Andrea Yates

Over the course of Andrea Yates’ trial and time spent in jail she had been evaluated by many psychiatrists. She showed signs of psychosis and hallucinations. During one session with a psychiatrist, five days after her drowning her children, she said Satan was in her cell with her and was talking to her. She had been suffering from depression for about two years prior to the death of her children. While being examined by law enforcement, officials were looking into Yates’ background and found that she had a strong amount of mental illness in her family history. Finding out that Yates had a family history of mental illness, got me thinking about clinical psychology because she had depression and bipolar disorder in her family. She also had made it clear that she wanted to be executed so that she and Satan would be destroyed. She was put on medications and a couple months later made much improvement. Although, she said she didn’t think she was mentally ill anyone, she still had trouble remembering things, which was an issue for her competency. I believe her biopsychology affected her choice in killing her children. Something in her brain was severely screwed up. According to her husband she was seeing a therapist prior to the drowning of her children. Her husband at the time also spoke about how after her pregnancy’s she would fall into postpartum depression which drastically affects your hormones. She was evaluated several times by several people and she was finally considered competent to be on trial on September 24, 2001. Being competent enough to stand trial means that defendants must be able to provide their lawyers with information about the crime and about the witnesses who testify at trial. Without the defendant, the attorney is less able to mount an effective defense and a mistaken conviction could be more at risk. Another psychological characteristic that was affecting Yates’ judgment was her cognitive psychology. Something was manipulating her mentally and I believed that her sick and wanted her to kill her children. In her case, it could have been Satan. She believed Satan was talking to her but as a religious person she ignored it and didn’t get any help. Her perception of Satan was that she needed to follow whatever he was telling her. I would say that the biggest part of Yates competency and insanity plea was the fact that she believed Satan wanted her dead because “she was a bad mother”. Her biopsychology and cognitive and clinical psychology all played a big role in her competency to be on trial and her insanity plea.

http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/women/andrea_yates/6.html

In this article, I found out that Andrea had tried to commit suicide roughly two years before drowning her children. She had called her husband and told him to come home, so he did so. She was chewing on her fingers and shaking so her husband took her and the kids to his parents’ house. There she tried to overdose on her father’s medication and told everyone she just wanted to “sleep forever”. She was then treated for major depressive disorder. She started to resist medication for personal reasons. I find that very selfish because that’s not healthy for a mother to be taking care of her children and not be mentally able to care for herself.

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/03/how-andrea-yates-lives-and-lives-with-herself-a-decade-later/254302/

In this article, I found out there was another trial in 2006 where she was found not guilty by reason of insanity. I don’t agree with that sentence but she could have been sane and healthy if she would have just taken her medication. The absolute only good thing I can take from this case was that there has been much publicity on postpartum depression and that alone may have the ability to save a children’s life.

http://articles.cnn.com/2007-12-11/us/court.archive.yates8_1_russell-rusty-yates-kaylynn-williford-joe-owmby?_s=PM:US

This article talks about her second trial where she is found not guilty by reason of insanity. It captures the moment between her ex-husband and his mother when they read the verdict of not guilty. They were weeping almost like they were happy she got the insanity plea. I found that very interesting how Rusty Yates supported Andrea throughout the whole trial. Her defense team says that she will likely have to live in an institution for the rest of her life and will never be released. However, I think she belongs in jail.

Terms: psychosis, competency, hallucinations, postpartum depression, biopsychology, cognitive psychology, clinical psychology.

There were several psychological characteristics evident in the trial of Andrea Yates. Obvisously, the main question in this trial was if she was insane at the time she killed her five children. Evidence presents the fact that Yates most likely suffered from post partum depression. The first time Yates displayed signs of this was wehn her fourth child was born. She had images of stabbing something and Satan telling her what to do. Her family, namely, her husband Russell wanted to live life out on the road. Therefore, the family ended up purchasing a mobile home, finally settling in Texas. Yates was also helping her father at this time. Her father was suffering and eventually died from Alzhiemer's Disease. These are a number of emotional stressors that can be hard for one person to deal with at one time. Yates showed signs of schizophrenia and psychosis. She also tried to committ suicide on more than one occassion. If she were to have schizophernia, it would somewhat explain the delusions she had about seeing the devil in her jail cell. People claimed that she knew what was she was doing was wrong. It was wrong in terms of the law and wrong in terms of the Bible. I thought it was interesting how much religion was a factor in this case. I had never really read anything like that before in a criminal case, it really opened my eyes to what people with delusions or hallucinations experience.

Many say that the husband was to blame as well. Many people said that he was very controlling. Also, I found it strange that he did not seem to understand the depth of what was really happening with his wife. I understand that she was hospitalized and even taken to inpatient treatment, but you would think those would be pretty clear warning signs. I don't really understand why he would leave her alone with the kids after everything that she had been through.

The controversy at the trial was if she was insane at the time of the crime. The jury, after being somewhat persuaded by false evidence convicted her of capital murder. I found it interesting how quickly the jury was to convict her. It only took three and a half hours! Also, I didn't realize how much gender biases went into court cases. People attribute a woman's violent behavior to factors outside of her control. However, people attribute violent actions to men. Therefore, it was no wonder people supported her. They saw all of the stressors involved in her life and how she had little to no control over her circumstances. If this trial were to be done again, gender biases would need to be completely erased.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,218445,00.html
This article talked a little bit about how Russell (or Rusty) at first disagreed with the death penalty. He said that he and Andrea would spend nights discussing what was right and wrong in terms of the law. The article also talks about how he read to her a passage from Romans 13 in the Bible about how God gave authority to the rulers of the land to uphold their laws. Yates' confessed that if she didn't kill her children, they would be tormented by Satan.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/MindMoodNews/andrea-yates-released-psychiatric-hospital-attend-church/story?id=16021269&page=2
This article was published in March 2012. It basically gave an update on Yates and her current condition in prision. She may soon be allowed to attend a church in order to get her "back on track." She claims that it is not the same church or preacher from Oregon who apparently was very outspoken and may have had an influence on her religious ideals.

http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/women/andrea_yates/5.html
In this article, I learned that Andrea had a history of mental illness in her family. Her family had anything between depression to bipolar disorder. According to the article, this can lead to risk factors for post partum psychosis, which Yates is believed to have.

