Andrea Yates

People commit murder for many reasons, whether it is out of anger, love, jealousy, pure rage, etc., but why is it that we never speak of those who just seem more inclined to the extreme emotion, or lack of, that can lead to murder? In fact, “Approximately 1 in 25 adults in the U.S.—10 million, or 4.2%—experiences a serious mental illness in a given year that substantially interferes with or limits one or more major life activities.” (Mental Health by the Numbers) Based on the statistics, a decent chunk of Americans are burdened with a serious mental illness (S.M.I.), but not all of those who are impacted take the next step to get help. S.M.I. is an important topic and a crucial discussion to have, but in American society, reactions are very
Andrea Yates was a very devoted Christian mother to five children in Houston, TX. She suffered from postpartum depression, which worsened after each child, and developed into postpartum psychosis. “She felt convinced she was a terrible mother, deserving of punishment. ‘I think the Devil's in me,’ she confided to her brother. Fearing that her children "weren't developing correctly," she started to have thoughts about killing them to save their mortal souls: ‘They were not righteous,’ she felt, and would surely burn in hell if she did not terminate their still young, innocent lives.” (Diamond,
Chesterman did a study to see the connection between post-traumatic stress syndrome, otherwise referred to as PTSD, and murder. The four gathered 29 participants, but only 19 of the 29 actually participated. “In the sample, 63% (12/19) suffered from schizophrenia, 11% (2/19) each had a delusional disorder, major depressive disorder and a schizoaffective disorder, while 5% (1/19) suffered from a psychotic disorder [NOS]. Eighty-five percent (17/19) were on antipsychotic medication and 58% (11/19) on antidepressant medication at the time of the interview.” (Papanastassiou et. Al,