Decision Called a Spur to Study of Rare Illness

Postpartum psychosis specialists said Saturday that a judge’s dramatic reversal of an Anaheim woman’s murder conviction bolsters calls for a program to increase understanding of the disease.

Legislation drafted this month by state Sen. Robert Presley (D-Riverside) would provide money for public education programs on postpartum psychosis and for the training of law enforcement and correctional officials in spotting victims.

Superior Court Judge Robert R. Fitzgerald on Friday ruled that the disorder was responsible for Sheryl Lynn Massip’s killing of her infant son. The judge overturned her murder conviction, handed down by a jury last month.

“The judge’s decision was an enlightened one that is going to help make people understand this disorder and help us treat it,” said Dr. Susan Hickman, a San Diego psychologist who operates a postpartum clinic and served on Presley’s advisory task force.

Massip, who faces court-ordered psychiatric care but no time in prison, was believed to be the first woman in Southern California to use the postpartum defense. About 15 other defendants nationwide have tried the defense in recent years, with mixed results.

An extreme form of the far more common “baby blues,” postpartum psychosis is thought to prompt severe anxiety, delusions and outbursts of intense violence in one to three of every 1,000 new mothers. Most of the sufferers have no history of mental illness or overly aggressive behavior. The disorder may be hormonally rooted, although experts are split over that question.

Presley’s bill would provide money to train law enforcement officers in how to detect postpartum illness, would finance further study and would institute changes in the state penal code affecting screening, analysis and treatment of women who commit crimes and may have the illness.