Andrea Yates Psychological Perspective

On June 20, 2001, a terrible tragedy occurred, as Andrea Yates drowned all five of her children in the bath. After drowning each child child, she picked them up, tucked them in her bed and called in her next victim until all 5 children were deceased. After she had successfully drowned each child, she calmly called her husband and notified local police that she was in need of an officer. As this case reached international news, many pondered what would make the mother of five do such an abysmal thing. Once the investigation began, it became acknowledged that Andrea Yates was influenced by several psychological perspectives and was not in her right mind when she committed the heinous crime.

Biological perspectives include factors such as our genes, hormones, chemical imbalances, and / or the presence of disease within the brain. Throughout the investigation, it was common knowledge that Andrea Yates had a history with mental illnesses. Yates was suffering from a condition known as postpartum psychosis, meaning that after the birth of a child, she became extremely depressed, and even recalls having hallucinations of murdering her newborn child. After attempting to commit suicide, her condition was treated with the clinical drug effector and the anti-psychotic Haldol. As Andrea appeared to

be making progress, her doctor removed her from the anti-psychotic, possibly sending her into the downward spiral.
Behavioral perfectives are those caused by reinforcing consequences that alter the way we commonly process social information.

Andrea Yates craved a quite household. With four young boys and a female infant, Andrea was constantly engulfed in noise. Also, the death of Andrea’s father had caused her to feel as if she was a terrible caregiver and she was responsible for his death. Andrea also felt that every time her children had behaved incorrectly she was at fault, fearing that she would hold her children back in life. Andrea had even attempted suicide twice because she felt that she was an incompetent mother to her children and felt that they would be more successful without

her.
The cognitive perspective can be described as the result of our thinking and mental processes. Andrea Yates thought she was a bad mother. She was fixated on the idea that there were TV camera’s located in her house recording her typical day. The more that she couldn’t control the children the more she felt as if she was a terrible mother. Andrea had even believed that she was possessed by Satan and that her characteristics were rubbing off on her children. When Yates decided to drown all five of her children, she was under the impression that she was saving them from the hellish world and that she had wronged them as a mother.
The psychodynamic perspective is behavior that is caused by tension and conflict that underlies conscious awareness. Think of an iceberg. While we can visibly see the tip of an iceberg, the majority of the chunk of ice is hidden underwater. Consciously, we do not not actually understand many factors that cause tension in our everyday lives, or the iceberg not visible under water. For example, Andrea deeply needed support from the people in her life. Because she had always been the “people pleaser,” she never formed the support she needed, as other relied on her strength when they were in times of need. Also, before Andrea and Rusty had children, Andrea was a successful oncologist nurse. After she gave birth to her first child, she gave up her job to stay at home with the children. While consciously she did agree to become a stay at home mom, Andrea was most likely conflicted subconsciously, as she endured tending the the children’s needs all day.
The sociocultural perspective can be described as behavior caused by the push and pull of social and cultural forces. Andrea was always viewed as the go-to-person when you were in a time of need. Instead of focusing on bettering herself, Andrea took on other people’s challenges, as she thought she could bring bliss to her life by helping others. When Andrea was at the height of her psychological illness, her father was ill with Alzheimer’s disease. Instead of getting the treatment she desperately needed, she tended to her fathers needs. After he had passed away, Andrea’s illness resurfaced, triggering her to fall back into her former psychological state. Also, Andrea was greatly influenced by religion. Mike Warnke, a Christian minister, was one of Andrea’s closest confidant. Warnke had convinced Andrea that she was at fault for her children’s faults and it was her responsibility to correct the incorrect behavior.