Andrea Yates found not guilty

JRKmommy

Tue, Aug 01 2006, 6:01 pm

Her actions were horrible and tragic - no one would disagree with that.

However, there does seem to be a good deal of evidence that she was psychotic - basically, she knew that she was killing the children but had a delusional belief that made her think that this was a good thing to do because she was saving them from Satan. Post-partum psychosis is different from, and much more rare, than post-partum depression. As well, it seems as though anger wasn't really a factor in what she did.

I doubt any child protection agency would allow someone with an episode like that in their past to parent. However, I have seen agencies allow parents with mental illness, and episodes that weren't as severe as this, to parent children within strict conditions.

I do think that an inquest into the role of the health care system, and possibly her church as well, would be in order.