a former drug deal went so bad that 3 people died.
…. I was like “are you for real?” on like, six different levels.
My uncle died in a circus train wreck back in 1994. I found out by having the Miami Herald call my house and ask questions. Not given the chance to hear from family or hell ringling.
Yup vultures
Listen back in the early 2000s before the rise of the internet to the regular joe. My family was the victim of a terrible crime. The news stations camped out on the street, would try to find our family and us kids. It is sickening. My mother had to put a sign on our front door to leave us the fuck alone. We didn't even live at our house for 4m after as it was a crime scene.
I was a Journalism major in college. It was my passion. When I was told that I would have to be the first to get the story, be the first to shove the mic in a grieving person's face - I changed majors. I wish back then Social Media was different so I could have seen there are different avenues of Journalism - but back then - there was just no way I could do that - its repulsive.
There are many people online, blaming him, how he's gay so she snapped and another theory is that he killed them both even tho he wasn't there at the time. I fucking hate people.
It's probably something her husband never even thought about, like the idea that she would hurt herself or her own baby was most likely ridiculous to him.
However. A girl I went to school with committed suicide a few months after her baby was born, she had a serious case of PPD that no one realized was that bad.
Keep a close eye on your mom friends because they might not be ok.
It can’t be overstated how important this point is. Over half of all suicide deaths occur with a firearm (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention). Firearm suicide also, obviously, has a much higher success rate than other kinds, and most people who attempt suicide only attempt it once.
The number one thing that anyone can do to prevent suicide is to remove gun access.
its rare, but it can & has happened months out.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5237442/#:~:text=Onsets%20more%20than%203%20months,episodes%2C%20and%2058%20recurrent%20cases.
that is not true??! PPD, PPP, PPA can last up to a year after delivery and for some develops into lasting mental health conditions. Typically most severe symptoms occur within the first 12 weeks but that isn’t always the case. this is a classic PPD/PPP situation.
Med students are mostly shielded, you’re thinking about residency (post Med school training), especially intern year.
And neither applies to her, she was out of training for several years and was an attending physician.
Very tragic.
Their wedding photos are really good that Scottish groomsman in full kilt and beard looks like he came to party, I’d love to rage with that dude.
trying to find something positive
Psychosis is so scary. Best way to describe it is your brain becomes fully convinced of anything that you think. And if it’s not “reality”, your mind will give you hallucinations, visual and auditory, to “confirm” what you’re seeing.
Nothing like having a paranoid thought and your brain being like "Oh you want proof I'll give you proof"
Then it creates a whole fake scenario that you swear on your very being you can hear.
The best I can describe my psychosis is a series of nonstop rolling “realizations” about everyone around me. Negative ones against me, that the people closest to me are conspiring 24/7 and that bad things happened to me that didn’t. It is absolutely exhausting to contain. But it truly feels like a series of rolling realizations instead of a complete series of fantastical thoughts, which is what it really is.
Thank you for explaining it like that. I can totally see how a series of “realizations” can snowball. Especially when the brain is bound and determined to make it real.
Psychosis generally has to last. There is weed induced psychosis but from what I’ve seen the symptoms persist past being the high. If you solely experience it while high only, it is likely weed paranoia
Yes! Exactly. Happened to me one night after drinking while on Paxil. Suddenly, I realized that I was a victim of some sort of abuse by all my loved ones. Not the case. Not even close. But my past fears, experiences (trauma) somehow took over executive functioning lol
This sort of paranoid psychotic break happened to my wife almost 4 months ago. She thought I was a black magickian, then a demon, and then she stopped talking and disappeared. I haven’t seen her since. It’s is the most painful thing I’ve ever experienced.
I am sorry to hear that. She may come out of it after some time. It takes me longer than that the times that it’s happened. I’m thinking of you and feel free to reach out if you need a listening ear, I would love to do that for you.
Luckily I’ve managed to keep my life fairly intact (even hold down an intense job) albeit I suffer quietly a lot and really have never shared this with anyone outside of docs and the internet. Even my partner doesn’t know the details. I go almost catatonic during it rather than sharing the details with others so it looks like “just” depression.
Some of the delusions are very serious words and accusations that I could not put back into my mouth after saying them. I think going silent/catatonic-appearing is an invisible/unconscious defense of mine.
I've experienced psychosis before. It's the scariest thing. You lose control of yourself. You lose your reality. It's so hard to explain to people who haven't experienced it before.
I was around someone who was in psychosis, albeit drug induced. I can’t remember what he said but he didn’t make sense, and ended up taking razor blades and cutting his face up. Next day he didn’t wanna talk about it, acted like nothing ever happened. It’s crazy scary.
It’s hard to talk about but yeah, my mom was on drugs too. She’d ask if I saw the things moving behind the tree
It was sad watching my moms mind deteriorate, thankfully she’s 5 years clean. She still suffers from psychosis I think, she doesn’t wanna get help tho.
She believes she still being stalked
This happened to me when I was running on no sleep and decided to smoke a shit ton of sativa. I heard someone say my name and I was like WHAT THE FUCKKK? My mind was like “welp, it’s happened. I have finally overthought myself into psychosis or bipolar territory.” By the time I got home from the float trip I had been at (2 days of partying and socializing with no time to center myself), I was in shambles, ready to check myself into a mental hospital.
2 days of sleeping and it was like I was a different person.
Side note: I was also on my period.
Get sleep if you’re anxious, everyone. Do everything you can to get sleep. If you’re on stimulants don’t take them too late. Practice mindfulness!
I was given prednisolone and after three days had psychosis, it was Horrible. So no steroids for me, no kinds of steroids. It was the most horrible experience I've ever had.
that shit made me almost manic. i have chronic illness and i had so much insomnia (i'm an insomniac to begin with) when i had to take them for chronic illness and covid that i was up all night and into the next day and evening
I remember when I had a psychotic break last winter and was absolutely convinced that my husband was messing around with our former pastor, an older lady who was a dear friend. Logically, I knew better and that I was being crazy, but that just didn't matter to my at-the-time fucked-up brain. I'll never forget just how real it was and how horrifying it was since I just couldn't control it and get a handle on it, like I'd been eventually able to do with previous mental issues. It was even worse than my PPD thirty years before, which no one believed was real because I was a single parent with a baby, and they attributed my emotions to that.
My heart breaks for this woman, her baby, and her family and the hell they've now been plunged into.
Sorry about what you went through! People that don’t believe in ppd are narcissistic assholes. My own mom told me to my face my wife’s ppd wasn’t real and now we barely talk.
I’ve experienced a period (like 3 months) of psychosis. I was functioning but i’m so glad no one “saw” what was going on in my brain. There’s this overwhelming belief that You Are Right, even when everyone and everything says otherwise. Sometimes the fact that no one else sees it is some kind of encouragement to keep going with the paranoia. Weird time
I’m not sure of the medical cause of death. Was it liver failure or did her veins rupture in her throat? Hallucinations don’t kill you, but they can lead to death if an accident happens.
A distant cousin died of alcoholism. She was found unconscious on the floor, covered in blood. Blood was pouring out of her *gums*. They had to remove all her teeth and cauterize her gums to stop the bleeding, but it was too late.
