Schizophrenia and Society Houston Born,

Schizophrenia and Society

Houston born, Andrea Yates was born to a German immigrant, Jutta Karin Koehler. She had five siblings and she was the youngest of all being raised in a catholic household. Andrea graduated in 1982 from Milby High School. From the high school records, it is seen that she was a brilliant student, captain of the school swim team, and she served as an officer in National Honor Society. Pre-nursing program was completed by her from the University of Houston and graduated in nursing from School of Nursing in University of Texas in 1986. From 1986 until 1994, she worked as a nurse in the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in University of Texas. She got married in 1993 and one of the main promises that the couple made was to have as many babies as the nature can allow them (Sarason, & Sarason, 2005, p. 90).

History of Mental Illness, Treatments and Behaviors

Andrea gave birth to her fourth son, Luke and this marked the beginning of depression in Andrea. The reports have shown that at this point, Andrea was attending some extremist sermons from Michael Peter Woroniecki, who also sold the couple their bus. At this point one of the main concerns that the family of Andrea had was that if Andrea was becoming more captivated by the sermons of the minister. In 1999, the first incidence occurred when rusty, Andrea's husband, found her chewing her own fingers and the next day she tried to commit suicide by overdosing on pills and she was immediately hospitalized. Hospitalization did not seem to have any effect on her. The next day she was begging her husband to let her kill herself and get over with her life while she was holding a knife against her neck. At this point, her psychiatrist was Dr. Eileen Starbranch. She prescribed Andrea a mixture of antidepressant drugs that included Haldol. Haldol was working well and Andrea's condition was improving when she was released from the hospital (O'Malley, 2004, p. 65). In July 1999, she succumbed to have a nervous breakdown that lead to additional suicide attempts. She was in and out of the hospital frequently diagnosed with postpartum psychosis. Her psychiatrist advised the couple not to have more children but Andrea continued conceiving until her fifth child in 2000, a daughter. Her psychiatrist testified that Andrea would most probably go into psychotic depression if she conceives more children. The psychotic depression of Andrea seemed to have accelerated after the death of her father. In 2001, after Andrea stopped taking Haldol, the symptoms of depression that were than seen in Andrea included feverish recitation of the Bible; she stopped feeding her daughter and stopped taking antidepressants. After immediate hospitalization, her psychiatrist was Dr. Mohammed Saeed. In April 2001, Andrea was nearly catatonic and she confessed to the police that she planned to drown three of her children. On 20 June 2001, Rusty left Andrea alone with her children against specific instructions of Dr. Mohammed Saeed not to leave her alone. In an hour of Rusty laving from home, his mother was to arrive at the house to look after everyone. However, in that hour, Andrea drowned all of her five children. After drowning the children and laying their dead bodies on the bed in the arms of each other, she called the police and her husband (Miller, Vandome, and McBrewster, 2011, p. 50).

Court Case and Trials

Confession of Andrea of drowning all of her five children came on the same day in the presence of her psychiatrist, Dr. Michael Welner. She confessed of locking her family dog so that it could not interfere with the killings or drowning.

The defense lawyer asserted that Andrea was insane while Texas law required that a proof must be given that at the time of crime, the defendant was unaware of the difference between right and wrong (Jason, 2010, p. 98). In March 2002, the court rejected the bargain based on insanity and proved Andrea guilty. The main option was the death penalty but it was clearly rejected by the jury. Thereby Andrea was sentenced to life imprisonment to Texas Department of Criminal Justice being eligible for a parole in the period of forty years.

On 5th of January, 2005, convictions proven on Andrea were reversed by the Texas Court of Appeals. The reversal was based on the confession of Californian psychiatrist Dr. Park Dietz of giving a false testimony during the trial. 6th of January 2006 was the date when Andrea was proven not guilty on the reason of insanity. The next month, Andrea was released on bail with the condition of her admission to mental health treatment facility. After a period of five years, Andrea was found not guilty based on the reason of insanity as defined by the Texas state law and was committed to the Vernon Campus of North Texas State Hospital. In 2007, Andrea was moved to a mental hospital with lower security situated in Kerrville, Texas.

The defense and the reports have shown that the main reason of psychosis of Andrea were the repeated warnings given by Woronieckis. The psychiatrist highlighted a letter to Andrea from Woronieckis saying;