Terms Used: post partum depression, psychosis, schizophrenia, depression, insanity.

The case of Andrea Yates is indefinitely an interesting one. Yates contained many characteristics that related to her psychological state when performing this crime. The chapter in gives a foundation for Yates’s life prior to her incidents and what lead up to them. Two years before the killings of her children Yates had claimed a struggle with mental illness. Her first illness was postpartum mental disorder directly after the birth of her first son. The main characteristic of postpartum disorder that related to Yates would be delusions that lead to the harm of oneself or others.This disorder lead to isolation and the onset of depression. Many obstacles lead to a suicide attempt. She was then diagnosed with depression and characterized as severely mentally ill. Psychotic features started to add to Yates mental state including the hearing of voices. The hearing of voices lead them to consider her schizophrenia. Yates sought out treatment and began to make improvements. Many stressors and the resistance of medication then resulted in the tragic deaths of her children. Because of what is stated above Yates was considered incompetent to stand trail, however further decision to state her as competent. The psychologic characteristics of Yates included many disorders and each contained its own symptoms. Many of the symptoms could be used to describe her state.

http://crime.about.com/od/current/p/andreayates.htm

When reading this article I found more information based on the relationships of the family. I learned that Andrea home school the children, which I think of as a key factor. This women was totally isolated and unstable. I also learned that Andrea miscarried in her past and was warned about further birth. This is a huge part of the case that I believe should have been brought to the surface. I further noticed the use of religion in the life of the family. One of the main quotes from this article seemed to be sufficient for an idea of why Andrea did what she did.
“The role of women is derived from the sin of Eve and that bad mothers who are going to hell create bad children who will go to hell.”

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,218445-2,00.html

This article broke down the court room process in a more detailed manner. I read the conversation that was present in the court room the day of the court proceedings. Her answers all make me feel as if the act was premeditated and she did know the difference between good and evil. This article also broke down her medication use and most of her hospitalizations for insanity. Deitz also played a large role in the court process and this article gives a brief on him.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=6278872&page=1

Basically during this entire time of studying this case I became curious about Rusty and his idea on this and about his personality traits. This article gave information on Rusty and his life after the case. I was surprised to find out he is remarried and with child. I can’t but point some fingers his way. I believe he may have had some attributes to Andrea’s disorder. I also find it interesting that they communicate weekly.

The Andrea Yates trial raises several issues that thoroughly combine psychology and law. It was important to determine if she was competent to stand trial, whether she had a psychological disorder, and if that or another disorder were severe enough for the insanity defense to be applicable.

The course textbook mentioned that a 1938 Supreme Court case established that a defendant must understand the charges against them and the possible consequences. Andrea Yates was deemed competent to stand trial as she knew what the charges were and that she may go to prison or receive the death penalty.

The Minds on Trial book discussed Andrea Yates mental disorders. It was established that she had been experiencing severe depression. Initially, after the birth of her first son, Andrea began experiencing visions. These visions are a symptom of postpartum mental disorder. Postpartum mental disorder symptoms occur within four weeks of the infant’s birth and my include delusions. Both of these symptoms applied to Andrea Yates. Also, this particular disorder is “associated with a significantly increased risk of harm to the infant (pg 231).” In the case of her children’s murder, she didn’t harm the first four kids as infants and the youngest was 6 months old.

The book discussed that she experienced a lot of change in a short period of time. This, combined with having more children, may have contributed to her depression. She also attempted suicide, which led to her prescription of anti-depressants and anti-psychotics. The court proceedings initially determined her guilty and she was sentenced to life in prison. However, there were several appeals that decreased that sentencing.

An article by US News discussed Andrea Yates ten years later. The article mentions that she was found guilty and was trying to receive two hours a week out of the hospital to attend church. The religious followings of her and her husband were rather extreme and led to some of their life changes. This article, however, discusses that she wishes to attend a traditional Christian church. The surprising aspect of the article was that her ex-husband discusses that he forgives her for killing their five children. It is understandable that after time, individuals must move on. However, it was just surprising to read that.

The second article also discusses Andrea Yates ten years later. This article mentions that she is currently taking her medication through injection. In Minds on Trial it was mentioned that she would some days skip her medication. With injection, it is more difficult for her to do that. The article also discusses that she is now diagnosed as bipolar. This is still a form of depression. However, her exact diagnosis has changed from the diagnosis she received years ago.

The final article assessed the overall crime. It was interesting because it discussed the Texas law that mentions how insanity is determined in a court of law. Texas law mentions that the individual must have struggled to determine the difference between right and wrong at the time of the crime. Andrea Yates had a long history regarding her mental illnesses but, in Minds on Trial, she believed that was she did was morally right. Analyzing if that was her feeling at the time of the crime was difficult. However, the Mental State at the Time of Offense Screening Evaluation (MSE) is utilized to determine whether crimes were influenced by a “significant mental disorder.” It is not mentioned whether this evaluation was used or not.