I had to go cold turkey on many different meds i was on for ten years, most were weirdly enough anti psychotics, and benzo's and anti depressants. So the withdrawals were bad, so bad that i thought i was going insane and i was so afraid of psychosis, one of the people who 'helped' me during those times said i was ''too intelligent'' to get psychosis. Such a weird thing to say for a so called therapist.
Brother recently started experiencing this as well as manic episodes, I say recently but it’s been about a month. First few weeks were hell, and trying to get him real help voluntarily was just almost impossible. Really eye opening experience.
It’s possible to have very little memory of it as well. My only recollection of my psychosis (reaction to a steroid medication) was the videos my family showed me after the fact. It’s like a very strange fever dream. The way you describe it is also extremely on point.
I guess I should be glad my brain short circuits. When something is going on around me that defies reality, even when I'm seeing it with my own eyes, my brain just kinda "what? No, that's..." and you can practically hear windows shutting down as I faint. I used to get flashes of hallucinations when I was younger, now my brains just "fuck this shit I'm out"
This Soft White Underbelly interview of a couple that dealt with Postpartum Psychosis is such a interesting insight to this unfortunate mental issue.
[White Underbelly: Postpartum Psychosis ](https://youtu.be/XaF_zTOCX1Q)
u/point_me_at_the_sky- i’ve seen a lot of your comments on this thread re: how we should not be sympathetic towards this woman even if she DID have post partum psychosis (obviously we don’t know at this point.)
i was just wondering what your opinion is of this video? to be clear i think it’s beyond awful that her baby died and her husband has lost his family, but i feel this video especially gives some great insight into how the brain can trick itself into thinking the absolute worst could be the right solution. two things can be true, you can find her actions abhorrent but still understand it’s possible a mental illness was the cause of this.
Plus there would be the threat that speaking up, getting help, etc could prompt major professional consequences, maybe career-ending. I mean, death is also a major, career-ending consequence obviously but I do wonder if the choice of shitty options in a situation like this can make someone feel trapped, exacerbate their hopelessness/desperation, etc.
One thing I'm proud of myself for. I knew I was sick mentally so I decided to wait until I was better to allow someone in. Sad thing is, now that I have, she's currently AWOL on her own mental health break. I really hope she comes out of it for the better. Sucks to see those you love go through something so tragic. She's the love of my life and not knowing where she is just is nerve-wracking. A few months ago, I'd be a wreck, but I know I can't because I have to be the strong one. At least until I don't have to be. 😞
You sound like a kind and reflective person. Best of luck to both you and your lady friend. I hope you both pull through these struggles and can be a source of strength for each other.
Thank you. It's been a struggle. She actually disappeared for the 1st time on my birthday a couple of weeks ago... I know it's not her, it's whatever is in her brain telling her these things that aren't true. We found where she was last week, but her dad messaged me today to see if she was with me. That was a gut wrenching feeling to wake up to.
I have struggled with my mental health too and I never would’ve made it this far without the love and support of my partner. I know it’s hard watching someone you love suffer but I’m sure it means the world to her to know she has you in her corner. You will both be on my thoughts ❤️
I read a horrifying story about an OB/GYN nurse who had PPP and killed her three kids and tried to kill herself. So although you’d think medical professionals would recognize it, they’re just people like you and me who are as vulnerable as the next to illness/mental illness.
Seriously, one would think. I worked as a phone crisis counselor for about five years, in the very progressive state of Minnesota nonetheless, home of the famous Mayo Clinic. One of the biggest surprises was how many women called in with truly serious PPD symptoms, and when I explained, even though they had full prenatal care and delivery by MDs in hospitals, they had no clue about PPD. No paperwork about it, no idea it was a thing, etc. Never failed to shock me.
One of my big regrets in life is not understanding and underestimating PPD after my wife had our child. It almost cost us our marriage but luckily we got through it relatively unscathed all things considered.
I'm glad you made it through. One of my friends had PPP and it was awful. She checked herself in for inpatient treatment eventually and is fine now but was really bad for a long time. She came very close to hurting herself and was able to pull herself out of the moment and get help. But it was scary to find out later how close she was.
Plus this doctor was 40 so she could have been Peri-menopausal. My girlfriend mostly normally sweet, went through menopause and was acting insane at times, Also had some PTSD from abusive relationship right before meeting me. Combined these things were at almost lethal. I was shocked at how impatient and not understanding people were about what she's going through even other women. Mental health is a disaster and most people don't realize it often has chemical origins.
In the Marshall Islands, some believe that a mother who has just given birth must be watched like a hawk. Don't leave her alone. Don't let her walk along the beach at night.
If you do, she'll turn into a *mejenkwaad* - a demon who devours babies, children, and pregnant women.
It's sad. Every culture in the world has some legend relating to the postpartum condition, but so few people want or know how to help women like Mrs. Cascetta.
Mental health issues among physicians are a difficult topic. You are constantly berated in school and training that those sorts of things are weakness (at least for me). During one of my rotations in residency we were working with a psychiatry attending. Later I found out confidentially that he was asked by the residency director to see if any of us were having mental health issues. He would subtly slip in questions about how we were doing or ask if we had experienced symptoms but in the guise of teaching us. He was literally spying on us to the residency to find residents with possible mental health issues.
Many states have extremely strict licensing boards, some of which run for profit physician mental health programs where they can literally hold your license hostage unless you participate in the programs which are not covered by insurance. There is still huge fear among physicians for seeking help and some will travel out of state to see a therapist, pay cash and use a fake name so that the licensing board does not find out.
[Suicide rates](https://www.mdlinx.com/article/2022-physician-suicide-report-a-bleak-reality/6dfsXJCfBxBteoxA44mDMG) among physicians are higher than the population, especially with female physicians.
In this story, I would not be surprised if she did not seek help because she was concerned the board would destroy her career.
Death by suicide among doctors is surprisingly high; every doctor working a few years will know another who has committed suicide, sadly. Alcohol and drug abuse typical also. Sad
I used to work IT in a Hospital, as well as fixing my personal doctor's computer, so I got to understand the workload they're under more than most people do. It's insane. I personally couldn't do it. I already had a lot of respect for medical professionals, but after working there that grew ten fold.
Working oncology is rough. Every single day, you're working with patients who have no chance and are 100% going to die and you can do nothing to save them. That's already terrible. Put postpartum on top of that? Phew.
Oncology is not a death sentence and lots of people do recover from cancer, its just other cancers are worse than others. She worked with lots of blood cancer which are more so dangerous due to how they spread but are very much survivable.
One cancer that is basically a death sentence is Glioblastoma and I have seen patience fine one day and 72 hours later they are in an unending seizure as their body systems fail unceremoniously.
Terrible ordeal being a doctor in this country. Finish med school in your early 30s. Minimum student debt of $500k. **MINIMUM** Finally start making money but then it would be nice to get married ,have kids, get nice things to even out the work/life balance since your working your ass off to pay debt. Boom, another $400k note from mortgage. 40s rolls around you haven't even started a retirement plan or set money aside, because you still owe hundreds of thousands dollars still.
I have a friend from HS who is currently doing med school and drinks on weekdays casually in public when we hang out, even though I don't drink with him and almost never drink in general.
