Psychologist Interview

As a part of my character research I decided to interview a psychologist about unstable women, in particular women who kill their children. She sat with me for over an hour discussing my character and some cases within the public domain and others which are private and confidential to her, without revealing names or any exact words of her patients.

She explained to be a concept called projection. This is where we take the parts of ourselves we don't like and push them onto someone else. The example she used was talent competitions on television. People can mock the clothes or the weight of a contestant, usually because its an insecurity of their own as opposed to what they really think about the person. Most people with a sane mind then separate themselves from this projection and realise that they are actually nice or worth giving a chance. However, often people with psychotic disorders can't separate themselves from this and this can lead them to do extreme things, even kill. When people project all the negative aspects of themselves onto someone else it can be seen as looking into a mirror and only seeing the bad parts of yourself. This can become very overwhelming when you can't separate yourself from it. She suggested that this could be part of what motivates my character to kill Ruby. If all your negative projections go onto your child this makes you feel very resentful towards them. She explained that Sarah might be doubting her own faith, which is what she built her life around. These doubts of her belief may be projected onto Ruby and that is shown through Ruby's exploration of atheism. This then sends Sarah into a frenzy, because of the nightmares she has, which I think are making her question her beliefs, this then could be what makes her decide to kill Ruby. Often unstable Mothers kill their children to save themselves.

Another reason psychotic Mothers kill or abuse their children to save the child. Many Women begin to have extraordinary views of the world and become convinced into believing an alternative reality. They then become fixated on the fact that their child is unsafe and do what they think is protecting them but in reality this could be extremely abusive and often result in the death of the child. A case study the psychologist gave me to read was about a women like this. She had become convinced that the community around her had a paedophile ring which were planning to abduct and sexually abuse her children. She decided the only way to save them was by killing them. She had the plan to kill them for a while then one day after taking them to school she came home and began to carry out this plan in detail. She prepared dinner mixing in medication to sedate them, she was also planning on killing herself.  She then built 3 nooses, one for her and for her 2 children. When the children came home she ended up drowning her eldest daughter in the bath tub, while the other child ran for help. After being arrested she was admitted to a secure unit. In her first therapy session she spoke about her guilt. But not for killing the child but not for succeeding in saving both. As her medication began to control her erratic thoughts she began to realise what she had done and felt incredible guilt for both killing the child and for the one still alive. She kept seeing the image of the bath water and her child dead. She could no longer take baths only showers. She did this because she had become convinced that her children were in danger. It was out of insanity and incredible love, not evil however she then went on to commit an evil crime.

This reminds me of Sarah in some way because she claims to do what she did because she believed her child was evil, and she wanted to save others. There is another case I was told about where a mother killed her son because she had become convinced that he was possessed by the devil. So in her mind she had no choice but to kill him. This relates to Sarah and Ruby. There is a definite psychotic element to what Sarah believes and does. The psychologist explained to me that religion can become like an obsession for many unstable women and can lead them to doing unthinkable things in the 'name of god'. The main conclusion I drew from this interview was that these women weren't evil, but extremely mentally ill. This can lead them to do evil things.

The issue with giving these women mental health care is that once they become well enough again they are then at high risk of becoming suicidal and many of them do.  I then asked her if we should giving these women mental health care when all will lead to is them being depressed when they re enter reality again. This was a difficult question as who can say what is right about the human mind? Sanity is a delicate line we tread every day and when someone falls over the edge it can end with horrible consequences. I think this relates this to Sarah. When Dennis first comes to see her in prison she is justifying what she has done. However her last line she says 'No I can't sleep how could I' and 'Of course I think about her all the time'. I think this shows her coming back to reality and beginning to absorb the guilt she feels.