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/03/28/10910591-andrea-yates-who-killed-her-five-children-will-ask-for-pass-to-attend-church?lite

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/03/how-andrea-yates-lives-and-lives-with-herself-a-decade-later/254302/

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,218445,00.html

Terms Used: Psychology, Law, Competence, Psychological Disorder, Insanity Defense, Defendant, Charges, Trial, Death Penalty, Depression, Postpartum Mental Disorder, Delusions, Suicide, Appeals, Guilty, Bipolar, Insanity, MSE

There were many psychological characteristics and elements that were evident in Andrea Yates’ case, including both post-partum depression and psychosis. Andrea experienced delusions, both visual and auditory, that involved Satan, her strange infatuation with religion, and the use of a knife to kill someone. Yates began experiencing the depression and continued in a downward spiral after the birth of her first child. She was hospitalized for attempting to commit suicide twice, and she was put on strong antipsychotics and antidepressants to help eliminate some of the symptoms she was experiencing. Many professionals believed that much of this was brought on because of the fact that Andrea was going through some very stressful situations in life, including dealing with her father’s Alzheimer’s and eventual death, being lonely and socially isolated at home, and having so many children within such a short period of time. Some doctors even questioned whether or not she had schizophrenia. Whatever Andrea was going through, the crucial question that people wanted answered focused on whether or not she had known what she was doing and the repercussions she would face while she was murdering her five children, or if she could be considered insane. It was obvious to everyone that Yates did suffer from a mental illness, but many held the belief that she knew what she was doing throughout the act of drowning her kids.

Based on what I have read, Andrea’s competence and sanity is a very controversial topic. Some people are convinced that Yates suffered from acute psychosis and that Yates believed by killing her children she was serving their best interests, indicating an altruistic motive, whereas others believe that Yates knew that her actions were wrong in the eyes of the law, which is why she attributed killing them with Satan and concealed her thoughts of harming them from others. From this information, there are obviously many differing opinions that were presented throughout this case, which is why such strong feelings and emotions are still brought forth surrounding it to this very day.

When I used Google to find out more about Andrea Yates that I had not previously known, I was astounded at how much information there was. One thing that I found was that George Parnham, Andrea’s attorney, sees Andrea once a month and says that she is doing very well. Apparently she lives at the Kerrville State Hospital, not too far from San Antonio, and is slowly trying to regain a sense of normalcy in her life. She reportedly has taken on an active role in the Yates Children Memorial Fund to spread the word about mental illness. Andrea makes things like cards and aprons, sells them, and then donates the money she makes to the fund. This source also stated that Yates takes her medicine by injection and is diagnosed as bipolar now. Her relationship with Russell Yates also remains intact. Eventually, Parnham hopes that Andrea will be allowed out in the community for short periods of time, under supervision of course, because of the fact that she has made so much progress. All of this information was very valuable and interesting to learn just because of the fact that you usually don’t hear that much of a follow-up on crimes like that.

Another piece of information I found from another source discussed how Andrea might soon be allowed to leave the state psychiatric hospital where she is being treated for mental illness to attend church. Apparently she has been approved to attend Sunday services for two hours every week, which is the first step toward a permanent release. It is said that the church she wants to go to is not the same as the religion she became infatuated with before killing her five children. Andrea just wants to get back to church and have it play a role in her life. The article goes on to talk about how even though doctors may feel that a permanent release will be good for Andrea, a majority of the public may not feel the same way. People will not want her to be released because of the fact that they see her as someone who brutally murdered her children. Obviously, Andrea would not be released into the public without any supervision and care, and she will pretty much be under the spotlight if she is ever released. I found this information to be pretty wild. If Andrea is headed in the direction of a permanent release, people will definitely have a lot to say about it. I can picture protests against her release, and I could see someone trying to harm her for what she did to her kids. Hopefully, if there ever is a release, things will go smoothly and without issues.

The final source that I found taught me a lot of random facts about Andrea Yates and her life. For instance, I learned that Andrea met her husband, Rusty, at their apartment complex in Houston, and Andrea initiated conversation with him. When they moved in together, they spent a lot of time being involved in religious study and prayer, and they told each other from the start that they wanted to have as many children as they could. I also found out more about Michael Woroniecki, the traveling minister that greatly influenced Andrea. He preached extremist sermons that truly captivated Andrea, which was a concern to her family. The article also discussed her two suicide attempts in detail, which were scary to read about.

All in all, reading about Andrea Yates and finding more outside sources about her really opened my eyes up and taught me a lot! I hope to learn more about different cases that were as controversial as hers was.

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/03/how-andrea-yates-lives-and-lives-with-herself-a-decade-later/254302/
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/MindMoodNews/andrea-yates-released-psychiatric-hospital-attend-church/story?id=16021269#.UHzkV0Jb021
http://crime.about.com/od/current/p/andreayates.htm

Terms: Andrea Yates, post-partum depression, psychosis, delusions, suicide, antipsychotics, antidepressants, Alzheimer’s, social isolation, schizophrenia, insanity, mental illness, competence, sanity, acute psychosis, altruistic motive, emotions, George Parnham, bipolar disorder, Michael Woroniecki

