Jasmine’s current storyline involving her obsession with her stepdaughter Grace teaches us so much about what to look out for when someone is coping with a loss.
Jasmine Delaney is not well. 2020 has been a terrible year for the nurse who has not only lost her husband Robbo in a horrific car accident, but she discovered she’d suffered a phantom pregnancy. Since both these events have gone down, all her attention has been placed on her stepdaughter, Grace. This storyline teaches us what the warning signs are of someone not coping with any form of loss or with their mental health in general.
The Earliest Signs
We see Jasmine’s issues begin when Robbo dies in a car accident which he purposely causes when his partner is revealed to be corrupt. At his funeral and stricken by grief, the now widowed nurse screams at her husband’s coffin when she is comforted by friend Colby.
In the weeks that pass, she begins to display her grief. Also, she begins to feel unwell but it’s not until she checks her period app to find that she’s late. Being a nurse, she thinks she’s pregnant and announces it to her friends, though it is unconfirmed. She takes a test off-screen. What’s more is everything is going fine until the ultrasound.
The technician tries to find the fetus, but there is none, meaning she suffered a phantom pregnancy. This destroys Jasmine and she ends up in the surf in a daze.
Despite the support from her friends, Jasmine finds comfort in baby Grace. However, this begins to become an obsession when she signs up for a parenting forum, pretending to be her stepdaughter’s mother.
To make it even worse, she doesn’t listen to Marilyn when she says that Tane had left the house and wasn’t a danger to Grace. When she is confronted, Jasmine snaps at her friends saying that she was only doing what Robbo would want her to do.
Justin warns Tori that Jasmine is beginning to become too attached to Grace which his sister just shrugs off as her grieving her husband.
What Does This Behaviour Tell Us?
Even the earliest signs teach us that something is seriously wrong and shouldn’t be shrugged off. If anything, they should be monitored. We’re not mental health professionals by any means, but even we can see an obsession a mile away.
For Jasmine, she allows her grief over losing her husband and never being pregnant with his child cloud her judgement. She is not in her right mind and she thinks Grace should be her when she has no legal right over her. This is proven when she calls a lawyer about custody and they tell her that has the baby’s stepmother she doesn’t have a legal claim and to discuss it with her husband who we know is now dead.
The Paranoia
Jasmine believes that she is in the right while everyone else is in the wrong. This is due to paranoia setting in. When her friends, especially Willow start to become worried about her, she thought they were gossiping to her. Then, she believed that Tori is trying to keep Grace away from her.
She then threatens to leave the Bay if she doesn’t see her stepdaughter. Basically, Jasmine was playing on Tori’s feelings to get her to comply with what she wanted. While this is disgusting behaviour, she is mentally sick and shouldn’t be blamed. In other words, she is acting out of her grief.
In the most recent episodes, she becomes upset when Tori confronts her about using photos of her [Jasmine] and Grace as marketing material for the mums and bubs yoga class at the gym. While she doesn’t see it as a big deal, the doctor clearly does as she thought she’d be upfront with her baby.
Jasmine twisted the situation to her advantage. After Tori goes to Colby for advice, he confronts her and she bites back. She claims that her now- nemesis sees her as a threat because she can take better care of Grace. This ultimately leads to her attacking him by accident. This teaches us what a form of paranoia looks like.
During her conversation with Colby before she racked him across the face, Jasmine is clearly paranoid that Tori is going to take Grace away from her. Her worst fear comes true when the doctor tells her to stay away or she’ll go to the police.
Tori Intervenes
Tori did the right thing in not allowing Grace to be near Jasmine when she told her to stay away. She was also horrified when Willow and Colby showed her and Justin the forum posts. No mother should be scrutinised for the way she parents her child.
Jasmine’s grief has clearly taken over her ability to think like a rational human being. She might claim that she’s fine but those around her know that she isn’t especially when she makes up bogus accusations like Tori left Grace in the car on purpose and is trying to restrict her visits.
Jasmine’s Opinion Doesn’t Matter!
There’s probably Jasmine stans out there that are going to argue “she’s Grace’s stepmother and she helped Robbo raise her when Tori was in a coma. Her opinion matters.”
Here’s the cold hard truth. What the nurse thinks does NOT matter! Now, this teaches us something else about her unhinged behaviour. As we’ve stated before, her line of thinking is because she was married to Grace’s dad, she gets a say in the way she is raised. No, that’s not the way it works.
Unless Robbo had something put in writing with presumedly Tori’s blessing that Jasmine had a right to Grace, then she has no legitimate standing if there was a custody case. The only way she could get her hands on the baby is if she bought her in-laws into the narrative and fed them her lies.
Also, if order to prove something, you need physical evidence. Writing something down can be twisted into something that it’s not.
Another thing that this storyline teaches us is you need to pay close attention to what a person is doing. For example, Willow knew something wasn’t right and checked the laptop and found the forum open in the browser. She, much like Irene, warned Jasmine that if she doesn’t do as Tori wants, she won’t get to see Grace.
Conclusion
The Jasmine obsession storyline teaches a lot of about what to look out for in someone suffering from a mental illness. We’re not professionals, but if something isn’t right with someone you know, say something and get them help if they need it.
For assistance be sure to contact a medical professional. This article should not be used to make a diagnosis.
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