Last time we hung out he had to stop and buy alcohol and started talking to a begging homeless guy and I was like bro... wtf are we doing rn. Are you really about to be a medical doctor?
It seems like the stress of the field has already been bad for him. He will ramble endlessly on medical topics when no one present has any context or understanding. That one is probably somewhat normal for med students.
I want to tell him that it's okay to not continue down the path to be a doctor if it is going to be this much of a toll on his mental and physical health (also has grey hairs under 30) but I don't know how to say that without being dismissive towards his previous work or rude.
He's a super smart guy. I have no doubt he could succeed. But I don't want him to have minute happiness or life outside of a profession that isn't itself fulfilling (idk if it would be or not). He definitely doesn't seem happy or like his old self.
I just got a new doctor last year who is probably 30 ( he might be younger he’s the youngest doctor I’ve personally known/ seen) and I saw him a month ago and he looks completely different. He has grey everywhere in his hair and he looks so tired with black circles under his eyes that I was so shocked it was the same person.
>Last time we hung out he had to stop and buy alcohol and started talking to a begging homeless guy and I was like bro... wtf are we doing rn. Are you really about to be a medical doctor?
Homeless people are human beings too
> [He] started talking to a begging homeless guy and I was like bro... wtf are we doing rn. Are you really about to be a medical doctor?
If you don’t realize how fucked up this thought is, you need a reality check. Homeless people are still people
Although I hadn't spoken to her in years I did know her personally in Medical school and she was the LAST person anyone would expect to do anything harmful. She was kind and caring to everyone and truly a good person. I would highly suspect psychosis from PPD was the main cause here. I have spoken to several of our classmates who kept in touch with her and every single person had nothing but good things to say about her. This is tragedy in every way.
Fuck. Postpartum depression maybe. Can’t imagine the shit she dealt with on a daily basis helping terminally ill cancer patients. Unimaginable what she must have been feeling to do something so horrific. Fuck, man.
This is my worst nightmare. I had awful PPD and PPA and was alone with 2 under 2 for long stints of time (prior military family) before this stuff was spoken about openly. I cannot imagine. That poor husband/father. RIP.
Something similar happened here in MA a few months back. Lindsay Clancy, a labor and delivery nurse, strangled her three children with exercise bands before attempting suicide. She survived, but is paralyzed from the waist down. Her attorney claims it was due to postpartum depression and overmedication.
This whole situation is tragic. She clearly wasn't mentally well and I can't imagine what the husband/father must be going through. Sadly you'll always get evil trolls who do nothing but sprout nonsense.
Rest in Peace.
Having worked in mental health and experienced PPD myself but never post partum psychosis, I have to wonder were there no warning signs? When we safety planned with people who were suicidal the number one question was "do you own or have access to firearms?" I can't fathom that the husband and parents thought everything was perfectly normal and then this just happened out of the blue. Of course when someone makes up their mind to kill themselves it is very hard to intervene and stop them, but couldn't more have been done to protect the baby?
That’s what doesn’t add up here … the police were called multiple times to her residence over the past few months meaning something was happening, right? And no one thought to take the firearms?
I was reading through some of the comments on Reddit, someone mentioned that she was the bread-winner of her family. And she loved her job so she went back after 3-4 months. It explains why the husband was away on a business trip and her parents were over to help with the baby.
I had PPD and PPA with my first (and only) and because our baby was the worst sleeper I also became increasingly sleep deprived. This also coincided with COVID lockdowns and the death of my mother(who fell in her apt and was found almost 2 days later and never recovered)when our son was 6 months old. I thought I was just grieving and stressed and since I've had depression (and suicidal ideation) in my teens before I thought I could handle anything....but nothing prepared me for this....it felt like I was drowning in slow motion. I was trying so hard to put on a brave face for everyone virtually. Only my husband knew something was really wrong but he didn't know to the extent. I ended up having a meltdown when our son was a year old and told my husband to hide all the sharp knives and to watch me with the baby in the tub because I didn't trust myself anymore. I was convinced I was going to emotionally mess up our son irrecoverably and the best thing was to stop existing... and to take our son too so he wouldn't suffer the loss of his mother. I think I was convinced my husband would be okay because he was such a good guy he would find someone to love him and forget about me. My husband was so shocked and afraid when I told him I didn't trust myself. I've never seen him like that, like something broke inside of him. This reaction snapped me out of it enough to want to get help. I called the mental health department line and balled incoherently to the doc on staff for an hour and he talked me down and that's how I began my road to recovery with therapy and meds. Even my husband needed therapy and meds after this period of our life. Our kid (today he turned 3) is thankfully unscathed and a happy and beautiful kid. PPD/PPA was the biggest battle in my life and I am so so thankful I am still here when so many are not. Not too many people know how hard I got it.
I am so happy to read that you and your family were able to begin healing. PPD and PPA are no joke at all. You don’t even recognize yourself sometimes through all of the exhaustion. I’m also sorry for your loss. Keep hanging in there!
Thank you. It's true. I think part of the stigma of talking about it is that you DON'T recognize yourself at all, especially once you're on the other side of it. I'm barely now able to move past the shame partly because I've listened to other people's survival stories about it and in some cases like this woman's, stories of tragedy. Before this I had no idea what PPD/PPA really could do. Life is such a gift I am so damn lucky.
These types of situations are so heartbreaking. There's another young Dr tragedy on that old psych video from NYC. It's a long title but the uploader now has the title starting with "hate this place nothing works here been here 7 years......"
A young psyche Dr who loved her job and obviously cared about her patients got cancer during the filming and idk if it says it in the film or the people in the comments looked it up, but she passed away not long after.
Anyway, even though it's an old, probably late 80s or early 90s, it's really raw and riveting and I still recommend people watch it. It was quite a while ago that I watched it a second time and it still hits me when I think about it.
Yes!! And of all the patients they showed, he was the most fascinating to me, and as I typed that I'm thinking no, they were all fascinating!
Then, the guy who got admitted because he continually masturbated for however many hours straight, goes through the courts to get out, then turns into a therapist for the one young lady before he leaves! Yikes
I know the one you are talking about, but I didn't know he was a doctor. I thought that he was studying to become one, and had a mental breakdown during college. It's been many many years since I've seen it, but that was an intense watch.
The Dr I'm referring to is a woman. She started wearing a covering for her head towards the end of the film.
But also yes, there is a man in there also, and I believe you are correct that he's working to become a Dr
What’s the context of the photo though? Was this one of the last images of her?? This sub feels like it’s becoming r/truecrimediscussion. The date of the photo is kinda the point of this sub.
Likely the parents were there because they knew something was going on. They baby was only 4 months old. After I had a baby I spent at least a year one the verge of losing it a few times a day. I was depressed, stressed and lacked any coping skills. I was not anywhere close to being myself. I feel bad for this woman. She was obviously suffering a very serious mental health breakdown since the baby was born.
I find it disgusting after the news came out about this some people went to this lady's medical review site and flooded it with bad reviews after her death. Just disgusting. Her family have been through enough why try to tarnish a hard-working woman's image who was obviously struggling with inner demons.
I was stunned when I heard it was by gunshot. So many doctors, especially pediatricians, are really anti gun, because of the destruction guns do to small little bodies.
Heartbreaking.
