The Episode: Mary Ann Kenny's Story of Grief, Psychosis, and Recovery

Aug 7, 2025

Mary Ann Kenny, an academic and author, shares her profound journey through grief and mental health challenges after the sudden loss of her husband. She reveals the harrowing effects of medication-triggered psychosis that led to her hospitalization and a struggle to retain custody of her children due to misunderstandings in her care. Mary Ann masterfully discusses the stigma surrounding mental health, her experience of delusion, and her resilient recovery, ultimately transforming her trauma into the memoir 'The Episode' while advocating for compassionate mental health services.

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ANECDOTE

Delusion Of Guilt Emerged At Day Hospital

Mary Ann developed a sudden delusional conviction that her children had been harmed by her medication while attending a day hospital.
The belief felt utterly real to her despite no memory or evidence of harm occurring.

ANECDOTE

False Confession Under Incessant Questioning

Repeated team questioning pushed Mary Ann to make a false confession claiming homicidal thoughts and hiding medication.
She says she knew it was untrue even as she said it and that it worsened how professionals viewed her.

INSIGHT

How Clinical Narratives Shape Child-Protection Action

The repeated focus on thoughts of harm reinforced her delusional guilt and shaped clinicians' narrative about her.
That narrative then influenced Tusla's child-protection response and her identity as a mother.

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What happens when grief collides with a broken mental health system? In this raw and powerful conversation, Mary Ann Kenny shares the devastating journey that began when her husband died suddenly, leaving her alone with two young children. What followed was unimaginable - a psychotic episode triggered by medication side effects that led to her hospitalisation and a harrowing fight to keep her children.

Mary Ann reveals with striking clarity how a single "false confession" made under duress transformed her from grieving mother to perceived threat, resulting in her children being placed on an at-risk register until adulthood. Her account of being questioned by teams of professionals without therapeutic support, experiencing severe physical suffering that went untreated, and fighting to reclaim her identity as a mother challenges everything we believe about mental healthcare.

What makes this conversation extraordinary is Mary Ann's ability to articulate her experience of psychosis from the inside - the delusional conviction of guilt she developed, her eventual recovery, and her painstaking work to understand what happened by obtaining her medical records. Beyond the trauma, this is ultimately a story of incredible resilience, as Marianne not only recovered but transformed her experience into her memoir "The Episode."

This discussion goes far beyond a personal story to expose critical gaps in mental healthcare and question how we support those experiencing psychosis. For anyone who has faced mental health challenges, supported someone through crisis, or simply believes in more compassionate care, Marianne's journey offers profound insights into the human capacity to shatter and rebuild. Her voice speaks not just for herself, but for countless others who haven't found the words to tell their stories.

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

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