Andrea Yates R.N.

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Did you know that Andrea Yates, the woman who is now being re-tried for drowning her 5 children in Texas was a nurse? I just thought it was interesting.

Specializes in Alzheimer's, Geriatrics, Chem. Dep..
"Beloved" is a book by Toni Morrison and it is the story of an escaped slave who is haunted by the memory of her child. The main character believes that she and her child are going to be captured. She kills her child rather than having her taken into slavery. It has been a while since I read the book, so that is a very rough synopsis. This woman knew it was wrong to kill her child, but she also knew firsthandedly what it meant to be a slave. She chose to kill her own child rather than let her be subjected to being beaten, raped, worked like a dog and other unspeakable tortures (things that she had experienced throughout her life).

My point is that a the world of a psychotic person is as real to them as ours is to us. Who knows what life was like for AY. Maybe she felt that killing her children was the right thing to do even though she knew it was illegal. Who knows what that poor woman believed was happening to her or those children. Maybe she made a decision based out of love for those children...

WOW! incredible story!

Was it based on a true story? I can certainly imagine feeling that way.

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Specializes in Alzheimer's, Geriatrics, Chem. Dep..
Hi Zoeboboey - Thanks for sharing your struggles. My other kids are doing well. Our lives without him here have been quiet. When he was here I had nightmares sometimes, as did my youngest daughter who is now 15. Without him around, knowing he's safe somewhere else, has made me sleep easier at night. And yes, he could be quite charming at times.

My husband and I also joined NAMI (National Alliance for the Mentally Ill) and it was good to learn of others who had gone through the same struggles.

Thanks again. After what we went through (with the mental illness of our adopted son), I have a new appreciation for people who struggle with mental illness or have a family member who struggle with mental illness......He sent me an e-mail for mother's day so we still keep in touch at times....

NAMI is an excellent resource for families of the mentally ill AND for those who have the illness(es).

Another great thing is DBSA (Depression Bipolar Support Alliance) - for families AND patients - you don't have to have BOTH illnesses. They usually do 1 hr of some kind of education and then 1 hour of group support, and are overseen by a psychiatrist. VERY good resource. Recently I understand that they started the same thing for people with Schizophrenia.

Take good care, I hope things continue to go well! for you guys!

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Specializes in Alzheimer's, Geriatrics, Chem. Dep..
At some point the evidence of homicidality with this category of drugs in a small population has to be accounted for. The combination of post partum psychosis and Effexor is lethal.

Effexor is an SSRI isn't it?

I get EXTREMELY MANIC on "normal" doses of these. EXTREME can mean delusions and hallucinations. Didn't want to kill anyone (except for myself, maybe), but I thought I could leap tall buildings ...

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Specializes in Alzheimer's, Geriatrics, Chem. Dep..
Wow--

She was hallucinating and displaced from reality. Her "reality" was a nightmare that bore no semblance to real life. She was hearing demons (which she thought were real), thought she was possessed, etc.

And as for the posters who thought the insanity was part of her master plan...huh!?!? So she spent significant time in mental hospitals, took high doses of meds, and acted crazy for YEARS just so she could get away with killing her kids? And she had 2 or 3 more kids while in the process of carrying out this plan?

Now that's a little detatched from reality, imo.

How can she be held to the same standards as a sane person?

Real hard to "get it" - I remember in nursing school, I hadn't had any problems with MI -I identified with the basic feelings and so I did pretty well in psych (compassion DOES go a long way!)... but you know that was 1981 - and we still don't "get it". Good post.

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real hard to "get it" - i remember in nursing school, i hadn't had any problems with mi -i identified with the basic feelings and so i did pretty well in psych (compassion does go a long way!)... but you know that was 1981 - and we still don't "get it". good post.

i am so thankful and appreciative for your openness and ability to shed light on what is imho ignorance of mi for most ppl .

yes i think some ppl are mean, hateful and lack compassion in general about other illness too not just about mi.

mostly i think mi scares ppl b/c its difficult to understand what goes on and why. also we use the word crazy so liberally that when it is in jest/joking it isn't so threatening but most ppl can't cope w/the idea of not being in control especially of the mind

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If you want more information on the case, read the website started by Russell Yates, http://www.yateskids.org.

