RELIGIOSITY COMMON AMONG MOTHERS WHO KILL CHILDREN

[Guest guest]

This title really misses the target. It's the drugs not the " chemical

imbalance " in the brain. And it certianly isn't religion that make people

kill their children.

http://tinyurl.com/5xup2

RELIGIOSITY COMMON AMONG

MOTHERS WHO KILL CHILDREN

DALLAS - Yates said Satan told her to drown her five children.

Deanna Laney said the Lord sent her signs to beat her three sons with

stones.

And the night before Dena Schlosser became the latest Texas mother to take

her child's life, she told her husband she wanted to give her children to

God. The suburban Dallas mother was charged with capital murder for severing

her 10-month-old baby's arms. Attorneys were expected to discuss her

competency in court Tuesday.

Women who kill their children commonly cite God, the devil and other

religious influences for their actions. Although the mothers are also often

found to be severely mentally ill or psychotic, the recurring theme of

religiosity begs the question: Is religion to blame?

Theologians, sociologists and psychiatrists generally say no. They say

religiosity is a common theme among psychotics because hallucinations and

delusions usually take familiar forms.

" Most of the people in nut houses are religious because most Americans are

religious, " said Rodney Stark, a social sciences professor at Baylor

University. " We know what causes schizophrenia and it isn't going to church.

It's biochemical. "

But some experts suggest mental illness is harder to detect and treat in

faiths more inclined to attribute odd behavior to Satan and trust prayer

over medicine.

" They're not seeing this as a mental illness. They're seeing it as the

person having demons, perhaps, or a sin problem or not being spiritually

fulfilled, " said Olson, a theology professor at Baylor's Truett

Seminary.

And, in some fundamentalist environments, symptoms of mental illness can

appear normal: Obsession over a religious leader can be interpreted as

religious fervor, and delusions can be interpreted as religious visions.

Schlosser's husband wasn't alarmed when she told him she wanted to give her

children to God, according to Texas' Child Protective Services. The agency

took temporary custody of the couple's other girls, ages 6 and 9, after the

baby was killed, and cited the father's failure to act after his wife's

warning.

The Schlossers attended the non-denominational Water of Life church, led by

Doyle son, a self-proclaimed prophet who teaches that women possess a

rebellious jezebel spirit and that the Ten Commandments don't apply to the

righteous.

Schlosser's parents believe son's teachings helped push her toward a

psychotic break, but son dismisses those claims, saying he had little

interaction with the Schlossers.

In Laney's case, the lifelong Pentecostal told her congregation in the East

Texas town of Tyler that the world was ending and God told her to get her

house in order. No one expressed concern, though psychiatrists later

determined Laney was psychotic at the time.

Laney used rocks to beat to death two young sons and severely maim her

toddler in 2003. She was acquitted by reason of insanity earlier this year.

Dr. Resnick, who testified in Laney's trial, said he was struck by

comments Laney's pastor made when asked about symptoms of mental illness.

" He indicated that, had some of these things come to his attention, he would

have referred her to a religious person, rather than to a psychiatrist, to

correct her religious perceptions, " Resnick said.

" If you're a hammer, things look like a nail. So if you're a religious

person, you tend to think of religion as the answer to the problem, " he

said.

Olson said that while religion doesn't cause mental illness, he believes

existing conditions can be inflamed by religious environments where leaders

demand absolute obedience and claim to speak for God.

People with schizophrenia, personality disorders and a host of other mental

disorders may be drawn such faiths for their structure, he said.

" This kind of culture, religious atmosphere, group dynamic can set up a

situation where that person is more likely to act out in aggressive ways

under tremendous pressure, " Olson said.

In a recent study of 39 Ohio and Michigan women - all acquitted by reason of

insanity in the deaths of their children since the 1970s - about 15 had

religious-themed delusions, said Dr. Hatters Friedman, a psychiatry

fellow at Case Western Reserve University.

