Kaitlyn Braun | Serial Pregnancy Faker Frightens Doulas with Nudity in Crime Spree

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[00:01:36] This is true crime psychology and personality where we discuss the pathology behind some

[00:01:48] of the most horrific crimes and those who committed them from a scientifically informed perspective.

[00:01:56] I'm Dr. Todd Grande.

[00:01:57] I have a PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision, and I'm a licensed professional counselor

[00:02:02] of mental health.

[00:02:03] Dr. Todd Grande, that's my YouTube channel.

[00:02:07] Today's question is, can I analyze the case of Caitlin Braun?

[00:02:11] First I'll look at the background of this case, including the timeline of the crime,

[00:02:16] then offer my analysis.

[00:02:18] Caitlin Braun was born sometime around 1999 and lived in Brantford, Ontario, Canada.

[00:02:24] This small town is 70 miles west of Niagara Falls.

[00:02:29] When she was in her early 20s, Caitlin was an unemployed social worker who lived with

[00:02:33] her mother in a two-bedroom apartment.

[00:02:36] Starting in June 2022, Caitlin went on an unusual crime spree that would last until

[00:02:41] March 2023.

[00:02:44] Her crimes were against individuals who refer to themselves as doulas.

[00:02:48] A doula is a person who provides support to women who are pregnant.

[00:02:53] This includes staying with the women during childbirth.

[00:02:56] Their services include providing verbal encouragement, labor position suggestions, pain coping techniques,

[00:03:03] breathing techniques, and massages.

[00:03:07] Doulas may reinforce spiritual identity, facilitate religious transformation, and promote a sense

[00:03:13] of connectedness to the universe.

[00:03:16] Some doulas are heavily invested in new age beliefs and regularly promote holistic and

[00:03:21] alternative remedies.

[00:03:23] Typically, doulas charge a fee for their services, often somewhere around $1,000, but some offer

[00:03:29] assistance for free.

[00:03:31] There is no such thing as a licensed doula.

[00:03:33] Rather, the profession is unregulated by the government.

[00:03:37] As I mentioned, Caitlin committed crimes against doulas.

[00:03:41] Here are a few examples of her behavior that resulted in criminal charges.

[00:03:46] In August 2022, Caitlin contacted a doula on Instagram and falsely claimed she was pregnant

[00:03:53] due to an assault of a sexual nature.

[00:03:56] It was her due date and she was having contractions, which were just a few minutes apart.

[00:04:01] Caitlin was this doula's first client in her entire career.

[00:04:05] The doula went over to Caitlin's apartment.

[00:04:08] Based on Caitlin's size, the doula thought that she could be pregnant.

[00:04:12] Furthermore, there were items around the apartment consistent with a woman who was getting

[00:04:16] ready to have a child, like baby clothes and a car seat.

[00:04:21] The doula had no reason to be suspicious.

[00:04:23] She didn't think that Caitlin was lying.

[00:04:26] Caitlin claimed that something was leaking from her body.

[00:04:29] The doula thought that maybe her water had broken.

[00:04:32] She stayed with her for two days as Caitlin pretended to be in labor.

[00:04:37] At this point, the doula called a hospital.

[00:04:40] The staff advised her to get Caitlin there immediately.

[00:04:43] As she was driving Caitlin to the hospital, something a doula would normally not do, Caitlin

[00:04:48] started crying, screaming, and telling her to leave.

[00:04:52] They continued to the hospital, where Caitlin initially resisted getting out of the vehicle.

[00:04:58] Inside the hospital, Caitlin acted like she wasn't sure if her water had broken or not.

[00:05:04] The doula drove Caitlin back home.

[00:05:06] A few days later, Caitlin sent her a text message saying she was having contractions.

[00:05:11] The doula went back to her apartment and gave her another ride to the hospital.

[00:05:16] A physician examined Caitlin, determined she was not pregnant, and offered to connect her

[00:05:21] with a psychotherapist.

