"An attempt at mfs by these mothers usually was based on
altruistic motives. Considering the characteristics of the TM personality, it can be no surprise that the altruistic motive was based on the mother’s perception of
not being able to meet expectations that society or those in her immediate environment had of her in addition to believing that not meeting expectations would be disastrous for herself and for her children."
"Once a mother starts to generalize and projects her own social anxiety onto her children, she may also fear that her children will never be free of social anxiety for the rest of their lives. Her own (perceived) inability to do something about her children’s current and future suffering may lead to self-blame.
When social anxiety is comorbid with depression, and especially with melancholic features, the possibility of pathological guilt emerges."
"Several studies describe mfs mothers with a Typus Melancholicus personality style as
perfect mothers.
Their performance orientation and the concomitant fear of being seen as inadequate, if not the love for their children, may lead the mothers to take good care of their children. Clinicians who observe that Typus Melancholicus mothers take good care of their children might be even less prone to question the relevance of the belief that mothers of young children are at a reduced risk for suicide."
"A mother with a Typus Melancholicus personality who considers herself an inadequate mother, and who feels responsible for events and behaviors of others over which she has no control and with which she may not even be involved, might develop guilt of pathological proportions,
when negative events do occur."
"In addition, as described earlier, the person with a Typus Melancholicus personality style often has a poorly defined sense of self and, as a result, easily
(over)identifies with others and
with social roles (Okumura & Kraus, 1996)."
"In their role of mother, their lack of a solid sense of self caused them to experience their child as an extension of themselves.
This led to the assumption that
whatever was bad about the mother would also apply to the child.
When anxiety about this led to feelings of doom, the mothers increasingly believed that suicide would be the only solution. Because the child was experienced as part of their self-the authors speak of an extended self-the child would automatically be included in a suicide attempt."
"
A compounding problem may occur when the mother has a child with a disability or chronic
illness. First, the mother with a Typus Melancholicus personality may blame herself for the fact that her child is disabled or chronically ill. Subsequently, she may perceive or expect even more rejection for the disabled child.
In addition, she may believe that extra mothering skills are needed for this challenge, while she is already suffering from deficits in this area."
"The mother’s general fears for her children and their future which are related to her own perceived inability to protect her children may lead to serious cognitive distortions about
potential dangers, especially the probability of the occurrence of events causing the danger, the impact on the mother and her children as well as the mother’s perceived inability to deal with the impact.
However, because a mother with a Typus Melancholicus
can appear to be high functioning a clinician might not suspect the mother’s irrational fears and, when confronted with them, he or she
might dismiss them."
"The possibility of
reactivation of trauma that the mother experienced in her own childhood, especially when her child reaches the age at which the trauma occurred in the mother’s life."
"Persons with a Typus Melancholicus personality may live in fear of what will happen to them, if they will not meet the performance standards that they believe apply to them.
"Okumura & Kraus (1996) as well as Meszaros & Fisher-Danzinger (2000) used the
concept of Typus Melancholicus to refer to mothers that generally would be regarded as belonging
in the category of filicide-suicide, of which the characteristics include performance-oriented,
orderly, very responsible, anxious and hypernomic (overly inclined to follow rules) according to
Okumura & Kraus (1996)."
Based on their experiences with the women examined and in reference to the existing literature, Meszaros & Fischer-Danzinger identified certain risk factors for extended suicide.
They reported that the following types of psychopathology and psychosocial stressors represent an
increased risk for maternal filicide-suicide:
..severe depression with psychotic symptoms and/or delusion, paranoid type of
schizophrenia, severe personality disorders, personality traits of the Typus melancholicus
(hypernomic, orderly, anxious, overly responsible, obedient, and depressed) intoxication in
multiple substance abusers, and the additional occurrence of acute stressful* events,
such as marital and/or financial problems. (p. 9) "
Fotnot:
* Instead of acute stressful events, the authors used the word ‘overstrain’, which is their
translation of the German word “uberspannen” or the Dutch “overspannen”. Use of this term dates
back to the days of bow and arrow, where a bow could not always be in ‘ready position’.
In current times, the term refers to a state of mind, where someone is no longer in control of himself or herself. "
““Typus Melancholicus” type of personality, which was earlier defined as a combination of depression and anxiety, including hypernomy, the overconcern with the adherence to norms."
"Such risk factors might not be obvious, because people of this personality type often are high
functioning."
"McDermaid & Winkler quoted Kretschmer (1934) who had elaborated on the concept of raptus melancholicus, as a phenomenon where
“anxiety and desperation surge up critically. "
http://filicide-suicides.com/Chapter%205.pdf
