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 Acute Care Psych, DNP Student.
I believe Andrea Yates truly is psychotic.

However, society must be protected from people like her. Andrea Yates should spend the rest of her life in a secure setting where she is supervised at all times, made to take her medications, and given psychotherapy; perhaps in this manner she can someday become a contributing member of the human race once again. Many people have done so, even though they were never again free to walk the streets and pose a danger to others; with her nursing background, she could serve as a resource for health information and thus give something back to the world, which would benefit not only her fellow patients but help her to feel better about herself in the long run.

Yes, the mother (and grandmother) in me would like nothing more than to see Andrea thrown so far back in prison they'd have to pipe light in, or strapped to a gurney and given the needle. I can't even bear to think of her little ones, or what they must have felt as the mother they trusted forced their heads under the water and held them there while they fought for their lives. But I also know that psychosis IS a medical illness, and the hell Andrea has already gone through---and will suffer every day of the rest of her life---must surely be a punishment fitting her crime. Let her remain in a secure mental institution, where she can receive treatment and try to make sense of what happened, so that some good can come from the 40 or so years left to her.

JMHO.

I agree completely. If Andrea Yates isn't insane, then who is? The woman hallucinated. She thought the cartoon characters in the TV were telling her to do things. She was sure she had '666' burned on her scalp. When she was examined after the murders her scalp was bloody from her efforts of trying to get it off her head. Earlier, she was in a catatonic state for 10 days. At times she would chew on her fingers. The family preacher (nutjob himself) sent a videotape sermon that I have seen explaining that children who are raised badly go to hell (literally) and it's better if they die before the age of accountability. The preacher then danced around in a "satan" mask to illustrate his point. Andrea believed she was possessed by Satan. It appears that she believed she was doing the moral and right thing by killing her children to save them from an eternity in hell.

Her downfall came when a new psychiatrist took her off of the Haldol which controlled her psychosis and jacked her up on a massive dose of Effexor. Even her husband pleaded with the new psychiatrist to put her back on the Haldol.

I think some posters here just don't understand that psychosis is a state where someone literally believes their delusions and hallucinations. They are not able to guage what is wrong with them and exercise personal responsibility. The brain is an organ like any other. I'd say that psychosis and alzheimers are probably the most severe diseases the brain can experience. We tend to understand disease states like an MI or liver failure. The brain does it too. And it's related to dopamine with psychosis.

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I truly think this woamn was psychotic and may still be at times. I think her "support system" of family, husband,psychiatrist, and clergy were completely unsupportive in their beliefs to keep reproducing and blatantly ignore medical facts. The fact that this woman must live w/ the fact that her five innocent children died at her hand is a greater punishment than Satan himself could dole out. All of the signs were there and this "support system" of hers chose to ignore them. There isn't one of us who would want to be in her shoes. Postpartum psychosis is a very rare and extremely serious disorder. It IS a mental disorder. It isn't some concocted excuse for a woamn who didn't want to be bothered w/ her kids. Susan Smith was mentioned. She wanted a better boyfriend and more status in life and saw her kids as an obstacle to a selfish desire, unlike Yates who had a delusional disorder in which she had to kill her kids as part of her psychosis. There are a lot of nurses w/ mental illnesses. I don't know if it is more prevalent among our population than in general. I do know a lot of nurses w/ problems like depression and anxiety who have channelled that into a great desire to help others. I would think, Andrea Yates too had a pre-existing mental illness. What she did is HORRIBLE!!! If you look at her support system, she is not the only one culpable for what happened. If others had acted, the situation might have been prevented. I wish the legal system could make these people share responsibility, because morally they certainly do. Andrea Yates should certainly NEVER be able to have any more children, but neither should her husband. He really fell short in his responsibility to the kids. As for her clergy, he like Tom Cruise and other nut-jobs who deny the facts about mental illness, should have to answer for themselves, as they spout off their kooky beliefs, and try to infuence what other people do.

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two out of three mothers undergo the "baby blues," a feeling of let down after the emotional experience of childbirth. serious postpartum depression affects 10 percent to 20 percent of women after they give birth, and 1 out of 1000 moms will experience postpartum psychosis (postpartum.net/).

most mothers have no idea why they feel like this and are frightened about what’s happening to them (

postpartum.net/).

furthermore, “a study of postnatal depressed women showed that over 90% realized something was wrong, however less than 20% reported their symptoms to a health care provider…only 20% with the disorder receive mental health treatment. the remaining individuals are either undiagnosed, misdiagnosed, or seek no medical assistance

(kruckman & smith, 1998).”

edited because small font made post impossible to read...

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Specializes in Acute Care Psych, DNP Student.

You know, it's one thing to read the definition of psychosis in a textbook. I don't think it really sinks in until you sit with someone experiencing it, and hear their delusions and see them respond to or try to hide auditory or visual hallucinations. It is actually quite fascinating. Their delusions and/or hallucinations are just as real to them as we all perceive our reality to be.

I cannot describe how fascinating and heart breaking it was for me to watch my father in a psychotic state once when he took too much of a medication. He was convinced that it was 1970 (this was in 1999) and that he had another name. He was convinced that Johnson was president. As his psychosis worsened, his response to all questions was "red" or "blue" or "green" or "yellow". I had him hospitalized immediately. Lucky for him, he was in a safe place and didn't harm anyone. I find it laughable that some think someone like this is responisible for their actions during a psychotic state. It is the resonsibility of those around the psychotic person to protect the person and others, similar to how we protect a person having a seizure from harm.