[00:05:24] On the way home, Caitlin pretended as if she was confused by the situation.

[00:05:29] In November 2022, Caitlin contacted two doulas.

[00:05:34] She falsely claimed she was pregnant and in the hospital with contractions.

[00:05:38] She stated that the baby, who was conceived through an assault of a sexual nature, would

[00:05:43] be stillborn.

[00:05:44] The pair of doulas provided emotional support to Caitlin by phone.

[00:05:49] They were convinced that she was telling the truth.

[00:05:51] They heard a heartbeat monitor and vomiting in the background.

[00:05:56] Caitlin started adding to her story, saying that she was bleeding and needed a hysterectomy.

[00:06:02] She was transferred to a second hospital, then to a third hospital, where she was diagnosed

[00:06:07] with late-stage pelvic cancer.

[00:06:10] Caitlin said that even with treatment, she would be dead in a year.

[00:06:14] This was a dramatic and unexpected turn of events, which of course surprised the doulas.

[00:06:20] At this point, the story took another dark turn.

[00:06:23] Caitlin falsely claimed that one of the physicians conducted an assault of a sexual nature against

[00:06:28] her when she was being transported by ambulance to a fourth hospital.

[00:06:33] A nurse caught him, called the police, and the physician was arrested.

[00:06:37] Caitlin further falsely claimed that another physician was inappropriate with her and was

[00:06:42] arrested as well.

[00:06:44] One of the doulas contacted the police, who discovered that Caitlin was at home and unharmed.

[00:06:51] Nothing bad had happened to her, and no physicians had been arrested.

[00:06:55] In February 2023, Caitlin was in contact with two doulas, stating that she was 24 weeks

[00:07:01] pregnant and the heartbeat of her baby stopped.

[00:07:05] After various interactions, including meeting Caitlin at an Airbnb and a non-productive

[00:07:10] trip to the hospital, one of the doulas became suspicious and called the police.

[00:07:16] In March 2023, Caitlin requested virtual loss support from a doula.

[00:07:22] She falsely claimed that she had been in the hospital for four days and was getting ready

[00:07:26] to deliver a stillborn baby.

[00:07:28] Once again, the conception was the result of an assault of a sexual nature.

[00:07:33] During their conversation, Caitlin pretended that she was giving the phone to a friend,

[00:07:38] but she was actually still the one talking.

[00:07:41] To explain the voice similarity, the friend explained to the doula that she and Caitlin

[00:07:46] had always sounded similar.

[00:07:49] Caitlin and her imaginary friend described how things were going badly at the hospital.

[00:07:54] First, Caitlin had to have a hysterectomy.

[00:07:58] Then she had multi-system failure, and eventually she was on life support.

[00:08:03] The doula assumed that Caitlin died.

[00:08:06] At this point, the friend revealed to the doula that she was pregnant as well, and the

[00:08:10] father was the same person who attacked Caitlin.

[00:08:14] Essentially, Caitlin was restarting the fraud using an imaginary character.

[00:08:19] She was initiating a new cycle with the same doula.

[00:08:22] It was like a two-for-one fraud deal.

[00:08:25] The doula later learned from social media that Caitlin was a fraudster.

[00:08:29] By this time, many people in the doula community had contacted law enforcement with similar

[00:08:34] stories.

[00:08:36] On March 13, 2023, Caitlin Braun was arrested.

[00:08:39] Ultimately, she was charged with 52 criminal offenses in connection with 17 victims.

[00:08:47] In December 2023, Caitlin pleaded guilty to 21 charges including fraud, harassment,

[00:08:53] mischief, false pretenses, and indecent acts.

[00:08:57] She had been charged with assaults of a sexual nature, but those charges were dropped as

[00:09:02] part of her plea bargain.

[00:09:04] In February 2024, the judge sentenced Caitlin to house arrest for two years and three years

[00:09:10] of probation.

