Mrs. Andrea Yates Case Study

Mrs. Andrea Yates past life showed that she has had a history of mental illness. Mrs. Andrea Yates had been brought to the hospital many times for strings of mental cases that she had received treatment for because she had harsh depression and the depression came due to psychosis. One time when Yates was in the hospital, she was described as an intensely psychotic woman. Yates has tried many times to commit suicide; for instance one time she tried to overdose by using antidepressants and even after that did not work she attempted to murder herself by stabbing herself. Yates has been through unfavorable paranoia. “For instance, she was of the belief that there were video cameras that were placed everywhere in the house to track what she was …show more content…
The lawyer that stood to defend Yates described her as one of insanity as she had no control of her mental self when she committed the crime. “Andrea Yates had undergone intense medication that would have messed her mental self. The several doctors that she had been through gave her strong medication that rendered her body weak” (Denno, 2003). This gave her hallucinations, depressions among other attributes of a mental ill person. In addition to this, she was going through intense pressure from her family; her husband wanted to get another child against the recommendation of her doctor, while her father had passed away. This broke her down mentally and with the religious aspect in play, she sought to abide to her region and save her …show more content…
According to Resnick, “the irony that most of the laws in the United States describes law as acquired from the British that have a much improved system of law” (Resnick, 2007). The American law used this law in the ruling of the case on Andrea Yates. She was later directed to go for medical attendance. The insanity ruling was one that was valid as Andrea Yates had been through physical and emotional pressure that would have affected her mental ability. It is not uncommon for mother to be faced with such cases. Her case was one of psychotic; she was depressed, hallucinated and faced religious pressure.
Over the years scientists and doctors struggled to find a link between a mental illness and a criminal behavior. In many States in our country lawmakers began to recognize many factors, which play a big role in how individuals control their reasoning ability and behavior. Moreover, many states countrywide have changed its laws accordingly to newly discovered theories. Unfortunately, today Texan unchanged laws still punish sick people instead of treating them and learning to prevent future crimes. The society should already accept that mentally ill can be insane and can commit