Andrea Yates Research Paper

Everyday a different crime is committed; however, the reason or motive behind it is not always understood. Over the years, theories were developed to explain why certain crime occurs. For example, Andrea Yates was a mother of 5 who drowned her children due to a mental illness she endured, but there are many theories that play a vital role in explaining why she committed this crime. The theories that will be discussed throughout this paper are the Biosocial Trait Theory and the General Strain Theory.

After close review and careful analysis of the case of Andrea Yates and the circumstances which led to the drowning death and murder of her five children, I first would like to state my personal opinion on the conclusion of the case which was the majority consensus at the time of her trial and sentencing. She was guilty of a horrible murder and although certainly had mental problems, which is apparent by her actions that most completely rational thinking human being and mother would be incapable of committing, and expertly

A lot of human behavior patterns are based on genetics, including the human nervous system and brain, hormonal systems, neurology, and genetics. Andrea was diagnosed with depression and also took medication. She overdosed at her parent’s house in June 1999. Doctors told her she shouldn’t have anymore children because they saw the path she could be going down. They thought having more children would bring more stress and increase her depression and her trying to commit suicide. Despite what the doctor’s recommendation she had 5 children. She took care of her father as well who suffered from Alzheimer’s and “was completely out of it said Jutta Kennedy. Her mother also said how her father always doted on Andrea, she was

While at home, Andrea’s mental state did not appear to improve. She stays in bed all day, begins self mutilating, scratching bald spots on her head, and scraping her legs and arms. She discloses to her husband, Rusty, that she having hallucinations. For their own reasons, the Yates couple does not discuss the hallucinations with Andrea’s doctors during outpatient or inpatient treatments. Andrea was also experiencing other symptoms of schizophrenia. These symptoms include her belief that that there are cameras in her home watching her and that television cartoon characters are communicating with directly to her. She became anti social with an array of other symptoms that included flat affect, poverty of speech and loss of directedness.

I believe that mental health is not well discussed, or known, in today’s culture. People could struggle with mental health daily and others could have no idea. There are many different types of mental health issues, and one specific issue that is rarely discussed is postpartum depression. Postpartum depression is a specific type of depression that new mothers can experience after the birth of their child. (Schacter, Gilbert, Wegner, Nock, 2012). The changing hormones a mother can experience directly after birth cause this condition. Postpartum depression can cause a mother to feel sad, guilty, and even experience thoughts of suicide. Postpartum depression may be discussed in the text, but the causes and even the treatments are not.

Twenty-four mother-infant dyads completed all aspects of the study. Of those 24, 18 were Caucasian, 22 were married, eight of them had an annual family income of $50,000 to $74,999, and seven had an annual family income of over $100,000. Also 16 of the participating mothers had a graduate degree. Not only is the sample size very small, but the demographics of the mothers is greatly disproportionate. With the majority of mothers being caucasian, educated, middle class, married women, the sample size does not accurately represent the majority of the population who lives in relative poverty and cannot afford to seek help. About half of the mothers had a history of depression and were taking or had just started taking antidepressant medication when they first enrolled. Considering the size of the sample, all the mothers should have been either prescription drug users, or not, but not both. Prescription drug treatment for any depression significantly changes perceptions of mood, skewing the results, and there is not enough women in the study to make a concise prognosis.

Last June in 2001, a 37-year-old lady by the name of Andrea Yates, was arrested for killing her five children. Most people like me would agree that she was sane, and the death penalty would have been the right punishment for Mrs. Andrea Yates.

A brief synopsis of the Yates case is required for better understanding of the theories this document attributes to her crime. On June 20, 2001, in Clear Lake, Texas a small bedroom community located in Harris County, Andrea Yates drowned her five young children. Yates was a stay at home mother who homeschooled her children. According to all accounts, the Yates children appeared to be loved and well cared for by both parents. Andrea Yates grew up in Houston as part of a middle-class family and in 1986 she attended a two-year nursing