[00:09:12] She was not allowed to use the internet and could not contact her victims.

[00:09:16] The judge indicated that he was unhappy with the sentence and only reluctantly handed it

[00:09:22] down.

[00:09:23] He did not think that Caitlin's risk to the community was being assessed accurately by

[00:09:27] the attorneys for the Crown and Defense.

[00:09:30] In Canada, the prosecution is referred to as the Crown.

[00:09:33] The judge believed the finding of a mental health clinician who stated that Caitlin was

[00:09:38] at an extremely high risk to re-offend.

[00:09:42] Caitlin was apologetic during her sentencing.

[00:09:44] She said, quote,

[00:09:45] What I did was ultimately very wrong, and I feel a strong sense of shame when I think

[00:09:51] of the hurt and the pain that I have caused.

[00:09:54] I never wanted to be the person I became, unquote.

[00:09:58] One thing was for sure based on Caitlin's statements in court.

[00:10:01] Her days as a fraudster were over.

[00:10:04] She was never going to be arrested again.

[00:10:07] On April 30, 2024, Caitlin was arrested again.

[00:10:11] She allegedly committed offenses in mid-April which were similar to her prior offenses.

[00:10:17] She was charged with obtaining by false pretense, harassing communications, and alleged breach

[00:10:23] of conditional sentence order.

[00:10:26] At the time I am making this video, Caitlin maintains the presumption of innocence for

[00:10:31] her new charges.

[00:10:32] Now moving to my analysis.

[00:10:34] Here are my thoughts on a few areas that stood out to me in this case.

[00:10:38] Item number one.

[00:10:40] According to Caitlin's attorney, she has an extensive mental health history which includes

[00:10:45] generalized anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder, and bipolar tendencies.

[00:10:52] A person cannot have major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder at the same time.

[00:10:56] It's one or the other.

[00:10:58] Maybe Caitlin had depressive episodes, but there is some uncertainty about mania.

[00:11:03] It's not really clear from the description.

[00:11:06] As far as personality pathology, her attorney said she had borderline tendencies.

[00:11:11] During court proceedings, there was mention of Caitlin receiving dialectical behavior

[00:11:15] therapy which is commonly used to treat borderline personality.

[00:11:21] Item number two.

[00:11:22] The crimes that Caitlin committed were horrible and her victims suffered many adverse consequences.

[00:11:28] For example, they were frightened about continuing their work as doulas because they did not know

[00:11:32] who to trust.

[00:11:34] They were harmed emotionally.

[00:11:36] Both time and money were wasted, and Caitlin was naked around the doulas.

[00:11:42] She wanted them to stay with her in the shower and when she was in the bathtub.

[00:11:47] Several victims were coerced into giving her massages when she was not wearing any clothing.

[00:11:52] The trauma caused by being exposed to her naked body was severe.

[00:11:56] Some victims were not certain that recovery would ever be possible.

[00:12:01] Item number three.

[00:12:02] Caitlin established a pattern where she started with a tragic scenario and then ramped it

[00:12:06] up during her time with the doulas.

[00:12:09] She claimed to be a victim.

[00:12:11] She mentioned how her baby would be stillborn.

[00:12:14] There were all kinds of medical issues of increasing severity like bleeding, surgeries,

[00:12:19] a clotting disorder, and cancer.

[00:12:22] She even made it seem as though she was on life support by having her imaginary friend

[00:12:27] tell her story.

[00:12:28] As if all this was not extreme enough, Caitlin pretended to be attacked by multiple physicians

[00:12:34] during her time under medical care.

[00:12:37] When Caitlin was describing medical problems and criminal acts against her, she supplied

[00:12:41] the most graphic details possible.

[00:12:45] Nothing was held back.

[00:12:46] It was almost like Caitlin was deliberately trying to traumatize the doulas, perhaps in

[00:12:51] order to create some type of long-lasting relationship.

