In the four months leading up to the deaths of her three children, Lindsay Clancy was prescribed 13 different psychiatric medications through more than 30 prescriptions. Of those 13 medications, only four fell within Massachusetts’s prescription monitoring program, while the remaining nine, including antidepressants, an antipsychotic, and a mood stabilizer, were outside its routine reporting requirements. Equally troubling, testimony during her trial revealed she attended only two dedicated psychotherapy appointments at one mental health clinic, despite recommendations for weekly therapy.
These facts raise two concerning questions. First, how can physicians effectively combat psychiatric polypharmacy when most state prescription drug monitoring programs exclude most psychiatric medications? More importantly, has modern psychiatry become so focused on pharmacologic management that it has neglected its most fundamental tool for understanding patients — meaningful conversation?
