What the Lindsay Clancy Trial EXPOSES About Society, North West's Disturbing Look, and Hayden Panettiere Blame Game, with Dr. Drew | Ep. 1385

August 25, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

What the Lindsay Clancy Trial Reveals About Postpartum Psychosis, Legal Standards, and a Culture in Crisis

The Lindsay Clancy trial has captivated the nation, but the most revealing moments have little to do with whether she will be found guilty. Clancy admitted to killing her three children—five-year-old Cora, three-year-old Dawson, and eight-month-old Callan—but pleaded not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, arguing she suffered from postpartum psychosis. As Dr. Drew explained to Megyn Kelly, the case exposes deep fault lines in how we understand severe mental illness, how the medical system fails vulnerable patients, and how cultural attitudes toward motherhood, medication, and accountability have shifted in troubling directions.

The Unusual Presentation of Psychosis

The prosecution's forensic psychologist, Dr. Kirk Heilbrun, cast doubt on Clancy's claim that she heard voices only during the 18 minutes it took to kill her children. As he testified, "That would be a very, very unusual pattern or manifestation of how this kind of thing comes about." Dr. Drew agreed that transient hallucinations eight months after birth is atypical for postpartum psychosis, but he raised a crucial point the courtroom has largely ignored: Clancy's medical management was itself unusual and potentially dangerous.

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What you'll learn

1 (01:07) **Lindsay Clancy Trial: The Postpartum Psychosis Defense** - Megyn and Dr. Drew discuss the ongoing trial where Clancy admits to killing her children but pleads not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect.
2 (12:45) **Medical System Failures and Fragmented Care** - The hosts explore how the healthcare system contributed to the tragedy through uncoordinated care and dangerous medication management.
3 (16:59) **The Philosophical Line: Why Psychosis and Not Trauma?** - Megyn questions why society draws a legal line at psychosis when all violent actors have traumatic backgrounds.
4 (20:20) **No Sympathy for Clancy, But Concern for Society** - Both agree her life is effectively over regardless of the verdict, but express concern about the "mob" forming around her.
5 (22:21) **The Disturbing Trend of Mothers Identifying with Clancy** - The hosts react to videos of women posting with their children using Clancy's own words as captions.
6 (26:57) **The Tom Cruise/Brooke Shields Kerfuffle and Scientology's Point** - Megyn and Dr. Drew discuss the cultural debate over medicating normal human struggles.
7 (29:41) **The History of Psychiatric Catastrophes and the Opioid Crisis** - Dr. Drew draws parallels between lobotomies, the opioid epidemic, and COVID policies.

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Guests on this episode

Megyn Kelly

Show Notes

Megyn Kelly is joined by Dr. Drew, host of "Ask Dr. Drew," to discuss the latest controversy in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial over testimony about her Catholic faith and "mortal sin," the defense asking for a mistrial, truth about "altruistic filicide" and postpartum psychosis in the Lindsay Clancy trial, how her unusual medical treatment and cocktail of medications may have affected her mental state, what the case exposes about America's fragmented health care system, the disturbing trend of mothers publicly identifying with Lindsay Clancy, the dangers of normalizing thoughts of harming children, the growing divide between men and women in America, how the vilification of men and rise of victimhood culture are damaging relationships, the disturbing case of a young man in Pennsylvania killing his girlfriend, how his mother helped him cover up the crime, Hayden Panettiere's mom revealing new details about what really happened to her daughter last year, the disturbing stories involving her ex-boyfriend, the role of addiction and childhood fame, 13-year-old North West's disturbing new music video and increasingly provocative look, concerns over her piercings and growing exposure in the public eye, how Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are handling their daughter's path toward fame, and more.