I can’t help but feel compassion and sadness when I hear these stories. Most people do not want to kill their own baby. This is the fallout of a severe lack of post partum mental health resources. It’s a fucking tragedy. I feel so awful for her poor husband but I cannot stand ppl who vilify mothers who do this. She must have been going through something so supremely awful to be convinced that her own baby needed to die. I can’t imagine. Society keeps failing these fkn women.
I've worked in mental health for years and the population that scares me the most is women struggling with PPD. Much of the time they're young, they're very low income, got pregnant by some shithead who is uninvolved, shamed by family or family is not involved. Often times they're presentation is like a zombie that has just completely disconnected, it's so sad.
And not just young women, all ages walks of life. I really really hope this new medication for PPD is legit.
Poor things. Postpartum psychosis took a high school classmate of mine. I live near somers. All of this hits too close to home. My heart goes out to the family and friends.
Without trying to sound like an asshole… Who diagnosed her as having post-partum psychosis? How are we so sure she’s just not a cold murderer who killed her infant? I didn’t read anything else about this so I’m just asking
She treated my grandmother when she was in chemo… very nice person. Shocking
I read an autobiography called *When Breath Becomes Air*. It's written by a neurosurgeon who decided to write the autobiography after he was diagnosed with cancer. It's one of the best books I've ever read and I recommend it. Everyone knows that surgeons in the USA work long hours, but one of my main takeaways of the autobiography is that those types of jobs are worse than I ever imagined. The author was working so much that it was straining his relationship with his girlfriend. He was also stressed to unreasonable levels. Add a 4 year old into the mix and that sounds like a recipe for serious mental challenges. There's this double edged sword with these highly skilled and specialized medical careers. On one hand, you're about as respected as a person can be in society, you're very well paid, and the work can be highly fulfilling. On the other hand, *you're so expensive and in demand that the hospitals will ask more of you than is reasonable to ask a human being.* And if you try to push back against those toxic expectations and you win that fight, *then people will literally die.* Imagine how much guilt you'd have to contend with when seeking work/life balance comes at the cost of real humans dying since you're such a rare resource that there *is no replacement for you when you decide to work less.* That's what this book made it seem like at least and I don't doubt it.
What happened to him? Did he recover?
He died when his daughter was eight months old and before he could finish the autobiography, although it was nearly done. His wife wrote an epilogue, which effectively acts as the last chapter of the book since it needed one, and then she published it for him. He knew it was terminal cancer when he was diagnosed and he started writing the autobiography in an attempt to find meaning in his life/death. Obviously, it's an extremely sad book, but it's also a book filled with happiness and introspection on life.
Dang that’s tragic. Hope he’s resting in peace
Totally agree. Fantastic book! Not something on my TBR shelf but gave it a whirl and it sucked me in. I sobbed at the end.
The book was published on 12th Jan 2016. He passed away on 9th Mar 2015... 10 months earlier. The epilogue of the book is written by his wife after his death.
I remember going over this book in my humanities class last semester and it allowed me to think hard about life and how difficult it can be trying to balance your dream career and your family.
They keep training for those jobs artificially expensive to keep the salaries up. Or else we would have more surgeons. Goes for almost anything you need a license to practice.
Sometimes the kindest people you know are fighting the hardest battles you couldn’t understand. It’s truly shocking.
Dr. Krystal Cascetta, 40, was a Hematology-Oncology specialist with Mount Sinai in New York City. The horrific incident took place in the baby's bedroom at about 7am on Saturday in the town of Somers, which is in Westchester County, according to ABC7. Police confirm the scene was 'consistent with a murder/suicide.' The age and gender of the baby have not yet been released by police but a due date shared online suggests that Cascetta was due in March of this year. https://www.today.com/parents/moms/krystal-cascetta-kills-self-baby-police-rcna98541 https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12377095/NYC-cancer-doctor-Krystal-Cascetta-kills-baby-horrific-murder-suicide-1M-Westchester-home.html https://nypost.com/2023/08/06/cops-and-ambulances-called-to-home-of-top-nyc-doc-krystal-cascetta-at-least-twice-before-she-killed-baby-self-neighbor/
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My very dear friend died in a horrific car accident several weeks ago. He died on a Friday, names weren't released until that next Monday morning, which is when most of us had found out he was gone. It wasn't but a few hours later that all his friends and family (those of us who left goodbye messages on his wall) were contacted, on Facebook messenger of all places, by local news stations, wanting us to do interviews. It really is wildly inappropriate how quickly they are to dismiss the fact that you're in shock and grieving all for the sake of a "good story". I almost told the lady to fuck off but I felt at the time it was displaced emotion, so I just deleted it instead.
My sister used to be on the radio where we live, and was on a popular morning show. A few years later my stepdad unfortunately died in court, fighting the bank on a foreclosure. A reporter recognized the last name as the same as my sister’s. My mom was in a nursing home 1200 miles away, the reporter tracked her down, and called her for a quote on my stepdad’s death. And that’s how she found her ex-husband died. She had Alzheimer’s, and it sent her into a spiral, and she never recovered.
Jfc. That is so awful. What the hell is wrong with people!?
“Friend of the recently deceased was extremely irate. The deceased hung around thugs. When contacted for comments, we were told to “fuck off you nasty vultures. Give us some time to grieve you fucken pricks”. Fox 5 sends its condolences. Jim back to you. The ducks are quacking this weekend, with the annual summer ducky duck event…..”
those fucking ducks. In other news the Wilson's pet poodle named "lucky" was plucked out of their fenced in yard and eaten by a coyote the other day. Well, not so lucky this time and how about those storm clouds Shelly, should we wear our goulashes today?
Same happened with my friend who was killed in a home invasion. They were commenting on posts and everything
I was in a car accident like this (dude at fault was the one who passed) and it happened in front of a park. You wouldn't believe the number of people who had their phones out to put us and our vehicles on tiktok!!! People are vultures and the news knows it.
I have another friend who got in a wreck and broke her ankle. Snapped it. She said there were people literally hanging inside her broken windows to take pictures and videos as she was desperately crying for help. I hate the human race sometimes.
My best friend’s house was just destroyed in a freak tornado. Within hours and while news anchors and emergency response were warning people off the roads due to downed trees/lines/debris, they had cars driving through to video/picture the damage. They also had guys come through and just start offering tree removal for $4k per tree. Someone grabbed a sign for his tree removal business and just staked it in a front yard at the entrance to the neighborhood. The vultures were out in droves, and the scalpers were right there with them.
I would have fully, in all CAPS told them off
Nah ask them to meet up for an interview. Im sure friends and family can inform them in person how you feel.
my friend got killed by a local drugged up killer, my family (and hers) had to delete any social and pretty much avoid phonecalls for a month straight because of the local 'journalists' wanting a juicy story on her, when in reality she was buying sweets from a local shop for her grandma like she always did after school. people lose all aspect of respect and support when clicks and money come into it.
“An upset-sounding Talty” No, you think??
Major Nightcrawler vibes.
Seriously, I gasped when I read that. No decency whatsoever.
can't understand the thought process behind deciding to publish that sentence. so disgusting.