The Andrea Yates case was very intriguing yet gruesomely horrifying to learn about. After reading in Minds on Trial how she murdered her children it brought up a very common question, why did she do it? There were many psychological characteristics in the case, which affected how the defense and prosecution differed in their opinion of Yates being competent to stand trial. Yates suffered from multiple psychological illnesses, including depression, which she took medication for but still seemed affected by it because of the fact that she would sleep all day sometimes. However, it seems clear that in the recent couple of years before the children’s’ murders, she seemed to take a steep decline into her illnesses. Yates also suffered from severe post partum depression and psychosis, which was diagnosed delusions. These raised a major difference of opinion during the case including her personal responsibility and whether or not Yates was considered insane. The fact that Yates said that she killed her kids to save them from Satan shows that she had a rational reason why to kill, which led the jury to agree and say that she was competent to stand trial. However, it seems hard to agree with fully because by the time of her competency hearing, Yates had been treated for her mental illnesses for 3 months meaning she was competent then, although this led to an even bigger dilemma that was whether or not she was insane at the time of drowning her five children. In the state of Texas the only way for Yates to be found guilty of mental defect would be if she drown her kids and had no thought that it was wrong. Argument that included that Yates attributed her action to Satan, and kept her thoughts of killing her children to herself showed that she knew her actions were wrong. Yates, being found faced life in prison, but later during a court appeal she was found mentally insane.
There were a couple facts that I found on the Internet that I found particularly interesting pertaining to the Andrea Yates trial which included her husband supported the death penalty, up until her arrest, due to his beliefs from scripture. Another interesting fact was that her husband, Rusty Yates divorced her divorced her during her incarceration in 2004, but then remarried her in 2006. Lastly, I found greater detail on Yates paranoid behavior such as the fact that she would not feed her children because she thought they ate too much, or that she thought there were cameras in the ceiling. Also, she believed that she was communicating with characters that appeared on the television. This gives more detail into the mind of Andrea Yates, her trail, and her marriage. Although it is still difficult to grasp the concept of her drowning her five children, details of her life can help explain how she got to such a dark place.
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,218445,00.html
http://www.biography.com/people/andrea-yates-235801
http://crime.about.com/od/current/p/andreayates.htm
Terms: murder, psychological characteristics, competent, depression, post partum depression, psychosis, delusions, insane, mental illness

Andrea Yates struggled for several years with post-partum depression before killing her five children and being arrested. After the birth of her first child, Andrea Yates began having violent visions and hallucinations of people being injured and killed. After having her fourth child and having to take care of her father who had Alzheimer’s, Yates’s hallucinations became worse and she began hearing voices. Yates had been treated several times for her depression after trying to commit suicide and was prescribed several antidepressants, none of which seemed to be effective long term. Andrea Yates’ past history of depression played a major role in the way her trial was shaped. Yates was standing trial to determine if she was sane during the period when she murdered her five children. Yates’ past depression lead many to believe that her actions were due to her mental illness.

After giving birth to her first child and becoming depressed, Andrea Yates turned to religion as an escape for her mental illness. However, her religious outlet became a negative influence on her psyche and she began to use her religion as a scapegoat for her actions. Yates claimed that Satan was the cause of why she killed her children, and she wanted to prevent them from being harmed by him. Andrea Yates also claimed that she wanted the death penalty because then both she and Satan would be destroyed. Yates’ religious psychosis was also a major reason as to why the defense claimed that Yates was not sane at the time of the murders.

Andrea Yates also had dealt with many extraneous stressors that she had little to no control over. Russell Yates decided to sell their family home and buy a mobile home so their family could live on the road. While living in the mobile home, Andrea Yates began to feel isolated from others and began to become more depressed. While struggling with depression, Yates then began to have to take care of her elderly father who had Alzheimer’s disease. Shortly after having her fifth child, Mary, Andrea Yates lost her father. Andrea Yates’ life was consumed by doing things for others and not having much control over what decisions were made for her. Yates’ stressful life lead to another theory as to why she would kill her children, some said that by killing her children Yates could get revenge on Russell for making her have so many children.

http://crime.about.com/od/current/p/andreayates.htm
After attempting to commit suicide the first time and being released from hospital supervision, Andrea Yates began to spiral downward and get worse rather than better. She stopped taking her prescribed antidepressants and she began to mutilate herself. She also stopped feeding her children because she felt that they already ate enough. This was the first sign that there was a lack of need to care for her children. Yates also felt that there were cameras watching her and that characters on the television were talking to her. Neither Russell nor Andrea told her psychiatrist about her hallucinations; she was then hospitalized again for putting a knife to her throat.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/mar2002/yate-m16.shtml
In this article I learned that Michael and Rachel Woroniecki may have had a larger impact on Andrea Yates’ psyche than many had imagined. Michael told Andrea that God created man to dominate and created woman to be helpers and the role of woman was derived from Eve’s sin. He also told Andrea that working women were witches and unholy. Rachel Woroniecki then told Andrea that life was cruel, lonely, and empty and that she should accept the fact that life was under the curse of sin and death. The Woronieckis had a negative effect on Andrea’s psyche and how she viewed religion and the world.

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/03/10-years-later-the-tragedy-of-andrea-yates/254290/
Andrea Yates won an appeal and another trial was held in 2006. Andrea Yates was then convicted of insanity and sent to a mental institution where she is being held now. Yates is periodically checked on by judges and doctors and is evaluated on her mental status. Ten years after the incident, Andrea Yates’ lawyer feels as though she has made a recovery and should be released soon. Parham also created the Yates Children Memorial Fund to help educate the public about mothers with post-partum depression. I also learned in this article that Russell Yates divorced his wife in 2005 and is now remarried with a child.

