The death penalty is the most severe punishment awarded to an individual
             who has abruptly ended the life of another human being. Recently five
             innocent children died at the hands of a mother who was declared mentally
             unstable. Andrea Yates was not in control of her own actions when she took
             the lives of her children, therefore Andrea did not deserve the death
             Mental illness is a "state of mind or feeling or spirit" and is closely related to depression. Depression is a suppressed or low feeling. Andrea Yates suffered from a number of mental disorders which increased the state of severe "out of control" emotions. In her young years she was studious, high achiever, and very caring even to the point of becoming a registered nurse. Not being able to full fill that desire to nuture her sensitivity to the feelings of helping others added to the mental state of depression. Added to that was the death of her father which often times will "push down" an individual. Andrea was robbed of her spirit of life and body of energy with this helpless feeling of depression.
             Meanwhile while desperately trying to overcome the state of depression Andrea sought medical help and began taking anti depressant drugs. These drugs do worse damage to an already depressed person. Prozac and Zoloft are so closely related that they can be viewed as the same drug. Prozac can worsen the depression in patients. Andrea Yates was taking Zoloft and the possibility the medication added to the depression driving her further into a mental unstable condition such as psychosis. Added to the fact that during this time she was pregnant and nursing her babies as well. Both of these factors cause post partum depression.
             It is clear that Andrea Yates never had time to recover from post partum depression before another pregnancy occurred and combined with the anti depressant drugs she lived in continual depression. Pr
             ...