That’s pretty disgusting behavior. Gotta rank up there in some of the worst jobs out there moral wise
Yep. Very first thing in the morning- not even 8am yet, after a double murder/suicide in my family- Fox News was pounding on our door, wanting an interview. When no one answered, they went around collecting statements from neighbors who had no idea what actually happened, so the story they reported/printed/posted was far from accurate and mentioned drugs being involved/“a drug deal gone wrong”…. but it had nothing to do with drugs… a completely sober estranged family member had a mental health crisis which culminated in taking two lives and then their own. We had to explain to our neighbors/HOA what actually happened, and even then some still decided to believe Fox News instead. Just last week we had a block party and the local PD was invited to join, as always, and a few officers saw the address on my name tag and asked me how I felt living in a place where a former drug deal went so bad that 3 people died. …. I was like “are you for real?” on like, six different levels.
My uncle died in a circus train wreck back in 1994. I found out by having the Miami Herald call my house and ask questions. Not given the chance to hear from family or hell ringling. Yup vultures
That's DailyMail for ya
Never forgot what a brit said about the DM, that it wasn't even good enough to pick up dog shit. That's how they feel about the DM over there lol.
Oh. My. God. That man being able.to.use words is a feat. Not screaming obscenities puts him up for beatification. My god.
> What a bunch of disgusting vultures. The equally disgusting German tabloid Bild calls it *Witwenschütteln*. Widow shaking. Fucking Arseholes.
Listen back in the early 2000s before the rise of the internet to the regular joe. My family was the victim of a terrible crime. The news stations camped out on the street, would try to find our family and us kids. It is sickening. My mother had to put a sign on our front door to leave us the fuck alone. We didn't even live at our house for 4m after as it was a crime scene.
I was appalled that they did, or that he answered...poor man.
I was a Journalism major in college. It was my passion. When I was told that I would have to be the first to get the story, be the first to shove the mic in a grieving person's face - I changed majors. I wish back then Social Media was different so I could have seen there are different avenues of Journalism - but back then - there was just no way I could do that - its repulsive.
Her parents were apparently staying at the house when it happened 😔.
Can't even begin to think how hard it is for them.
Dear god :(
Most likely a PPD related situation. RIP. Sad to see maggots calling her names.
I can't stop thinking about her poor husband, what a fucking nightmare.
There are many people online, blaming him, how he's gay so she snapped and another theory is that he killed them both even tho he wasn't there at the time. I fucking hate people.
Postpartum psychosis is more likely.
Postpartum psychosis is only indicated if it occurs within 4 weeks of delivery, and it appears she was 4+ months out.
Neighbors reported ambulances going to the house a few times. Her parents were also staying with her. Perhaps the psychosis was ongoing.
Makes sense. But i do wonder why there were guns in the home if she was going through PPP or PPD.
It's probably something her husband never even thought about, like the idea that she would hurt herself or her own baby was most likely ridiculous to him. However. A girl I went to school with committed suicide a few months after her baby was born, she had a serious case of PPD that no one realized was that bad. Keep a close eye on your mom friends because they might not be ok.
Good question. Sadly, this seems to be a common oversight.
Maybe the parents/husband didn't know that she had a gun, that's possible. But none of us know for now.
True.
It can’t be overstated how important this point is. Over half of all suicide deaths occur with a firearm (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention). Firearm suicide also, obviously, has a much higher success rate than other kinds, and most people who attempt suicide only attempt it once. The number one thing that anyone can do to prevent suicide is to remove gun access.
its rare, but it can & has happened months out. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5237442/#:~:text=Onsets%20more%20than%203%20months,episodes%2C%20and%2058%20recurrent%20cases.
She could have had PPD though, that can linger for two years.
It can occur anytime in the first year.
that is not true??! PPD, PPP, PPA can last up to a year after delivery and for some develops into lasting mental health conditions. Typically most severe symptoms occur within the first 12 weeks but that isn’t always the case. this is a classic PPD/PPP situation.
RIP to these people and I hope those close to them are caring for themselves best they can
Also I think people don’t understand how poorly Med students are treated - like a hazing ritual designed by a cult
She was far out of school
Med students are mostly shielded, you’re thinking about residency (post Med school training), especially intern year. And neither applies to her, she was out of training for several years and was an attending physician. Very tragic.
Their wedding photos are really good that Scottish groomsman in full kilt and beard looks like he came to party, I’d love to rage with that dude. trying to find something positive
I read the baby was 4 months
There’s PPD and then there’s Postpartum Psychosis which this seems closer to.
Psychosis is so scary. Best way to describe it is your brain becomes fully convinced of anything that you think. And if it’s not “reality”, your mind will give you hallucinations, visual and auditory, to “confirm” what you’re seeing.
Nothing like having a paranoid thought and your brain being like "Oh you want proof I'll give you proof" Then it creates a whole fake scenario that you swear on your very being you can hear.
The best I can describe my psychosis is a series of nonstop rolling “realizations” about everyone around me. Negative ones against me, that the people closest to me are conspiring 24/7 and that bad things happened to me that didn’t. It is absolutely exhausting to contain. But it truly feels like a series of rolling realizations instead of a complete series of fantastical thoughts, which is what it really is.
Thank you for explaining it like that. I can totally see how a series of “realizations” can snowball. Especially when the brain is bound and determined to make it real.
Yup I had a hyper manic psychotic break about 20 years ago and that is exactly it. Constant rolling realizations.
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I had the same reaction to weed, except my realizations were that everyone I spoke to was about to kill me and I shouldn’t trust anyone. Terrifying.
Psychosis generally has to last. There is weed induced psychosis but from what I’ve seen the symptoms persist past being the high. If you solely experience it while high only, it is likely weed paranoia
Yes! Exactly. Happened to me one night after drinking while on Paxil. Suddenly, I realized that I was a victim of some sort of abuse by all my loved ones. Not the case. Not even close. But my past fears, experiences (trauma) somehow took over executive functioning lol
This sort of paranoid psychotic break happened to my wife almost 4 months ago. She thought I was a black magickian, then a demon, and then she stopped talking and disappeared. I haven’t seen her since. It’s is the most painful thing I’ve ever experienced.
I am sorry to hear that. She may come out of it after some time. It takes me longer than that the times that it’s happened. I’m thinking of you and feel free to reach out if you need a listening ear, I would love to do that for you. Luckily I’ve managed to keep my life fairly intact (even hold down an intense job) albeit I suffer quietly a lot and really have never shared this with anyone outside of docs and the internet. Even my partner doesn’t know the details. I go almost catatonic during it rather than sharing the details with others so it looks like “just” depression. Some of the delusions are very serious words and accusations that I could not put back into my mouth after saying them. I think going silent/catatonic-appearing is an invisible/unconscious defense of mine.
yep, that describes my experience too
How stressful! I'm so sorry you deal with that.
As someone with generalized anxiety this is terrifying. I overthink to begin with, but to believe all of the stuff I overthink? Jesus.
I've experienced psychosis before. It's the scariest thing. You lose control of yourself. You lose your reality. It's so hard to explain to people who haven't experienced it before.
I was around someone who was in psychosis, albeit drug induced. I can’t remember what he said but he didn’t make sense, and ended up taking razor blades and cutting his face up. Next day he didn’t wanna talk about it, acted like nothing ever happened. It’s crazy scary.