Terms: post partum depression, hallucinations, depression, antidepressants, mental illness, suicide, psychosis

The plea of insanity vs. guilty is a very controversial decision made in many court cases. One such case involves the murder of 5 children by none other than their own mother Andrea Yates. There are several psychological characteristics evident in Andrea Yates’s case which includes bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, postpartum depression, and perhaps projection.

Psychologists made the conclusion that Andrea Yates had been suffering from postpartum depression. Postpartum depression is moderate to severe depression in a woman after she has given birth. Andrea had been battling depression through a good portion of her life. She had attempts of suicide and because of this she had been seeing different psychiatrists. The psychiatrists had prescribed her different antidepressant drugs and anti-psychotic drugs such as Haldol. These medications improved Andrea’s behavior and mood. She was warned however that if she were to have another baby, it could potential bring on more episodes of psychotic behavior. Andrea ignored the warning and gave birth to Mary in 2000. Unfortunately Andrea did experience psychotic behavior and the deaths of her 5 children were the result of it.

Some psychologists believe that projection could be a major contribution in Andrea’s murderous actions. Projection is a defense mechanism that is characterized by projecting unwanted feelings onto other people. Andrea’s depression could have developed from many different contributing factors. Factors such as pressure from her husband to have as many children as she did, pressure to play the motherly role, and more. With different factors contributing to Andre’s depression, she possibly could have become angry with the contributing factors and people thus projecting her feeling toward her children.

Bipolar disorder is a condition in which people go back and forth between periods of a very good or irritable mood and depression. Andrea Yates is said to have suffered from this in which her mood was always changing. Paranoid schizophrenia is another mental illness psychologists believe Andrea suffers from. Paranoid schizophrenia is characterized when a patient has false beliefs (delusions) that somebody or some people are plotting against them or members of their family. Andrea believes that the devil lives inside her. She thought that by murdering her children they would go to heaven and would be protected from the devil and hell. Doctors testifying for Yates made that claim. "She did what she thought was right in the world she perceived through her psychotic eyes at the time," said psychiatrist Phillip Resnick.

Andrea Yates’s first verdict was guilty followed later by another trial in which she plead not-guilty by means of insanity. I believe that Andrea was insane at the time of the murders. Andrea believed the devil was inside her and that murdering her children was the “right” thing to do. She believed she was saving them from hell and the devil within her. For someone to be able to plea not-guilty by means of insanity, they must have a mental illness that inhibits their ability to reason right from wrong. Andrea suffered from bipolar disorder, paranoid schizophrenia, and postpartum depression. These disorders contributed to her inability to see her actions as “wrong”.

http://crime.about.com/od/current/p/andreayates.htm

Some information I found interesting about Andrea is where her religious believes came from. This website provided information about a preacher Andrea and her husband Rusty had listened to. Michael Woroniecki was the preacher’s name and what he told and stood for deeply affected Andrea. He preached, "the role of women is derived from the sin of Eve and that bad mothers who are going to hell create bad children who will go to hell." Andrea was completely captivated by this idea which probably heavily influenced her murders and the reasoning behind them. According to the website, in Andrea's confession she stated that the murders occurred because she wasn't a good mother. With Andrea not being a good mother the children were "not developing correctly" and she needed to be punished.

http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/women/andrea_yates/14.html

Another interesting fact I learned about Andrea Yates’s case was that she was only charged with 3 murders instead of 5. I inferred that because she confessed to murdering all 5 of her children, she had to be charged with each murder. The reason for only charging Andrea with 3 murders, the website discusses, is for a fall back. If the trial ended in a way that the prosecution deemed unjust, they could then call for another trial for the other 2 children whose murders Andrea had not been charged with.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/evil-deeds/200805/sympathy-the-devil

This website provides information about Andrea’s belief on the influence the devil had on her. The website suggests that religious or spiritual individuals may have suppressed feelings such as anger, aggression, sexual desire, and more. When this occurs they attribute these feelings to outside sources such as evil spirits or the devil possessing them. In extreme cases such as Andrea’s, over time these denied impulses strengthen and can no longer be repressed. Andrea’s suppressed feelings of depression and religious beliefs eventually strengthened. No longer repressed, Andrea drowned her 5 children attempting to save them from hell and the devil inside her.

TERMS: bipolar disorder, paranoid schizophrenia, antidepressant drugs, anti-psychotic drugs, postpartum depression, Haldol, projection, mental disorder, verdict, attempted suicide, delusions

The two main psychological issues in this case were postpartum mental disorder and psychosis. In the MOT book, according to the diagnostic manual postpartum mental disorders can include severe mood changes or psychosis within four weeks following the birth of a child. Symptoms that are common ins postpartum-onset episodes include fluctuations in mood, mood lability, and preoccupation with infant well-being, the intensity of which may range from overconcern to frank delusions. She was also going through religious fanaticism which is where she discussed hearing satan telling her to do things. She thought that by killing her children she was saving them from hell and satan. Andrea had 5 children. She and her husband were both told to not have anymore children due to the nature of her severe depression and suicide attempts.

http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/women/andrea_yates/index.html
This website describes the phone call with Mr and Mrs Yates. It also describes the crime scene in the bedroom with the four children and in the bathtub with Noah. In MOT the phone is described differently than on this website. On the website Andrea says "Its time. I did it." This website also discusses that Andrea seemed very coherent and answered the questions quickly and with an answer. MOT portrayed her to be confused and not able to comprehend what was being asked. She says she was a bad mother and had no reason.

