Are You There Alone?: The Unspeakable Crime of Andrea Yates

When I first heard about The Yates case my first thought was Hang Her High because I have been reading true crime books for 20 + years and the most horrifying ones I've read are the ones about mothers who kill their children for selfish reasons, i.e., to have a relationship with a new boyfriend without the interference of her children from her previous boyfriend or husband, for insurance money, to have more time to go out and pursue a social life or to drink or use drugs or to gain sympathy from family members or the medical profession. The women who murder their own flesh and blood for those reasons should all be tortured to death, in my opinion but Andrea Yates is very very different from them. Before she became severely mentally ill Andrea Yates devoted her entire life to her children and husband, she had a stable marriage to the only man in her life and the father of all of her children, she didn't insure the children, she didn't care about her social life, drinking or drugs and didn't care about sympathy, I believe that Andrea Yates' illness and not Andrea Yates herself are responsible for the deaths of Noah, John, Paul, Luke and Mary Yates. This case was the first widely publicized case where postpartum psychosis was an issue. I have been diagnosed as depressed since age 9, diagnosed as bipolar since age 14 and I have tried to kill myself 4 times. Not since 1999, I'm happy to say and I've never been psychotic but I have been in psychiatric hospitals with people who were. Until you have seen them you will not be able to comprehend just how sick they are and if it's obvious to a layperson like me it should be crystal clear to a psychiatrist. Days before 6/20/01, the day Andrea Yates drowned her 5 children to death, her psychiatrist took her off all of her antipsychotic medication and left her on only 2 antidepressants. The 2 meds she was on at that time were nicknamed "rocket fuel" by psych patients due to their tendancy to produce such side effects as hypomanic phases, uncommon strength, insomnia, anorexia, dry mouth and constipation. Well I have never been psychotic as a bipolar I regularly experience manic phases and if Andrea Yates was experiencing a combination of a psychotic break and a manic phase then she wouldn't have understood that her delusions weren't reality and she would have been DRIVEN to accomplish her goals, tragically her goal in this case was to take the lives of her children while they were young and innocent so that they could go up to heaven and enjoy eternity in the kingdom of heaven rather than allow them to continue living so that the devil (who Mrs. Yates believed was around due to the fact that she could "feel his presence") could corrupt them so that they would eventually have to suffer and burn in hell. To anyone sane and lucid this is insane, but she believed it and with no antipsychotics to help her mindset and sedate her unfortunately her delusions got the better of her. Every day she has to think about how she killed her 5 children. Neither life in prison or execution could possibly be worse than that

ARE YOU THERE ALONE by investigative reporter, Suzanne O'Malley, is a well-written, comprehensive look at the Andrea Yates case.I remember when Yates murdered her 5 children but did not read this book until 14 years later. So the facts of the case were mostly unknown to me. Therefore, I found the book to be fascinating and well-paced given the breadth of the detail provided.It is heartbreaking to recognize that this tragedy could perhaps have been avoided if only Yates had been diagnosed accurately sooner. She ends up being Bipolar I (which often gets misdiagnosed when manic phases don't present as extreme highs) instead of having Major Depression with psychotic features or Schizophrenia. So antidepressants without a mood stabiler could have exascerbated her condition throughout initial treatment. It ends up that lithium has served to better stabilize her condition-but sadly not until it was too late for the Yates children.Therefore, this is a very candid look at mental illness and treatment, noting all providers are not created equal. Neither are mental health facilities, as Yates is mostly treated at a hospital specializing in chemical depenency. For goodness sake, in addition to carelesss diagnosing Yates is daily sent to chemical dependency group sessions and aftercare. This for a woman who already kept getting off her meds.In addition, there's a lot of food for thought given with regard to the mental illness issues vs. knowing right from wrong at the time of the crime as a result of Yate's insanity defense.Unfortunately, the crazy religious teachings of the Woronieckis are thrown into the mix, which served to feed Yates delusions about salvation and saving her children. In addition the vagabond living conditions the Yates attempt to emulate from the Woronieckis heaps stress on an already volatile situation. So this was a disaster on many levels.ARE YOU THERE ALONE ends up being a cautionary tale about not only mental illness and the managed care system but also spiritual abuse. Both issues beg a person to use their gut instincts and change direction if things don't feel right.Finally, there are small issues I don't like about this book. The way the material is structured seems a little awkward and/or confusing at times. However, I overlook it due to the breadth of material included.In addition, quotes by Andrea Yates are randomly interspersed throughout with no direct connection to what's being discussed. Plus the comments don't give any additional insight into Yates, as there's plenty of direct quotes already included. So that's why I give this book four stars instead of five.

This was a very hard book to read. So sad, so intense and so disturbing. Reading about Yates' mental health problems, what she was going though and her thought process was emotionally draining to read, I do feel I gained some insight to mental health conditions and drugs used however I feel her therapists are kind of to blame for not looking after her properly.A truly shocking read.x

The story was very good.The quality of the book though was more messy, more damaged and really bad yellow pages more than what condition it was described to be in within the sellers notes. VERY disappointed with the condition. It did take away from my readingbexperience

Totally gripping book, very in detail about her mental breakdowns. The style the author writes in is very blunt and honest. Condition was fine for a second hand book.

A detailed account of this tragic case, and an object lesson in taking account of severe mental illness. I would certainly recommend this title.

Perfect condition!