Background and charges
Andres Yates who was born in Houston on the 2nd of July 1964 studied and graduated in 1982 from Milby High School. She was an official in the National Honor Society and a captain of the swimming team. She attended a pre-nursing program for two years at Houston University and had her official graduation from the school of nursing from the University of Texas in 1986. Between 1986 and 1994, she was a registered nurse and worked at the University of Texas in Anderson Cancer Center. Andrea Yates met her husband at the age of 25 in Houston at their complex apartment. They got married in 1993 on the 17th day of April. The couple spent most of their lifetime in prayers and religious work. Andrea had five kids within their first 8 years of marriage; she had a girl and four boys. Her second pregnancy forced her to stop swimming and jogging and some of her friends mentioned that she was becoming reclusive.
Andrea’s living conditions became worse when she gave birth to Luke, her second last born. Her insanity surfaced, this made Andrea witness hallucinations and failed therapy that was accorded to her by her doctors. Several charges against her rose eventually due to this psychotic nature, she was found guilty of capital murder, she also tried to commit suicide by putting a sharp knife on her neck and pleading to be left alone to die and in many instances refused to feed her children.
Special needs offender categories
Andrea Yates had various special needs offender categories; she actually needed counseling which she got most of it from the Methodist Hospital. Andrea also needed psychiatrist attention and psychotic therapy; she was admitted and treated at the Methodist Hospital where she was diagnosed with a depressive disorder. Andrea was warned against having more kids as that would increase her risk of showing several psychotic behaviors, she was treated with the antipsychotic drug when she was hospitalized again which improved her condition.
Problems that made Andrea an offender
In my opinion, Andrea Yates had problems that might have led her to being an offender, the pregnancy and the number of children she had within the few years of marriage was a major cause. Taking care and feeding children can be a challenge to most mothers especially where they are many and food is also not available. Another problem was the living conditions that Andrea had; she only lived on a bus which primarily led to her first psychotic behavior episode. In fact, she saw staying on a bus as her source of failure. In the article, we are informed that when Rusty bought a home in a nice neighborhood, Andrea’s condition improved, which was an indication that she needed a home.
The best course of treatment
According to the living conditions that Andrea had, she became psychotic. This needed an effective course of treatment to prevent her from becoming a recidivist. In my opinion, I think Andrea needed a good home with satisfying living conditions, five children within eight years of marriage was too much for her, therefore if they had made a decision on family planning measures, these problems might not have occurred. After all the challenges that she had, I think Andrea also needed attention from her husband. Besides treatment from her doctor, Rusty was supposed to be close to her especially during the period she was showing psychotic behavior. Constant psychotic therapy and counseling would also be an effective course of treatment.