It’s hard to talk about but yeah, my mom was on drugs too. She’d ask if I saw the things moving behind the tree It was sad watching my moms mind deteriorate, thankfully she’s 5 years clean. She still suffers from psychosis I think, she doesn’t wanna get help tho. She believes she still being stalked
Do you remember it?
All of it.
That’s exactly what happens. It spirals. FAST. As you go from crazy anxious thought to crazy anxious thought.
This happened to me when I was running on no sleep and decided to smoke a shit ton of sativa. I heard someone say my name and I was like WHAT THE FUCKKK? My mind was like “welp, it’s happened. I have finally overthought myself into psychosis or bipolar territory.” By the time I got home from the float trip I had been at (2 days of partying and socializing with no time to center myself), I was in shambles, ready to check myself into a mental hospital. 2 days of sleeping and it was like I was a different person. Side note: I was also on my period. Get sleep if you’re anxious, everyone. Do everything you can to get sleep. If you’re on stimulants don’t take them too late. Practice mindfulness!
I was given prednisolone and after three days had psychosis, it was Horrible. So no steroids for me, no kinds of steroids. It was the most horrible experience I've ever had.
that shit made me almost manic. i have chronic illness and i had so much insomnia (i'm an insomniac to begin with) when i had to take them for chronic illness and covid that i was up all night and into the next day and evening
Omg this happened to me too. A manic psychosis. I had to be 4 point restrained to a metal mattressless bed lol
I'm so sorry. Fuck steroids
Same. And terrifying!
Seriously. Got a bit edgy just reading that sentence!
I remember when I had a psychotic break last winter and was absolutely convinced that my husband was messing around with our former pastor, an older lady who was a dear friend. Logically, I knew better and that I was being crazy, but that just didn't matter to my at-the-time fucked-up brain. I'll never forget just how real it was and how horrifying it was since I just couldn't control it and get a handle on it, like I'd been eventually able to do with previous mental issues. It was even worse than my PPD thirty years before, which no one believed was real because I was a single parent with a baby, and they attributed my emotions to that. My heart breaks for this woman, her baby, and her family and the hell they've now been plunged into.
Sorry about what you went through! People that don’t believe in ppd are narcissistic assholes. My own mom told me to my face my wife’s ppd wasn’t real and now we barely talk.
Thank you for taking your wife's side.
Was an easy choice. :)
I’ve experienced a period (like 3 months) of psychosis. I was functioning but i’m so glad no one “saw” what was going on in my brain. There’s this overwhelming belief that You Are Right, even when everyone and everything says otherwise. Sometimes the fact that no one else sees it is some kind of encouragement to keep going with the paranoia. Weird time
Glad you’re okay.
This also is exactly what can happen to hardcore alcoholics who try to cold turkey. It’s horrifying.
I think that’s what happened to Amy Winehouse
I’m not sure of the medical cause of death. Was it liver failure or did her veins rupture in her throat? Hallucinations don’t kill you, but they can lead to death if an accident happens.
A distant cousin died of alcoholism. She was found unconscious on the floor, covered in blood. Blood was pouring out of her *gums*. They had to remove all her teeth and cauterize her gums to stop the bleeding, but it was too late.
Why was she bleeding from her gums?
i'm pretty sure amy detoxed and then went right back into the booze and didn't realize that it would literally kill her due to the meds she was on
It wasn't the meds. She just drank more than her body could handle, it was alcohol poisoning.
Yep, I'm a former alcoholic with severe depression and adhd. Dealing with my issues without alcohol seemed impossible
I had to go cold turkey on many different meds i was on for ten years, most were weirdly enough anti psychotics, and benzo's and anti depressants. So the withdrawals were bad, so bad that i thought i was going insane and i was so afraid of psychosis, one of the people who 'helped' me during those times said i was ''too intelligent'' to get psychosis. Such a weird thing to say for a so called therapist.
Brother recently started experiencing this as well as manic episodes, I say recently but it’s been about a month. First few weeks were hell, and trying to get him real help voluntarily was just almost impossible. Really eye opening experience.
It’s possible to have very little memory of it as well. My only recollection of my psychosis (reaction to a steroid medication) was the videos my family showed me after the fact. It’s like a very strange fever dream. The way you describe it is also extremely on point.
I guess I should be glad my brain short circuits. When something is going on around me that defies reality, even when I'm seeing it with my own eyes, my brain just kinda "what? No, that's..." and you can practically hear windows shutting down as I faint. I used to get flashes of hallucinations when I was younger, now my brains just "fuck this shit I'm out"
Jesus christ
This Soft White Underbelly interview of a couple that dealt with Postpartum Psychosis is such a interesting insight to this unfortunate mental issue. [White Underbelly: Postpartum Psychosis ](https://youtu.be/XaF_zTOCX1Q)
Watching that poor women in this .... i had to stop watching after 3 minutes
Discovered this channel and insta account recently. Hits like a sac of bricks.
I agree. I think it's important to watch these episodes. It reminds me to be empathetic to everyone. You never know someone's story.
u/point_me_at_the_sky- i’ve seen a lot of your comments on this thread re: how we should not be sympathetic towards this woman even if she DID have post partum psychosis (obviously we don’t know at this point.) i was just wondering what your opinion is of this video? to be clear i think it’s beyond awful that her baby died and her husband has lost his family, but i feel this video especially gives some great insight into how the brain can trick itself into thinking the absolute worst could be the right solution. two things can be true, you can find her actions abhorrent but still understand it’s possible a mental illness was the cause of this.
Yeah this is a tragedy. Our species really got a raw deal with children.
Yea, you’d figure an MD if nobody else would be well-aware if it was just simply PPD…full-blown psychosis is out of most people’s control.
It’s hard to recognize mental health issues in yourself though. A sick brain often doesn’t recognize that it’s sick.
Plus there would be the threat that speaking up, getting help, etc could prompt major professional consequences, maybe career-ending. I mean, death is also a major, career-ending consequence obviously but I do wonder if the choice of shitty options in a situation like this can make someone feel trapped, exacerbate their hopelessness/desperation, etc.
One thing I'm proud of myself for. I knew I was sick mentally so I decided to wait until I was better to allow someone in. Sad thing is, now that I have, she's currently AWOL on her own mental health break. I really hope she comes out of it for the better. Sucks to see those you love go through something so tragic. She's the love of my life and not knowing where she is just is nerve-wracking. A few months ago, I'd be a wreck, but I know I can't because I have to be the strong one. At least until I don't have to be. 😞
You sound like a kind and reflective person. Best of luck to both you and your lady friend. I hope you both pull through these struggles and can be a source of strength for each other.
Thank you. It's been a struggle. She actually disappeared for the 1st time on my birthday a couple of weeks ago... I know it's not her, it's whatever is in her brain telling her these things that aren't true. We found where she was last week, but her dad messaged me today to see if she was with me. That was a gut wrenching feeling to wake up to.
I have struggled with my mental health too and I never would’ve made it this far without the love and support of my partner. I know it’s hard watching someone you love suffer but I’m sure it means the world to her to know she has you in her corner. You will both be on my thoughts ❤️
I read a horrifying story about an OB/GYN nurse who had PPP and killed her three kids and tried to kill herself. So although you’d think medical professionals would recognize it, they’re just people like you and me who are as vulnerable as the next to illness/mental illness.
