What is ‘command hallucination’? Lindsay Clancy’s mental state on day of killings explained by forensic psychiatrist
Lindsay Clancy was suffering from a “command hallucination” at the time she killed her children, a forensic psychiatrist told the jury in her trial. The Massachusetts mother is facing three counts of murder in the killings of her children Cora, 5; Dawson, 3; and Callan, 8 months.
Forensic psychiatrist Phillip Resnick, the defence’s final witness, recently testified about the effects of postpartum psychosis.
“My opinion is that Ms Clancy was, due to her mental disease, unable to conform her conduct to the requirements of the law on the day that she took the lives of her children,” Resnick told jurors. “It was a matter where she was just following the command rather than being able to make any decision to do it or not.”
Resnick said that on the day Lindsay killed her children, she experienced “not only a command hallucination” but also “a delusion of influence,” per the BBC.
Resnick evaluated Lindsay after the killings and reviewed her medical records. He told the jury on Friday, August 21, that Lindsay lacked control and was likely unable to tell the difference between right and wrong on that January 2023 day.
“In her mind, she believed that she would be doing her children a favour by having them go to heaven with her rather than remain on earth without her doing the mothering,” Resnick testified.
Lindsay’s case is expected to go to the jury early next week.
What is a command hallucination?
A command hallucination is an auditory hallucination where an individual hears voices that instruct them to perform specific actions. The National Institutes of Health says that “these commands can range in seriousness from innocuous to life-threatening.”
According to the National Library of Medicine, “Recent studies have supported the belief that command hallucinations can induce dangerous behavior. This study tried to replicate previous findings that compliance with the command was associated with delusions related to hallucinations and the ability to identify the hallucinated voice. This study also assessed the association between compliance and the dangerousness of the command, chronicity of illness, a diagnosis of schizophrenia, and past compliance with hallucinated commands.”
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According to prosecutors, Lindsay, 35, “acted intentionally, rationally and swiftly” when she fatally strangled her three children at their Duxbury home on January 24, 2023. Her defense attorneys, on the other hand, argued that she is not criminally responsible because she was in the midst of a psychotic episode that stemmed from postpartum mental illness.
Lindsay has pleaded not guilty to the murder charges. If convicted of murder, she faces life in prison without parole. In case she is found not guilty due to a lack of criminal responsibility, she would be committed to a state mental health facility.
