Now as a major in the world of psychology I am constantly learning about new psychological treatments, and inventions that are steadily changing everyday life. This nonstop progression in the psychology field with new studies always being released and experiments in their midst keeps me truly enjoying my pursuit for my psychology degree. What originally sparked my interest in psychology though was the Andrea Yates story. Yates suffered from what many believe was severe post partum depression. On June 20th 2001 Andrea called each of her five children, Noah, John, Paul, Luke and Mary, into the bathroom one by one and drowned them all in the bathtub. Noah was seven, John was five, Paul was three, Luke was two, and Mary was six months. Yates didn't have a history of abusing her children or any mental illness. No one who knew Andrea would have guessed she would ever do something this tragic. After the drowning Yates callled the local police and calmly told them what she had done. Then she called her husband at work, told him something very awful had happened with the children and to come home.
The Yates family lived in Houston, Texas. Houston is my hometown and I remember the release of this shocking story vividly and it seemed as though every Houstonian took a side. People spoke out in favor of Andrea, explaining that she was extremely sick and was turned away when she tried to get help. Others screamed for the death penalty and had no mercy. I was stunned. I just couldn't understand how anyone could ever do such a thing and as I watched Yates on the news she seemed sane. I wanted to get into her mind and figure out what she was thinking. What was her motive? I watched every news story and read every article I could get my hands on. The Yates story gave post partum depression a whole new connotation. Many people who didn't believe in it started to realize it is a real, serious, and very sad disease. Others who did believe in post partum depression suddenly threw it out the window, thinking of it as merely an excuse.
Yates was tried for filicide of three of her children. In 2002 she was convicted guilty and sentenced to life in prison. In 2006 Yates' case was taken to the Texas 1st court appeals where her conviction was reversed and she was deemed not guilty by reason of insanity. Yates' lawyers decided Andrea should stay in the prison psychiatric ward she was already in because getting her healthy again was the most important thing. CNN Report
In general, my enthusiasm for psychology stemmed from my interests in childhood development and depression. Both puzzled me and seemed to entail so many unanswered questions. It has been recently that I have realized the two topics some what in combination really attract my attention. For example, family violence, behavior problems of children, infant development, and principles of condition and learning are all courses I am either currently taking or will be taking here at UT.
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