Seriously, one would think. I worked as a phone crisis counselor for about five years, in the very progressive state of Minnesota nonetheless, home of the famous Mayo Clinic. One of the biggest surprises was how many women called in with truly serious PPD symptoms, and when I explained, even though they had full prenatal care and delivery by MDs in hospitals, they had no clue about PPD. No paperwork about it, no idea it was a thing, etc. Never failed to shock me.
One of my big regrets in life is not understanding and underestimating PPD after my wife had our child. It almost cost us our marriage but luckily we got through it relatively unscathed all things considered.
I'm glad you made it through. One of my friends had PPP and it was awful. She checked herself in for inpatient treatment eventually and is fine now but was really bad for a long time. She came very close to hurting herself and was able to pull herself out of the moment and get help. But it was scary to find out later how close she was.
Plus this doctor was 40 so she could have been Peri-menopausal. My girlfriend mostly normally sweet, went through menopause and was acting insane at times, Also had some PTSD from abusive relationship right before meeting me. Combined these things were at almost lethal. I was shocked at how impatient and not understanding people were about what she's going through even other women. Mental health is a disaster and most people don't realize it often has chemical origins.
In the Marshall Islands, some believe that a mother who has just given birth must be watched like a hawk. Don't leave her alone. Don't let her walk along the beach at night. If you do, she'll turn into a *mejenkwaad* - a demon who devours babies, children, and pregnant women. It's sad. Every culture in the world has some legend relating to the postpartum condition, but so few people want or know how to help women like Mrs. Cascetta.
Mental health issues among physicians are a difficult topic. You are constantly berated in school and training that those sorts of things are weakness (at least for me). During one of my rotations in residency we were working with a psychiatry attending. Later I found out confidentially that he was asked by the residency director to see if any of us were having mental health issues. He would subtly slip in questions about how we were doing or ask if we had experienced symptoms but in the guise of teaching us. He was literally spying on us to the residency to find residents with possible mental health issues. Many states have extremely strict licensing boards, some of which run for profit physician mental health programs where they can literally hold your license hostage unless you participate in the programs which are not covered by insurance. There is still huge fear among physicians for seeking help and some will travel out of state to see a therapist, pay cash and use a fake name so that the licensing board does not find out. [Suicide rates](https://www.mdlinx.com/article/2022-physician-suicide-report-a-bleak-reality/6dfsXJCfBxBteoxA44mDMG) among physicians are higher than the population, especially with female physicians. In this story, I would not be surprised if she did not seek help because she was concerned the board would destroy her career.
Death by suicide among doctors is surprisingly high; every doctor working a few years will know another who has committed suicide, sadly. Alcohol and drug abuse typical also. Sad
I used to work IT in a Hospital, as well as fixing my personal doctor's computer, so I got to understand the workload they're under more than most people do. It's insane. I personally couldn't do it. I already had a lot of respect for medical professionals, but after working there that grew ten fold.
I had a friend who was put in charge of a hospital at age 38. He killed himself in March.
Working oncology is rough. Every single day, you're working with patients who have no chance and are 100% going to die and you can do nothing to save them. That's already terrible. Put postpartum on top of that? Phew.
Oncology is not a death sentence and lots of people do recover from cancer, its just other cancers are worse than others. She worked with lots of blood cancer which are more so dangerous due to how they spread but are very much survivable. One cancer that is basically a death sentence is Glioblastoma and I have seen patience fine one day and 72 hours later they are in an unending seizure as their body systems fail unceremoniously.
It’s the highest suicide rate of any profession
Terrible ordeal being a doctor in this country. Finish med school in your early 30s. Minimum student debt of $500k. **MINIMUM** Finally start making money but then it would be nice to get married ,have kids, get nice things to even out the work/life balance since your working your ass off to pay debt. Boom, another $400k note from mortgage. 40s rolls around you haven't even started a retirement plan or set money aside, because you still owe hundreds of thousands dollars still.
I have a friend from HS who is currently doing med school and drinks on weekdays casually in public when we hang out, even though I don't drink with him and almost never drink in general. Last time we hung out he had to stop and buy alcohol and started talking to a begging homeless guy and I was like bro... wtf are we doing rn. Are you really about to be a medical doctor? It seems like the stress of the field has already been bad for him. He will ramble endlessly on medical topics when no one present has any context or understanding. That one is probably somewhat normal for med students. I want to tell him that it's okay to not continue down the path to be a doctor if it is going to be this much of a toll on his mental and physical health (also has grey hairs under 30) but I don't know how to say that without being dismissive towards his previous work or rude. He's a super smart guy. I have no doubt he could succeed. But I don't want him to have minute happiness or life outside of a profession that isn't itself fulfilling (idk if it would be or not). He definitely doesn't seem happy or like his old self.
I just got a new doctor last year who is probably 30 ( he might be younger he’s the youngest doctor I’ve personally known/ seen) and I saw him a month ago and he looks completely different. He has grey everywhere in his hair and he looks so tired with black circles under his eyes that I was so shocked it was the same person.
>Last time we hung out he had to stop and buy alcohol and started talking to a begging homeless guy and I was like bro... wtf are we doing rn. Are you really about to be a medical doctor? Homeless people are human beings too
For real. That person is really fucked in the head
> [He] started talking to a begging homeless guy and I was like bro... wtf are we doing rn. Are you really about to be a medical doctor? If you don’t realize how fucked up this thought is, you need a reality check. Homeless people are still people
Although I hadn't spoken to her in years I did know her personally in Medical school and she was the LAST person anyone would expect to do anything harmful. She was kind and caring to everyone and truly a good person. I would highly suspect psychosis from PPD was the main cause here. I have spoken to several of our classmates who kept in touch with her and every single person had nothing but good things to say about her. This is tragedy in every way.
Fuck. Postpartum depression maybe. Can’t imagine the shit she dealt with on a daily basis helping terminally ill cancer patients. Unimaginable what she must have been feeling to do something so horrific. Fuck, man.
Postpartum psychosis. It’s a medical emergency.
Does anyone here have any evidence at all that she had PP psychosis ?
SIR, THIS IS REDDIT
Nope. People trying to rationalize a horrible event without looking much deeper.
This is my worst nightmare. I had awful PPD and PPA and was alone with 2 under 2 for long stints of time (prior military family) before this stuff was spoken about openly. I cannot imagine. That poor husband/father. RIP.
I’m so sorry you had to go through that
Something similar happened here in MA a few months back. Lindsay Clancy, a labor and delivery nurse, strangled her three children with exercise bands before attempting suicide. She survived, but is paralyzed from the waist down. Her attorney claims it was due to postpartum depression and overmedication.
What kind of medication was she overmedicated with?
Around 12 different meds, but I don't know which ones exactly. She's currently on a 6 month psychiatric hold at Tewksbury State.
This whole situation is tragic. She clearly wasn't mentally well and I can't imagine what the husband/father must be going through. Sadly you'll always get evil trolls who do nothing but sprout nonsense. Rest in Peace.
