Andrea Yates, schizophrenia, and the drowning of her five children

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).

Conclusion

Andrea was under a great psychotic depression based on violent visions that she started to have after she conceived her first son. Seeing Satan in her dream and being stabbed were some of the violent visions that she decided to keep a secret from her family. An important fact that was cleared in the court during the trial was that manic depression was common the Andrea's family playing important roles in Andrea suffering from postpartum psychosis.