[00:12:55] For example, Caitlin once said to a doula, quote, we are all trauma bound together and

[00:13:01] I don't ever want to get rid of you, unquote.

[00:13:04] She was successful in her effort to cause trauma, but not as far as establishing a long-term

[00:13:09] relationship.

[00:13:11] Caitlin kept scaring people away and perpetrating the same fraud repeatedly.

[00:13:17] Whatever she was getting from her behavior must have been coming from those short-term

[00:13:21] interactions.

[00:13:23] This brings me to item number four.

[00:13:26] What do I think happened in this case?

[00:13:28] This is just a theory, my opinion.

[00:13:30] There is no way to know for certain what's going on with Caitlin, but some people have

[00:13:34] pointed out that her behavior is consistent with factitious disorder.

[00:13:39] Let's take a look at some of the typical characteristics of those who have this disorder.

[00:13:44] Pathological lying is strongly associated with factitious disorder.

[00:13:49] People with this disorder often feign physical and mental health symptoms and tell other

[00:13:53] lies.

[00:13:54] These lies are not designed to result in material gain.

[00:13:58] They often have extensive knowledge of medical terminology and have a long history of medical

[00:14:03] and or mental health visits.

[00:14:06] Their motivation is unconscious, but their mechanism of fabricating symptoms is conscious.

[00:14:13] So they don't know why they are pushed toward the destructive behavior, but they realize

[00:14:17] the false nature of the statements they make.

[00:14:19] The lack of insight is not complete, rather it is isolated to motivation.

[00:14:26] The motive is the mystery for them.

[00:14:28] When looking at Caitlin's behavior, there is some alignment with factitious disorder

[00:14:33] symptoms.

[00:14:34] Since 2006, Caitlin has had 200 hospital visits.

[00:14:39] She frequently used medical terminology when lying to the doulas, and she repeatedly lied

[00:14:44] to gain empathy and sympathy.

[00:14:47] Gaining money was not her objective.

[00:14:50] Caitlin's anxiety and depression do not explain her criminal behavior.

[00:14:54] Maybe she has factitious disorder, or maybe she doesn't, but it is reasonable to believe

[00:14:58] that something other than depression and anxiety caused her deceptive behavior.

[00:15:04] One possibility here is that Caitlin is insecure, afraid of abandonment, and has low self-esteem.

[00:15:11] She feels terrible about herself and believes that other people should feel badly for her

[00:15:15] as well.

[00:15:17] When she doesn't get that reaction, she feels compelled to create situations where she will

[00:15:21] gain empathy and sympathy.

[00:15:25] Deception is the only mechanism that she has available to achieve this goal.

[00:15:29] Now moving to my final thoughts.

[00:15:32] When Caitlin stumbled upon the doula community, it was like she ascended to heaven.

[00:15:36] This is a group that prides themselves on believing stories of trauma regardless of

[00:15:40] the plausibility of the narratives.

[00:15:43] The last thing they wanted to do was dispute Caitlin's claims.

[00:15:47] They desperately wanted to believe her no matter what the evidence suggested.

[00:15:52] She took advantage of their trustful nature.

[00:15:55] Through her false claims of trauma, she gave them a real traumatic experience.

[00:16:00] The situation exposed a critical flaw in the philosophy of not having skepticism.

[00:16:06] It seems altruistic, but ultimately it is untenable and can actually cause harm to

[00:16:12] the person who lacks the skepticism.

[00:16:15] Caitlin recognized that her behavior was harmful and illegal, but there's something about

[00:16:20] making people feel sorry for her that she just could not resist.

[00:16:25] It's like a drug.

[00:16:26] Caitlin simply could not stop using it.

[00:16:29] The symptoms that she has tend to be persistent.

[00:16:32] Caitlin will probably have to gain some significant insight before seeing any type of meaningful

[00:16:37] recovery.

[00:16:46] This has been True Crime Psychology and Personality from Ars Langa Media.

[00:16:52] This content is for educational and entertainment purposes only.

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