Uploaded September 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
Lindsay Clancy has brought renewed attention to the horror of infanticide: babies and children dying at the hands of their mother. Infanticide has taken place for millennia, most often due to social pressures or lack of the resources needed to raise a child. Human collectives around the world remain ill-equipped to protect our youngest by providing support to mothers in material or emotional distress.
Today’s guest is clinical psychologist Dr. Brooke Laufer, author of Uncovering the Act of Maternal Infanticide from a Psychological, Political, and Jungian Perspective. Brooke joins us to discuss infanticide, maternal psychosis, and the archetype of the death mother, long portrayed in myth. The Hindu goddess Kali births and nourishes her children -- and also devours them. In Greek myth Medea kills her children after her husband’s abandonment and betrayal. The Black Madonna offers a potentially healing combination of the maternal and the fierce.
The debate raging around Lindsay Clancy’s case asks us not to take sides but to integrate the dark realities of motherhood instead of splitting those off and only acknowledging an idealized version of the maternal. Although motherhood is often portrayed as joyful and fulfilling, we deny its dark side at our peril. Our task is to recognize motherhood light and dark as a prerequisite to providing meaningful measures aimed at ameliorating childhood neglect and abuse.
Visit our website to find the resources we mention: thisjungianlife.com/maternalinfanticide
Follow Up
Subscribe to Brooke’s Substack: brookelaufer.substack.com
Download our free Dream Recall Meditation Guide: tinyurl.com/DreamRecallMeditation
Send us your idea for a podcast topic: tinyurl.com/TJLpodcastideas
Watch bonus mini-episodes on our Patreon channel: tinyurl.com/TJLPatreon
Lindsay Clancy has brought renewed attention to the horror of infanticide: babies and children dying at the hands of their mother. Infanticide has taken place for millennia, most often due to social pressures or lack of the resources needed to raise a child. Human collectives around the world remain ill-equipped to protect our youngest by providing support to mothers in material or emotional distress.
Today’s guest is clinical psychologist Dr. Brooke Laufer, author of Uncovering the Act of Maternal Infanticide from a Psychological, Political, and Jungian Perspective. Brooke joins us to discuss infanticide, maternal psychosis, and the archetype of the death mother, long portrayed in myth. The Hindu goddess Kali births and nourishes her children -- and also devours them. In Greek myth Medea kills her children after her husband’s abandonment and betrayal. The Black Madonna offers a potentially healing combination of the maternal and the fierce.
The debate raging around Lindsay Clancy’s case asks us not to take sides but to integrate the dark realities of motherhood instead of splitting those off and only acknowledging an idealized version of the maternal. Although motherhood is often portrayed as joyful and fulfilling, we deny its dark side at our peril. Our task is to recognize motherhood light and dark as a prerequisite to providing meaningful measures aimed at ameliorating childhood neglect and abuse.
Visit our website to find the resources we mention: thisjungianlife.com/maternalinfanticide
Follow Up
Subscribe to Brooke’s Substack: brookelaufer.substack.com
Download our free Dream Recall Meditation Guide: tinyurl.com/DreamRecallMeditation
Send us your idea for a podcast topic: tinyurl.com/TJLpodcastideas
Watch bonus mini-episodes on our Patreon channel: tinyurl.com/TJLPatreon
![[SUBSCRIBER BONUS] How are Personality, Ego, Psyche, and Self Related?](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/CmszNOTVlUc/mqdefault.jpg "[SUBSCRIBER BONUS] How are Personality, Ego, Psyche, and Self Related?
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In the Jungian model of the psyche, how do you define personality and what is its relationship with ego, psyche, or the Self?
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