Postpartum Psychosis Case Summary

On February 26, 2015 Jenea Ann Mungia was found outside of her Huston Texas home stabbing her 4 year old son with a kitchen knife. When police arrived on the scene they found Mugina naked from the waist up and smashing the 4 year old’s head against concrete. Police had to wrestle her off the boy and during the altercation Mugina repeatedly told police to shoot her. Police also found that the boy’s genitals were partially mutilated. The boy survived the attack and made a full recovery and is currently living with his father. Mugina was found to be suffering from Postpartum Psychosis after the birth of her son which lawyers used to prove that she was insane during incident. Mungia was initially held in the Harris County jail for more than a year

The DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) was used to help diagnose Mugina’s mental illness and while it does describe the symptoms of psychosis disorders it does not recognize Postpartum Psychosis as a disorder ,which leads to one of the problems of the DSM and that is why are certain disorders included and others not (Bennell, Forth, Pozzulo). Also at the time Mugina was arrested she was found not competent to stand trial by the MacAuthror Asessment Tool and was given medication to restore competence which it indeed did since Postpartum Psychosis is a treatable mental illness. (Bennell, Forth, Pozzulo). Also Mugina was given tests to see if she was truly insane during the crime. In Texas they use the McNaughton standard and the Irresistible Impulse Test. It is not known which test was used to evaluate Mugina, but based on the crime it can be implied the Irresistible Impulse was used because since she told police to shoot her at the scene of the crime it can be assumed she knew she what she was doing was wrong. And according to the Irresistible Impulse Test if a defendant is cognitively aware of what is right or wrong, but cannot stop himself or herself from behaving in a particular way, the defendant could still be found not guilty by reason of insanity. This is the most likely reason on how Mugina was found

I am angry because of what she did to a defenseless 4yr old boy, which is her own son nonetheless, but also sorry for because her mental illness must have been tough on her and could probably made her act in ways she couldn’t control. When Mungia recovered from her illness she feels awful and disgusted with herself. She couldn’t believe what she had done to her only son and knows that she will most likely never see him again, but says she will always love him even if he doesn’t. The disorder she had was Postpartum Psychosis is a terrifying mental illness that affects a small percentage of women after birth and it causes hallucinations, mood swings, and delusions and much more it is reasonable to conclude a person suffering this illness would not be in control of their actions if they commit crimes because they don’t know what’s real or fake. While it is a rare illness I believe that it needs to be recognized in DSM because others suffering from this illness could potentially be misdiagnosed with something else since it’s not stated in it. Also it could also be a way for a prosecution team to get a conviction by stating that since the medical community does not officially recognize it as a disorder then the defendant doesn’t meets the legal terms for insanity. In conclusion the case of Jenea Ann Mugina is a sad one because of her mental illness she was ripped apart from her son even though it seems that it wasn’t