TY - JOUR T1 - Commentary: Postpartum Psychosis, Infanticide, and Insanity—Implications for Forensic Psychiatry JF - Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online JO - J Am Acad Psychiatry Law SP - 326 LP - 332 VL - 40 IS - 3 AU - Susan Hatters Friedman AU - Renée Sorrentino Y1 - 2012/09/01 UR - http://jaapl.org/content/40/3/326.abstract N2 - Two dozen nations have infanticide laws that decrease the penalty for mothers who kill their children of up to one year of age. The United States does not have such a law, but mentally ill mothers may plead not guilty by reason of insanity. As in other crimes, in addition to the diagnosis of a mental disorder, other factors, such as knowledge of wrongfulness and motive, are critical to the assessment. Postpartum psychosis has been described for 2,000 years and modern science supports a genetic component to the risk. Yet, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders does not include it as a diagnosis, leading to difficulty in testimony. In this article, we discuss postpartum psychosis, infanticide law, and research regarding mothers who kill, and we make recommendations to forensic psychiatrists. ER -