Hospital records were evaluated for eight subgroups of factors: demographics, child and family
characteristics, maternal
mental illness
characteristics, maternal developmental/psychosocial characteristics, legal history, substance history, maternal medical and reproductive history, and offense characteristics. Seventy-two percent of the mothers had previous mental health treatment; 69 percent were experiencing auditory
hallucinations, most often command hallucinations; and 49 percent were depressed at the time of the offense. Thirty-eight percent of the filicides occurred during pregnancy or the postpartum period, and many had a history of postpartum psychosis. Seventy-two percent of the mothers had experienced considerable developmental stressors, such as the death of their own mother or incest. Maternal motives for filicide were predominantly altruistic (murder out of love) or acutely psychotic (occurring in the throes of psychosis, without rational motive). Most of the mothers had no prior criminal history. These findings support the recommendation of other researchers that maternal fears of harming the children and delusions about the children suffering are indications for psychiatric hospitalization.