In 2001, the nation was shocked into questioning the systems in which help the mentally ill. On June 20th, seemly picture perfect housewife, Andrea Yates, drowned her five children in the bathtub. Rusty Yates, Andrea’s husband, left for his job prior to his mother being able to arrive to the Yates household to help oversee Andrea and her children. For several years prior, after her first child, Andrea had come down with postpartum depression. With each and every pregnancy, it became far worse until she had develop postpartum psychosis. Although rare but with her genetically being prone to it and with having kids one after another without heeding the advice of her doctor, she suffered psychotic breakdown far worse than her previous breakdowns. Led to the tragedy of June 20th and the nation questioning what it really means to assist those with mental sickness. All this started with media, exposing Andrea’s mental issues to the limelight and people starting to question postpartum depression and psychosis can really affect a mother’s mentality. …show more content…
As Suzy Spencer, a reporter following the case and author of the book Breaking Point, pointed out that many of the people she interviewed said “This could never happen in my family. My wife would never do that.” Thus during the first trial, although no one disputed Andrea as being sane in the time of the murder, the court dismissed her claims of madness. They sentenced her to life in prison in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice with the qualification for parole in forty years. However this decision led to the public and the media to question how can mental illness affect a person’s judgement and how mental illness should be