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/03/28/10910591-andrea-yates-who-killed-her-five-children-will-ask-for-pass-to-attend-church?lite
In this article you learn that Andrea was trying to receive therapeutic opportunities and attend church. Her lawyer Parnham said he believed she was ready for outpatient care.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=389198&page=1
I thought this piece of information was very disturbing: In May 2004, Rusty Yates sold the three-bedroom house where the children were killed for $109,900.

key terms: crime scene, postpartum mental disorder, psychosis, religious fanaticism, depression

Andrea Yates has a long history of mental health problems. She appears to have suffered/or does suffer from a post-partum mental disorder, depression, and acute psychosis with hallucinations. All of these health issues could influence whether Yates was sane or insane during the murders.
Post-partum depression may follow the birth of a child and typically appears about four weeks after the child is born. Mothers suffering from PPD are quite depressed, can have severe mood swings, and, in Yates’ case, “frank delusions” (MOT 231). Yates suffered from PPD after the birth of her first child and may have suffered from PPD after the births of the other four children. Yates’ depression led her to become “lonely [and] isolated” and she tried to kill herself twice. At the time of the murders, Yates was supposed to be taking antidepressants. Her PPD could have affected her sanity at the time of the murders.
Her psychosis, related to PPD, probably played the largest role in her mental state during the murders. According to her attorneys, Yates thought that she could kill the Devil if she received the death sentence. Because of this notion, she may not have been competent to stand trial. Yates suffered from hallucinations of the Devil while in jail and took several minutes to respond to questions asked by the clinical psychologists. If Yates was suffering from hallucinations at the time of the murders, this would affect her sanity because she may not have known morally right from morally wrong. Under Texas law, persons are only deemed insane if they do not know right from wrong. This Texas law is derived from a revised version of the M’Naughten Test.
The high level of stress which Yates was under as a result of her father’s death and taking care of five small children may have also affected her sanity at the time of the murders. Yates purportedly cared for her ailing father until his death and was living in a very confined space. This stress may have made her “snap” which would have affected her sanity but would not be applicable to her competency to stand trial several months later.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/MindMoodNews/andrea-yates-released-psychiatric-hospital-attend-church/story?id=16021269#.UH2KC8XLR2A
Upon further reading, I learned that Andrea Yates was acquitted in 2006 by reason of insanity. Additionally, mental health institutions tend to keep their patients longer than necessary because society is generally “spooked” by mental health problems. When this article was written, Yates’s attorney was planning to petition for a two hour leave for Yates so that she could attend church.
http://www.nndb.com/people/026/000085768/
I learned from this article that Yates frequently refused to take her medication for depression. I also learned that her suicide attempts were only a month apart. This would have definitely contributed to her mental state at the time of the killings and may have led to a psychotic break. The timeline given by this website shows that Yates killed her children almost two years after her last suicide attempt. This information decreases how culpable Russell Yates appears to be because he may have thought she was stabilizing. Additionally, Yates sometimes did not feed her children or herself.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200212/moms-who-kill
When searching Andrea Yates on Psychology Today, I learned that roughly 80% of new moms suffer from some sort of depression within a year of having a child. This percentage is much higher than I had expected. Apparently Yates’ PPD was an extremely severe and rare form because it also contained psychosis. I was also surprised to learn that no clear treatment exists for PPD.

Sanity/insanity, competence/incompetence, psychosis, PPD, post-partum mental disorder, hallucinations, depression, mental health disorders, stress, clinical psychologist, M’Naughten Test

Before this assignment I was vaguely familiar with the Yates case but I was never clear on any of the details. As horrifying of a story as it is, it is interesting to try to understand this case from the perspective of the defense and their insanity plea. The first psychological characteristics to become apparent in Andrea Yates' life was her long time bulimia and perfectionism. After marrying and having four biblically named children, she ended her nursing career to become a full-time mother and start home-schooling. She become depressed and despondent. She began to believe that she was possessed by the devil and had thoughts of killing her children in order to save them. Soon after this she sought psychiatric attention was diagnosed with postpartum depression and put on a regimen of anti-psychotics and anti-depresssants with some cognitive therapy. She also made several suicide attempts in this time period. When her father died, her condition worsened and she was hospitalized and received a new diagnosis of schizophrenia.It was after all of this when she followed through with drowning her 5 children one at a time in the bathtub and then calling 911.

One interesting piece that I found while searching the case was a speculation on one of the drugs that she was taking in the months leading up to the murders of her five children. The antidepressant effexor has recently (5 years after the murders) added "homicidal ideation" to their list of rare side effects. During a clinical trial in treating panic disorder a participant reported having homicidal thoughts. While you cannot blame Yates' actions on just the drug, it is interesting to consider that it may have played a part in her actions.

Another interesting aspect to the case was the testimony by Park Dietz. "Known for his testimony as a prosecution witness in high-profile crimes, Dietz had worked on the cases of John Hinckley, who attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan; Susan Smith, who killed her children by driving her car into a pond; and the Unabomber. He also helped proclaim legally sane Jeffrey Dahmer, who kept the heads of his murder victims in his freezer." He was paid $500 per hour for his consultation in the case and yet he gave erroneous testimony in which he described an episode of law and order that had aired just before Yates' crime in which a mother had drowned her children and received the death penalty. No such episode ever existed.

One last bit of interesting information about the case is that Yates was only charged with three murders despite the fact that she had confessed to killing all five of them. This was apparently a fall back for the prosecution so that they could re-try the case for the other two in the event that Yates was not convicted for the initial three.