Mainly, read the appellant brief. It has a lot of information that says 4 out of 5 people who examined her agreed that she was by far one of the sickest people they had ever seen.

Rusty has also included her medical records from her stay at Devereux (inpatient mental facility). I didn't read the whole thing and I don't know how fair that is to Andrea to have her MR posted online.

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Specializes in Alzheimer's, Geriatrics, Chem. Dep..
i am so thankful and appreciative for your openness and ability to shed light on what is imho ignorance of mi for most ppl .

yes i think some ppl are mean, hateful and lack compassion in general about other illness too not just about mi.

mostly i think mi scares ppl b/c its difficult to understand what goes on and why. also we use the word crazy so liberally that when it is in jest/joking it isn't so threatening but most ppl can't cope w/the idea of not being in control especially of the mind

hi daye -

sometimes looking at someone "so far gone" helps us to be in denial that we, or someone we love, may also have a problem. i know that i would often say, "well, i am not that bad..." until i was pretty bad. even though now 3 of us in the family are diagnosed - we still all instinctively stick our heads in the sand when symptoms start creeping up again.

i want to mention too that for me, alcohol really greased the wheels, so to speak. we sometimes can use alcohol or other drugs to medicate the symptoms; but only for so long.

thanks for your contributions to this thread!

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Specializes in Acute Care Psych, DNP Student.

If Andrea Yates isn't out of her mind, then who is?

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hi daye -

sometimes looking at someone "so far gone" helps us to be in denial that we, or someone we love, may also have a problem. i know that i would often say, "well, i am not that bad..." until i was pretty bad. even though now 3 of us in the family are diagnosed - we still all instinctively stick our heads in the sand when symptoms start creeping up again.

i want to mention too that for me, alcohol really greased the wheels, so to speak. we sometimes can use alcohol or other drugs to medicate the symptoms; but only for so long.

thanks for your contributions to this thread!

it is all relative isn't it, (no pun intended) ;) i mean everyone has a level of insanity and denial and for me especially in the face of fear, afraid of losing it or the dependency thing.

it reminds me of mary englebert where she say's something to the effect of "oh just snap out of it" like it can be turned off and on like that.

if i drank at all i would be an alcoholic b/c i don't have what it takes to stop at one drink, it runs in my family...bad...on both sides and far back in history.

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while this case was a clear tragedy, especially for the children, there were so many warning signs, and unfortunately no one, not even those children's father, stood between her and her actions. andrea had been hospitalized in the past, was clearly delusional at the time, and was off of her very serious psychiatric medications.

woulda, coulda, shoulda....sometimes there are reds flags flying everywhere, you do all the right things, but you are just utterly and completely powerless to do a damn thing about it. see this with young people that you know are just absolutely crazy...you give them meds, do the therapy, and they still end up doing horrible things and cutting people up, etc. i believe in my heart of hearts that despite all the good mental health providers that are working their tails off, that texas has about the worst mental health care system in the entire country. its prioritzed somewhere under road construction i believe, so our precious suv's have a nice road to drive on. i live and work here and this is my opinion.

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Specializes in Alzheimer's, Geriatrics, Chem. Dep..
It reminds me of Mary Englebert where she say's something to the effect of "Oh Just Snap Out Of It" like it can be turned off and on like that.

Who? lol - clueless here...

It has taken me about 20 years to teach my dad enough so he doesn't almost enrage me in his ignorance (snap out of it, why don't you just, you really should, if you would only ... etc...)

Ok, enrage is a strong word, but for me to have "trained him", then things are pretty good, then a brother gets sick, so we go thru it again. He seems to get it aGAIN, then ANOTHER brother, hwee boy... hopefully no more siblings - we are all outta love if you know what I'm saying, "bless his heart" as they say in the south...

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Specializes in Alzheimer's, Geriatrics, Chem. Dep..
Its prioritzed somewhere under road construction I believe, so our precious SUV's have a nice road to drive on. I live and work here and this is my opinion.

Zoiks... :uhoh3:

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