The tragic case of two-year-old Caylee Anthony reveals the devastating consequences that murders can have on victims and their families. Caylee was an innocent toddler that lived with her mother, Casey Anthony and her maternal grandmothers, Cindy and George. On July 15, 2008 a call to 911 was sent in by Caylee’s grandmother Cindy, reporting that she hasn’t seen Caylee in 31 days and that the toddler’s mother’s car smelled like a dead body has been inside it. The toddler’s mother gave varied explanations on where her daughter was located but then admitted she hasn’t seen her in weeks. She told police that she left Caylee at her nanny’s apartment and when she returned, they were both missing. Detectives found discrepancies in a signed statement she made about Caylee’s disappearance. Casey’s friends and family had never heard of Gonzales, and detectives later found the nanny never existed. The apartment Casey and Caylee were supposed to be living with was found to be vacant for more than 140 days. On December 11, 2008, Caylee 's body was found in a blanket inside a trash bag in a wooded area near the child’s home. Investigative reports and trial testimony found duct tape near the front of the skull] and on the mouth of the toddler. In result, Casey Anthony was charged on October 2008 with first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter of a child, and four counts of providing false information to police.

Andrea Yates was once a loving person to the family and friends. She was a nurse who worked at Houston's M D Anderson Cancer Center for 8 years. She met her husband Rusty, who work for NASA's space-shuttle programmed. They met in college and got married in 1993. Over the next 7 years, she gave birth to five children, and had to give up her job as a nurse to be home for the kids. The family wasn’t very stable, they move around many time and one time they had to live converted bus. Andrea had a father, who suffered from Alzheimer's disease, and was very ill for which she had to take care of him too. Few years later after marriage, she gave birth to the children, and she suffered postpartum illness which lead to her craziness of drowning her

After suffering for years with severe postpartum depression and psychosis, Andrea Yates drowned her five children on June 20, 2001. The conviction of capital murder and sentence to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 40 years was later overturned on appeal. Andrea Yates suffered from unrecognized bipolar illness, and had been treated intermittently for diagnoses of depression, postpartum depression, and schizophrenia. Andrea’s disorders fall well within the guidelines and use of the Axis V tool according to The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR) published by the American Psychiatric Association.

It’s been almost fourteen years since Andrea Yates drowned and killed her five children in the bathroom of their home. She confessed to her husband, Rusty, and to the police of her crime. She was 36 years old at the time and had a history postpartum psychosis as well as postpartum depression. In Andrea’s mind, she believed that she was not a good mother and that she was the Devil. During her first trial, in 2002, Andrea was convicted of capital murder but that conviction was overturned during a second trial, in 2006, and she was found not guilty by reason of insanity. She has been in a mental facility for the past eight years.

Mothers have always been thought of as nurturing care givers. Caregivers who have always done and thought of what is best for their children. But what happens when the nurturing mother becomes the monster? What causes them to undergo such a drastic change. Let’s take a look at Andrea Yates.

Mothers who have brought into this world a blessing have been preparing themselves for a big change in their life. They have been learning and educating themselves about how to be a good mother. Many mothers find it really hard to transition from being an independent woman without children to becoming a mother (Corrigan, Kwasky, & Groh, 2015). Adapting to motherhood can be a drastic change, and usually creates challenges that lead to feeling overwhelmed (Leger & Letourneau, 2015). When a newly mother begins experiencing stress or becomes emotional then there can be a possibility that they can encounter Postpartum Depression (Leger et al., 2015). Postpartum depression can be seen and experienced in many different ways, it all varies on every mother (Corrigan et al., 2015). Many different mental health issues can be seen including baby blues, postpartum depression, postpartum obsessive-compulsive disorder, and the most serious, postpartum psychosis (Tam & Leslie, 2001).

Andrea was eventually released from the hospital and was directed to receive out-patient care and was also prescribed Haldol. Her doctor warned Andrea and Rusty that another pregnancy and bearing another child may contribute to future episodes of psychotic behavior. Shortly after her release from the hospital, at the suggestion of her husband, Rusty, Andrea became pregnant once again and decided to quit taking the Haldol prescribed to her. She gave birth to her fifth child, Mary, on November 30, 2000. Andrea coped well until her father passed away four months later. Her mental state immediately began to digress. She quit feeding the newborn Mary, refused to eat or drink, began self mutilation, and quit talking. She also began reading the Bible more frantically (Montaldo, 2012).