Sources:

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,218445,00.html#ixzz29U8pLb8r

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/evil-deeds/200805/sympathy-the-devil

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9977586/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/t/court-clears-way-andrea-yates-retrial/#.UH2P_s0bwhQ

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,218445,00.html

http://blogs.kansascity.com/crime_scene/2006/07/drug_side_effec.html

Terms: Bulimia, perfectionist, postpartum depression, schizophrenia, antipsychotics, antidepressants, cognitive therapy, suicide, homicidal ideation, testimony, defense, prosecution, conviction

While reading Andrea Yates chapter in Minds on Trial, one thing became abundantly clear to me. Andrea Yates was suffering from some severe mental illnesses (not that anyone ever disputed that). Yates’ case revolved around two central questions. The first being whether she was legally insane at the time of the crime (Her drowning her children) and the second being whether she was competent to stand trial.

Psychologists for both the defense and the prosecution found that Yates was certainly suffering from a mental illness. Dr. Gerald Harris, for the defense in the competency trial, declared Yates to be psychotic. According to Harris, she “was experiencing hallucinations where she saw Son the walls of her jail cell and would take up to two minutes to respond to questions (Harris) posed to her during their interviews.” Even the prosecuting attorney, Dr. Steven Rubenzer, concluded that Yates had shown no evidence of malingering, or faking, her illness.
However, the major discrepancy lies in what each psychologist thought the impact of her mental illness was on her competency to stand trial (CST). Harris thought she would pose no assistance in helping mount a defense, which is one aspect of CST, but Rubenzer declared Yates competent despite her obvious mental illness. Eventually, after much deliberation and changing of mind, the jury found that Yates was competent to stand trial.

Several years ago Yates had been diagnosed with Postpartum depressive disorder, which is a severe depression that occurs after the birth of children. Apparently, with each child birthed, Andrea Yates sank further and further into depression and, even though she was given very high dosages of anti-depressants and anti-psychotics, she did not get much better. One example given in Minds on Trial illustrated this: she was out playing basketball with her husband and some of her older children when she suddenly decided she needed to take a nap, so she did. She also had started to become very unresponsive to questions and displayed severe pessimism and hopelessness at times. She had even been admitted to various inpatient psychiatric facilities.

Additionally, she displayed symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia by having an abnormal obsession with religion (this stemmed from her relationship with the Woronieckis, a family of traveling evangelists. In addition, she believed that Satan was going to kill her children, so she protected them from him by killing them. Obviously, there is a little lack in logic here, but again, that may have arisen from the schizophrenic tendencies.

That being said, Yates’ very obvious mental illness does not necessarily mean she is incompetent or even legally insane. Both issues are entirely separate from each other and from the presence of a mental illness. The burden of proof for both issues has been placed on the defense, with most using the standard of a preponderance of evidence (Greater than 50% certainty) except for federal cases and in the state of Arizona for insanity the clear and convincing evidence standard is used. The latter standard lies between preponderance of evidence and beyond a reasonable doubt, so the “truth of issue must be highly probable.”

As I mentioned earlier, the presence of mental illness does not necessarily indicate incompetency or even legal insanity. Competence revolves around one’s ability to “stand trial” or other aspects such as pleading guilty and waiving certain rights. Legal insanity refers to the mindset of the defendant at the time of the crime. Therefore, Andrea Yates needed to prove by preponderance of evidence, since she was already declared competent, that she was legally insane at the time of the crime. Presently, legal insanity is defined as the dearth of understanding of the consequences of your actions and not knowing whether it was right or wrong. In the state of Texas, only the latter part holds true. Yates was eventually found guilty because of an error in the testimony of Dr. Park Dietz, a psychologist who testified in the Hinckley case. He mistakenly said there was a Law and Order episode (He was a consultant to the show) where the mother drowned her children because of a message from God. The prosecution used this to say that Yates saw this episode and subsequently planned the killing of her children, not that she saw it as a way to protect them from Satan. They also said she knew her actions were wrong because she didn’t tell anyone and waited until her husband left to kill them. However, the error was found out and the defense declared for a mistrial, and after some appeals, were eventually given one.

On this website, http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/women/andrea_yates/16.html, the author discusses how the police were told by Andrea that she was a bad mother and expected to be punished. That piece of information complicates my own already muddled opinions. If she expected to be punished, then it would seem she knew her actions were wrong but that comment does not seem to come from someone who entirely understands the consequences of her actions either. She seems to think she’ll be punished for being a bad mother, not for being a murderer.

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/03/28/10910591-andrea-yates-who-killed-her-five-children-will-ask-for-pass-to-attend-church?lite. In this much more recent article, it is revealed that Andrea has asked for a weekly pass from the hospital to attend church. Also, we find out that she was found not guilty by reason of insanity. I’m not sure what to think of the church aspect, especially since her relationship with religion played a part in the death of her children. However, according to her lawyer, George Parnham, this is an entirely different type of church than the brimstone and fire of her earlier religious belief.

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/03/how-andrea-yates-lives-and-lives-with-herself-a-decade-later/254302/. This even more recent article has revealed that Andrea Yates is showing marked improvement. She has been active in an organization that promotes the awareness of mental illness, particularly postpartum depressive disorder, and has even received a job at an animal clinic if she is allowed to leave a couple hours each week. This article really convinces me of the quality of rehabilitation as opposed to punishment, be it for retribution or deterrence.

Terms: retribution, deterrence, malingering, paranoid schizophrenia, psychologists, legal insanity, competency to stand trial, postpartum depressive disorder.

