This story may contain content readers find disturbing or triggering. For help with postpartum mood disorders, the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline is free, confidential, and 24/7. Text or call 1-833-TLC-MAMA. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, call 988 or go to 988lifeline.orgto chat online.

A forensic psychologist who testified as a rebuttal witness for the prosecution told jurors in Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial on Monday that the defense’s theory that the Duxbury woman was experiencing postpartum psychosis was “convenient” and offered an alternate theory as to why she killed her three children in January 2023.

Dr. Kirk Heilbrun said it would be “very, very unusual” for someone to hear a voice during an isolated incident, like during the killings. Such auditory hallucinations more often come and go over a longer period of time, he added. He testified that his assessment suggested Clancy was describing “exaggerated or fabricated hallucinations.”

Heilbrun instead said his evaluation showed “suicide combined with altruistic filicide,” or “killing your kids out of love.”

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He said Clancy’s suicide attempt followed months of thoughts and impulses about harming herself, and the decision to kill her kids was likely an attempt to keep them from suffering without her there to take care of them. As evidence to support the theory, Heilbrun testified that Clancy was known to worry about leaving her children.

Earlier Monday, a psychiatrist who also testified as a rebuttal witness for the prosecution faced tense cross-examination from Clancy’s defense attorney, Kevin Reddington.

Dr. Avram Mack, a psychiatrist who testified for hours across two days in the trial, testified he believes Clancy was suffering from a major depressive episode around the time she killed her three children in January 2023, but was not experiencing psychosis.

After a month of testimony featuring complex legal arguments at the intersection of mental health and criminal justice, jurors are expected to start deliberating this week.

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With closing arguments expected Wednesday, the end is in sight for what has become a daily courtroom spectacle and international media sensation. Thousands of people have watched an online livestream of the trial and posted their opinions on social media, including conspiracy theories about the case.

Asserting an insanity defense, Clancy has argued she was in the throes of postpartum psychosis when she strangled her three children to death in the basement of their Duxbury home in January 2023.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, say her actions were calculated and methodical. The question for the jury is whether she should be held criminally responsible.

Here’s how the testimony unfolded.

Judge dismisses jurors for the day — 3:32 p.m.

By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff

Judge William Sullivan told jurors that “the religion that the defendant was raised with” is an irrelevant line of questioning and must be disregarded.

He said he believes prosecutors have one more witness to call after Dr. Kirk Heilbrun.

He sent the jury home for the day before calling the lawyers back to a sidebar.

Testimony will resume Tuesday. Sullivan said closing arguments in the case are expected on Wednesday.

Judge William Sullivan admonished the prosecution after their witness brought up the Catholic religion during his testimony about the mental state of Lindsay Clancy.Greg Derr/Pool

‘How is any of that proper at this point?’ judge asks of testimony about Clancy’s faith — 3:30 p.m.

By Lea Skene, Globe Staff

Judge William T. Sullivan denied the defense’s motion for a mistrial. But he criticized the recent testimony about Clancy’s Catholic faith and her thoughts on mortal sin.

“How is any of that proper at this point,” he said.

He said he would call the jury back, instruct them to disregard the relevant testimony, and dismiss them for the day.

Defense attorney Kevin Reddington filed the motion after forensic psychologist Dr. Kirk Heilbrun mentioned Catholicism in connection with his evaluation of Clancy’s mental state at the time of the killings.