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You know, it's one thing to read the definition of psychosis in a textbook. I don't think it really sinks in until you sit with someone experiencing it, and hear their delusions and see them respond to or try to hide auditory or visual hallucinations. It is actually quite fascinating. Their delusions and/or hallucinations are just as real to them as we all perceive our reality to be.

I cannot describe how fascinating and heart breaking it was for me to watch my father in a psychotic state once when he took too much of a medication. He was convinced that it was 1970 (this was in 1999) and that he had another name. He was convinced that Johnson was president. As his psychosis worsened, his response to all questions was "red" or "blue" or "green" or "yellow". I had him hospitalized immediately. Lucky for him, he was in a safe place and didn't harm anyone. I find it laughable that some think someone like this is responisible for their actions during a psychotic state. It is the resonsibility of those around the psychotic person to protect the person and others, similar to how we protect a person having a seizure from harm.

Multicollinarity, you hit the nail on the head. This is why I love my job, despite the very real risks. The human mind is awe-inspiring. At the same time, they are not just "the schizophrenic in room 2", but real, living, breathing human beings that struggle with their health, real lives and relationships outside the hospital. God help those that forget that while I'm working.

I wish both your father and your family the very best in his treatment process. :icon_hug:

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Specializes in Acute Care Psych, DNP Student.
Multicollinarity, you hit the nail on the head. This is why I love my job, despite the very real risks. The human mind is awe-inspiring. At the same time, they are not just "the schizophrenic in room 2", but real, living, breathing human beings that struggle with their health, real lives and relationships outside the hospital. God help those that forget that while I'm working.

I wish both your father and your family the very best in his treatment process. :icon_hug:

It was a one-time psychosis event caused by taking too much of a medication. I think the fact that he has severe Parkinson's with depression *possibly* made his brain more vulnerable to psychosis. Who knows.

I don't think I would understand psychosis if I didn't experience this with my father. Thank god he doesn't have an ongoing psychosis problem - I don't know how families cope with that. I just don't.

While psychosis is rare - I think some posters here need to understand that it is by the grace of happenstance that they themselves don't have an episode of psychosis. It can happen to anyone who takes prednisone, for exampe.

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Steroids have a nasty way of inducing psychosis. Had an MS pt once that was so severe in the progression of his disease that he began receiving steroids. Ended up on the unit about 2 days later.

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It was a one-time psychosis event caused by taking too much of a medication. I think the fact that he has severe Parkinson's with depression *possibly* made his brain more vulnerable to psychosis. Who knows.

I believe you are correct. I don't have any evidence-based statistics off hand to support it, but I see this happen very often with Alzheimers/Parkinson's pts when they are getting meds adjusted.

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Specializes in Acute Care Psych, DNP Student.
That's not the message at all. She wasn't simply "mentally ill" or "sick" (in quotation marks as though it's something that she made up). She was psychotic. I hold most people responsible for their actions, but there are exceptions.

I resent the insinuation that if you believe psychotics (who are by definition out of touch with reality) are not as responsible as rational people, then you don't care about the victims of their actions. That's completely untrue. It's possible to care about those children and feel terrible for their suffering without wanting their mother's head. They are two separate issues.

Thank you for stating this so well, the two separate issues.

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Was John Hinckley truely psychotic when he shot President Reagan? Apparently the jury thought so. He is still receiving the help that he needs. Why can't Andrea Yates receive the same type of treatment? She killed her childern, John Hinckley almost killed the president. Personally I don't see either one of these people ever seeing freedom again. Sure John Hickley's parents feel that he needs to be released but I see him becoming very dead should that happen. Someone will kill him or he will do the job himself. Both are tragedies.

As far as psychosis is concerned, I've been there. I had no idea what I was doing nor did I care. I still don't remember the entire thing that got me involuntarily committed to the state hospital for two months. I was told that it involved the threatening of death to a psych nurse practicioner, a former thief of a co-worker, as well as myself. I was also fourteen foot tall and bullet proof. Things were quite fast fast and they were getting faster. I'm on bipolar medications and doing quite well. Andrea Yates being a nurse has nothing to do with her mental illness. It is something that happens to good as well as bad people. So don't judge unless you've been there.

Fuzzy

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You know, it's one thing to read the definition of psychosis in a textbook. I don't think it really sinks in until you sit with someone experiencing it, and hear their delusions and see them respond to or try to hide auditory or visual hallucinations. It is actually quite fascinating. Their delusions and/or hallucinations are just as real to them as we all perceive our reality to be.

I cannot describe how fascinating and heart breaking it was for me to watch my father in a psychotic state once when he took too much of a medication. He was convinced that it was 1970 (this was in 1999) and that he had another name. He was convinced that Johnson was president. As his psychosis worsened, his response to all questions was "red" or "blue" or "green" or "yellow". I had him hospitalized immediately. Lucky for him, he was in a safe place and didn't harm anyone. I find it laughable that some think someone like this is responisible for their actions during a psychotic state. It is the resonsibility of those around the psychotic person to protect the person and others, similar to how we protect a person having a seizure from harm.

My sister became psychotic after having steriods and epinephrine for a severe asthma attack w/ pneumonia.She was put in a psych hospital and was released the next day, when the effects of the meds wore off. She was also being tx'd for depression, so it was thought she had had a psychotic "break".

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

BIG HUGS for those who have "been there" or have family who have been mentally ill. And also for those nurses and others who care for them!

I have "been there", had family in that situation, and also have been "the nurse" in a dual diagnosis unit or taking care of people on the floor with those challenges. It's not easy, is it?

Thank you guys for being there when we needed you -

:thankya:

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