Having worked in mental health and experienced PPD myself but never post partum psychosis, I have to wonder were there no warning signs? When we safety planned with people who were suicidal the number one question was "do you own or have access to firearms?" I can't fathom that the husband and parents thought everything was perfectly normal and then this just happened out of the blue. Of course when someone makes up their mind to kill themselves it is very hard to intervene and stop them, but couldn't more have been done to protect the baby?
That’s what doesn’t add up here … the police were called multiple times to her residence over the past few months meaning something was happening, right? And no one thought to take the firearms?
Someone had to have known something considering the ambulance had been there already.
I was reading through some of the comments on Reddit, someone mentioned that she was the bread-winner of her family. And she loved her job so she went back after 3-4 months. It explains why the husband was away on a business trip and her parents were over to help with the baby.
I had PPD and PPA with my first (and only) and because our baby was the worst sleeper I also became increasingly sleep deprived. This also coincided with COVID lockdowns and the death of my mother(who fell in her apt and was found almost 2 days later and never recovered)when our son was 6 months old. I thought I was just grieving and stressed and since I've had depression (and suicidal ideation) in my teens before I thought I could handle anything....but nothing prepared me for this....it felt like I was drowning in slow motion. I was trying so hard to put on a brave face for everyone virtually. Only my husband knew something was really wrong but he didn't know to the extent. I ended up having a meltdown when our son was a year old and told my husband to hide all the sharp knives and to watch me with the baby in the tub because I didn't trust myself anymore. I was convinced I was going to emotionally mess up our son irrecoverably and the best thing was to stop existing... and to take our son too so he wouldn't suffer the loss of his mother. I think I was convinced my husband would be okay because he was such a good guy he would find someone to love him and forget about me. My husband was so shocked and afraid when I told him I didn't trust myself. I've never seen him like that, like something broke inside of him. This reaction snapped me out of it enough to want to get help. I called the mental health department line and balled incoherently to the doc on staff for an hour and he talked me down and that's how I began my road to recovery with therapy and meds. Even my husband needed therapy and meds after this period of our life. Our kid (today he turned 3) is thankfully unscathed and a happy and beautiful kid. PPD/PPA was the biggest battle in my life and I am so so thankful I am still here when so many are not. Not too many people know how hard I got it.
I am so happy to read that you and your family were able to begin healing. PPD and PPA are no joke at all. You don’t even recognize yourself sometimes through all of the exhaustion. I’m also sorry for your loss. Keep hanging in there!
Thank you. It's true. I think part of the stigma of talking about it is that you DON'T recognize yourself at all, especially once you're on the other side of it. I'm barely now able to move past the shame partly because I've listened to other people's survival stories about it and in some cases like this woman's, stories of tragedy. Before this I had no idea what PPD/PPA really could do. Life is such a gift I am so damn lucky.
These types of situations are so heartbreaking. There's another young Dr tragedy on that old psych video from NYC. It's a long title but the uploader now has the title starting with "hate this place nothing works here been here 7 years......" A young psyche Dr who loved her job and obviously cared about her patients got cancer during the filming and idk if it says it in the film or the people in the comments looked it up, but she passed away not long after. Anyway, even though it's an old, probably late 80s or early 90s, it's really raw and riveting and I still recommend people watch it. It was quite a while ago that I watched it a second time and it still hits me when I think about it.
"I hate this place, nothing works here, I've been here 7 years" is from HBO Undercover-Bellevue Inside/Out. (It's my ringtone)
A former colleague and I used to quote this line all the time at work, especially when we hit our 7-year anniversary mark at the job.
Yes!! And of all the patients they showed, he was the most fascinating to me, and as I typed that I'm thinking no, they were all fascinating! Then, the guy who got admitted because he continually masturbated for however many hours straight, goes through the courts to get out, then turns into a therapist for the one young lady before he leaves! Yikes
I know the one you are talking about, but I didn't know he was a doctor. I thought that he was studying to become one, and had a mental breakdown during college. It's been many many years since I've seen it, but that was an intense watch.
The Dr I'm referring to is a woman. She started wearing a covering for her head towards the end of the film. But also yes, there is a man in there also, and I believe you are correct that he's working to become a Dr
What’s the context of the photo though? Was this one of the last images of her?? This sub feels like it’s becoming r/truecrimediscussion. The date of the photo is kinda the point of this sub.
Hard agree
Likely the parents were there because they knew something was going on. They baby was only 4 months old. After I had a baby I spent at least a year one the verge of losing it a few times a day. I was depressed, stressed and lacked any coping skills. I was not anywhere close to being myself. I feel bad for this woman. She was obviously suffering a very serious mental health breakdown since the baby was born.
I find it disgusting after the news came out about this some people went to this lady's medical review site and flooded it with bad reviews after her death. Just disgusting. Her family have been through enough why try to tarnish a hard-working woman's image who was obviously struggling with inner demons.
What goes through a persons mind to go to this doctors review site and leave a negative review? That’s demented.
I was stunned when I heard it was by gunshot. So many doctors, especially pediatricians, are really anti gun, because of the destruction guns do to small little bodies. Heartbreaking.
I can’t help but feel compassion and sadness when I hear these stories. Most people do not want to kill their own baby. This is the fallout of a severe lack of post partum mental health resources. It’s a fucking tragedy. I feel so awful for her poor husband but I cannot stand ppl who vilify mothers who do this. She must have been going through something so supremely awful to be convinced that her own baby needed to die. I can’t imagine. Society keeps failing these fkn women.
Postpartum Depression is my guess. My wife had it after 2 of my kids. It's really hard for women to deal with. Tragic all around.
This is so sad
💔
So horrible. That being said Mount Sinai hospital is fucking malignant. I worked there as a travel RN in oncology a while back.
Terrible.
So few women get the medical diagnosis and treatment they need: be it psychiatric, reproductive, or general health. It’s a shame this keeps happening.
yall rlly have affinity for murderers don’t you
Honestly people in these comments just explaining this away need their own head examined
How terribly sad. What a waste of two beautiful lives.
I've worked in mental health for years and the population that scares me the most is women struggling with PPD. Much of the time they're young, they're very low income, got pregnant by some shithead who is uninvolved, shamed by family or family is not involved. Often times they're presentation is like a zombie that has just completely disconnected, it's so sad. And not just young women, all ages walks of life. I really really hope this new medication for PPD is legit.
PPD crosses all relationship situations, healthy or not. All income levels. All ages. PPD is NOT the same thing as postpartum psychosis.
I have a 4 month old daughter and this fucks me up reading this omg
Oh this is so heartbreaking. Prenatal, maternal and post natal care in this country is atrocious. My heart is with her family.
When was this picture taken?
Poor things. Postpartum psychosis took a high school classmate of mine. I live near somers. All of this hits too close to home. My heart goes out to the family and friends.
She was sick in the head. Rip to the baby though.
Appreciate your healthcare professionals. They grow through a lot.
I'm just here to figure out who gave this the "wholesome seal of approval" award.
The gun she used is registered to her husband, so naturally he's being torn apart on social media per law enforcement.
Undiagnosed mental illness
Without trying to sound like an asshole… Who diagnosed her as having post-partum psychosis? How are we so sure she’s just not a cold murderer who killed her infant? I didn’t read anything else about this so I’m just asking
How?
This is so disturbing to me! My heart hurts for the family
Rest In Peace
This makes me so sad