Patricia Pearson

In psychatic parlance, Marybeth Tinning seems to have Munchausen syndrome by proxy. The phrase describes a condition that spin-off from Munchausen syndrome, in which a person self-inflicts injuries or invents symptoms in an unceasing quest from family and doctors. Munchausen syndrome is "instrumental" aggression, meaning that it's calculated, strategic - a delibarate and manipulative deception. In Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a person inflicts injuries on someone else - specifically, a child.
MSBP is almost exclusively the province of women who find themselves in maternal roles, either as biological or adoptive mothers or as babysitters or caretakers.