A condition few people understand
A decade ago, Meghan Cliffel was convinced that members of a cult were watching her, plotting to kill her and her young daughters. It wasn't real. Cliffel was experiencing postpartum psychosis, a rare and severe mental health condition that can emerge in the days or weeks after childbirth.
Her story is resurfacing now alongside renewed public attention on postpartum psychosis, driven in part by the high-profile Lindsay Clancy trial in the United States, which has put a spotlight on just how dangerous, and how misunderstood, the condition can be.
What postpartum psychosis actually looks like
Unlike the more commonly discussed postpartum depression, postpartum psychosis is marked by a break from reality: delusions, hallucinations, paranoia, and severe confusion. It's rare, but it's considered a psychiatric emergency because of the risk it can pose to both the parent and the baby.
Cliffel's experience, described to CBC's The Current, involved believing she was under surveillance by a cult intent on harming her family. It's a stark illustration of how far removed from ordinary postpartum struggles this condition can be, and why experts stress it requires urgent, specialized treatment rather than being brushed off as "the baby blues."
Getting help wasn't easy
What set Cliffel's story apart was not just surviving the crisis, but what came after. She got treatment. But she also had to fight for it, advocating for herself within a healthcare system that isn't always equipped to recognize or respond quickly to postpartum psychosis.
That advocacy paid off. Cliffel went on to have a third baby, something she says would have felt unthinkable without the support she eventually secured.
Why this matters across Canada
Mental health advocates have long pointed out that perinatal mental health services, including specialized care for conditions like postpartum psychosis, remain patchy across the country. Access can depend heavily on where a family lives, what their doctor knows to look for, and how quickly a crisis is recognized as psychiatric rather than dismissed as new-parent exhaustion.
Cliffel's message is ultimately one of hope: postpartum psychosis, frightening as it is, is treatable. But she's clear that treatable doesn't mean easy to access, and that parents and families need to know the warning signs and be ready to push for care when the system is slow to respond.
Source: CBC Radio, The Current
