A Mother’s Madness
The story of Andrea Yates is not new in the ears of most Americans. Yates is known for the tragic murder of her five children by drowning them in a bathtub. Watching the story of “A Mother’s Madness” reveals the gory details of Andrea Yates’ incident. Andrea Yates is said to have drowned her children to death, one after the other after she is left in the house to take care of the children. Andrea’s husband is aware that Andrea could be having a mental problem but does not suspect that Andrea could go anywhere close to murdering the children. The case is unexpectedly revealed to the police by Andrea Yates after she calls the police to report that she has killed her children. Andrea Yates’ story appears to be a case that needs a psychological address because the behavior of Andrea appears to be abnormal and related to her psychology.
The case of Andrea Yates appears to be caused by the lack of mental stability. Although the clinic results may have proved Andrea to have been sane at the time of the instance, several other mental disorders could have been involved (Porter, 2017). First, Andrea had been diagnosed with postpartum psychosis, and thus the claim of mental insanity could not be easily ignored. Additionally, Andrea had been involved in a religious group that appeared to be brainwashing her to forget her real responsibility as a parent. The interaction with her new religion appears to be the reason that Andrea and her family move out of their home to stay in a bus. Also, Andrea believes that a mother should be responsible for the destiny of her children and that the devil would mislead children if their mothers did not bring them carefully.
Psychological perspectives give light to cases such the Andrea’s case. One of the psychological approaches that can be used to shed light in the Andrea’ case is the behavioral perspective. An individual’s actions tend to be associated with their body functionalities, and the mind and brain play a crucial role. When an individual’s mind is disturbed or malfunctioning, the chances of irresponsible behaviors by the individual are always high. However, environment plays the largest part in affecting the behavior change in an individual. Andrea Yates had shown several cases of mental malfunctions, and thus the tragic event may well be associated with her mental condition.
Additionally, the fact that Andrea did not show remorse after committing the murders could be a sign that Andrea was compelled by her mental condition into believing that the decision to murder her children was right. Also, the previous cases of mood changes and nerve failures before the murder incident may mean that decision to kill the children had been preceded by several factors that brought Andrea into making the final decision. Generally, an individual with mental problems will have difficulties while giving priority to issues.
The behavioral approach is concerned with how the environment around an individual and the response obtained from the individual. A psychologist views behavioral approach in two perspectives as classical and operant conditioning (Meichenbaum, 2017). The perspective with which a psychologist views the case in hand depends on how a certain individual is affected by the environment. For example, an individual may learn some behaviors by being associated with a certain environment while another individual may turn to a certain behavior due to the consequences of being in a certain environment. Andrea Yates associated herself with a religious sect that appears to have brainwashed her into making dangerous choices. The religious beliefs that Yates is introduced to define a mother’s responsibility to ensure that her children choose the right path with God. Andrea Yates appears afraid of the devil, and the fear can be associated with the teaching that she has received from her religion that the devil is evil and that children should not be allowed to take a path that leads them to the devil.
Moreover, the environment within which Andrea Yates and her family moved to after association with the religion could have played a role in affecting Andrea Yates’ mental condition. Andrea Yates and her family are said to have been living in a bus despite being in a position to buy a decent house (Denno, 2017). Religion had brainwashed Andrea Yates into believing that worldly possessions were not necessary for a godly life. Besides, the association of Andrea Yates with the religion could have contributed to a poor relationship between Andrea Yates’ family and other people who would have helped Andrea Yates to deal with the mental condition. Therefore, Andrea Yates was in a crisis due to the environment that she was living in and the decision to murder her children could have emanated from the inability to differentiate between right and wrong. The crisis that led to the decision by Andrea Yates was whether to let the children grow up and risk losing them to the devil or sacrifice her happiness by killing them so that God could accept them before they started diverting from God’s way as defined by religion.
The use of the behavioral approach in Andrea Yates’ case does not allow for the possibility of free will. The behavioral approach stands on the basis that each action by an individual has to be caused by an external force and environment, in this case, is responsible. Standing by the claim that Andrea Yates willingly murdered her children may imply that some human beings lack humanity, a claim that is not true. Also, Andrea Yates appeared to have been helpless because the fact that she informed the police of the murder meant that she knew killing the children was not the right thing to do. The decision to kill the children could have meant that Andrea Yates was compelled by an unknown force to make the decision. The force that led to such a decision was suspected to be a mental disorder hence the claim by Andrea Yates’ lawyer that Andrea Yates was clinically insane. As a psychologist, the position on Andrea Yates should be treated as murder for the sake of upholding justice for the children although the court may pardon Andrea Yates based on insanity.
In sum, Andrea Yates’ story appears to be a case that needs a psychological address because the behavior of Andrea appears to be abnormal and related to her psychology. One of the psychological approaches that can be used to shed light in the Andrea’ case is the behavioral perspective. The behavioral approach is concerned with how the environment around an individual and the response obtained from the individual. The behavioral approach stands on the basis that each action by an individual has to be caused by an external force and environment, in this case, is responsible.
References
Denno, D. W. (2017). Andrea Yates: A Continuing Story About Insanity. The Insanity Defense: Multidisciplinary Views on Its History, Trends, and Controversies, 367-416.
Meichenbaum, D. (2017). Teaching thinking: A cognitive behavioral perspective. In The Evolution of Cognitive Behavior Therapy (pp. 85-104). Routledge.
Porter, N. T. (2017). From Monstrous to Miraculous: Violent Mothers and Daughters at Home on Stage. In Violent Women in Contemporary Theatres (pp. 125-172). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.