Andrea Yates had been diagnosed with severe postpartum depression and psychosis shortly after the birth of her first born, Noah. She was taking anti-depressants as a result of her diagnosis. Postpartum is diagnosed by having such symptoms as depression after birth, delusions, fluctuations in mood, and more. In the years to come, Andrea continued to experience severe depression, loneliness, and disturbing delusions, including satanic delusions. She had tried to commit suicide on more than one occasion, hospitalized more than once, also making medical and psychological professionals believe that she also may have been suffering from schizophrenia. She had many stressors in her life, including having five young children, being moved, taking care of her father who suffered from Alzheimers, and of course her mental illnesses. Some psychologists believed that her stressors, such as her father's illness and her own mental illnesses may have triggered the tragic event of the murder of her children. Before the actual trial, professionals tried to asses her competency to see if she was able to be on trial or not and evaluate her mind at the time of the event (insane or sane). Andrea later believed that she knew that the murder of her children was legally wrong, but morally right and that she was only saving them from Satan.
I found it interesting that when women suffer from mental illnesses and murder, people find it more "accepting", but when a man commits a murder, it is seen as pure violence before any other outside influences are considered. I believe that many people wanted to think that she was insane at the time of the murder due to many reasons, 1. She suffered from severe mental illness, 2. She was undergoing many stressors, and 3. "How could a mother do that to her children without being insane?" To me, it doesn't seem like she was "insane" under technical terms at the time of the murders, due to what she said afterwards. I do however believe that her mental illnesses played into the murders without a doubt.

After 10 years, Andrea is still incarcerated. She is now making cards and aprons (anonymously) for the Yates Children Memorial Fund, which spreads the word about mental illness and postpartum depression.
She has also been diagnosed as bipolar since the crime and first trial and takes medication by injection.
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/03/how-andrea-yates-lives-and-lives-with-herself-a-decade-later/254302/

Andrea Yates and her husband Russell divorced in 2004 and remarried in 2006. I find this really creepy. I understand the through illness and in health, but really?...Just my opinion..
http://www.biography.com/people/andrea-yates-235801

Apparently, the Yates family was quite influenced by a former preacher, Woroniecki, who basically used fear tactics in his preaching style. Woroniecki supposedly has said said that "Parents ought to commit suicide rather than cause their children “to stumble” and go to hell." He also suggested that parents need to save their children from Satan. To me, a person with severe mental illnesses and psychosis could have taking this preaching quite seriously and literally. Andrea Yates did have visions of Satan and did admit that she was saving her children from Satan. These words from the preacher might have assisted her mindset. The preacher has denied that he had any influence on her actions.
http://todaynewsgazette.com/andrea-yates-history-of-mental-illness/

The Andrea Yates case is a very tragic case. She had killed her five children by drowning them while her husband was at work. The main controversy in this case was whether she was her competence and sanity. Before the case was looked at, there was a trial as to whether she was competent to stand trial, and even after that if she was competent and sane at the time she had drowned her children. The main psychological disorders that were looked at were postpartum mental illness (mainly depression) and psychosis. Her depression started after the birth of her first child. And then her and her husband continued to have four more children, making five total. The birth of her numerous children and also the fact that her husband had made a dramatic move by selling their home and living out of a make shift trailer because of his job with NASA.
After the move, Andrea expressed loneliness and depression also after having children in an inconvenient time and place. She had a lot on her plate by the time she had her fourth child. She was also taking care of her father, who had Alzheimer's disease. As a result, she tried to commit suicide by overdosing on her father's prescription pills. She was then diagnosed with sever depression. Soon after she was released from the hospital, she tried to commit suicide again by cutting her throat. This time, she was diagnosed with severe depression with psychotic features (she was hearing voices in her head).At the time of the birth of the fifth child, she was being overwhelmed with the other children and her father's Alzheimer's disease and inevitably his death.
After her arrest, she was evaluated by two doctors who found that she was psychotic and was not faking the illness. She was having hallucinations of Satan on the walls of her jail cell and took quite a while to respond to questions.
After three months of treatment for psychosis, Yates appeared at her competence hearing. This was a controversial hearing because there were conflicting opinions from two different experts, but the jury's verdict was that she was competent to stand trial. The main issue at the actual trial was if Yates was insane at the time she drowned her children. After back and forth testimonies from doctors, the jury sentenced Yates to a life sentence. However, there was a false testimony by one of the doctors about a 'Law and Order' episode that had never aired or been written (according to producers). But the case was appealed, and the case is being reheard.
http://crime.about.com/od/current/p/andreayates.htm
This gave a good biography of Andrea Yates. It talks about where she graduated from high school (Milby), where she went to college and in what degree (two-year at University of Houston, then University of Texas School of Nursing). Then it goes on to talk about how she met Russell in her apartment complex and how her previous love live was. Then it gives the birth dates of their children and then the downward spiral of her mental health. It goes into more specific detail of each incident than the book did. The book talked more about the trial and the events leading up to it. This website did that in detail (such as her suicide attempts).
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/MindMoodNews/andrea-yates-released-psychiatric-hospital-attend-church/story?id=16021269#.UH5gYbR4xUR
The video posted on this website said that after the re-trial Andrea Yates was not guilty by reason of insanity. This was interesting because the book had not said what had happened to the case. But the article goes on to discuss how Yates will be able to leave the psychiatric hospital to attend church. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14024728/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/t/jury-yates-not-guilty-reason-insanity/#.UH5jF7R4xUQ
This article discusses the appeal case of Andrea Yates. She was found not guilty by reason of insanity. She is committed to a state mental hospital until she is no longer deemed a threat. It goes on to say that the defense used much of the same evidence they used at the first trial, along with numerous amounts of psychiatrists saying she was insane at the time of the drownings. It ends about talking about Dr. Dietz wrongful testimony of 'Law and Order'.