Another study of 56 Michigan mothers referred for psychiatric evaluations

from 1974-1976 after killing their children found nearly a fourth of them

experienced religious delusions, said study co-author Dr. ,

an assistant professor at the University of Connecticut Health Center.

She said nearly all the women were Christian and many attended

fundamentalist churches, but cautioned against assumptions.

" What isn't clear is what's causing what, " she said. " Is the church causing

people to develop these feelings or are people with these feelings more

likely to gravitate toward a fundamentalist church? "

Yates, Laney and Schlosser all followed Christian fundamentalist teachings.

So did their husbands, but with less zeal than their wives.

Schlosser's parents said she became religious in the last several years,

reading the Bible and trying to convert them to the son's teachings.

Laney became much more devout before the killings, hearing God's voice and

waking early to study the Bible, according to trial testimony.

Yates, the Houston mother sentenced to life in prison, said she drowned her

children in 2001 to save them from eternal damnation. Before the killings,

she corresponded with a traveling preacher who taught that only the saved

could avoid hell's fires.

Resnick said religious delusions often convince mothers that they're saving

children from evil or proving their faith to God.

" If you think about why a parent would kill a child, since there's a natural

love and protective instinct, one would say it would have to be overcome

with a psychotic belief that they're doing what's in the child's best

interest, " he said.

©Tyler Morning Telegraph 2004

[Guest guest]

This title really misses the target. It's the drugs not the " chemical

imbalance " in the brain. And it certianly isn't religion that make people

kill their children.

http://tinyurl.com/5xup2

RELIGIOSITY COMMON AMONG

MOTHERS WHO KILL CHILDREN

DALLAS - Yates said Satan told her to drown her five children.

Deanna Laney said the Lord sent her signs to beat her three sons with

stones.

And the night before Dena Schlosser became the latest Texas mother to take

her child's life, she told her husband she wanted to give her children to

God. The suburban Dallas mother was charged with capital murder for severing

her 10-month-old baby's arms. Attorneys were expected to discuss her

competency in court Tuesday.

Women who kill their children commonly cite God, the devil and other

religious influences for their actions. Although the mothers are also often

found to be severely mentally ill or psychotic, the recurring theme of

religiosity begs the question: Is religion to blame?

Theologians, sociologists and psychiatrists generally say no. They say

religiosity is a common theme among psychotics because hallucinations and

delusions usually take familiar forms.

" Most of the people in nut houses are religious because most Americans are

religious, " said Rodney Stark, a social sciences professor at Baylor

University. " We know what causes schizophrenia and it isn't going to church.

It's biochemical. "

But some experts suggest mental illness is harder to detect and treat in

faiths more inclined to attribute odd behavior to Satan and trust prayer

over medicine.

" They're not seeing this as a mental illness. They're seeing it as the

person having demons, perhaps, or a sin problem or not being spiritually

fulfilled, " said Olson, a theology professor at Baylor's Truett

Seminary.

And, in some fundamentalist environments, symptoms of mental illness can

appear normal: Obsession over a religious leader can be interpreted as

religious fervor, and delusions can be interpreted as religious visions.

Schlosser's husband wasn't alarmed when she told him she wanted to give her

children to God, according to Texas' Child Protective Services. The agency

took temporary custody of the couple's other girls, ages 6 and 9, after the

baby was killed, and cited the father's failure to act after his wife's

warning.

The Schlossers attended the non-denominational Water of Life church, led by

Doyle son, a self-proclaimed prophet who teaches that women possess a

rebellious jezebel spirit and that the Ten Commandments don't apply to the

righteous.

Schlosser's parents believe son's teachings helped push her toward a

psychotic break, but son dismisses those claims, saying he had little

interaction with the Schlossers.

In Laney's case, the lifelong Pentecostal told her congregation in the East

Texas town of Tyler that the world was ending and God told her to get her

house in order. No one expressed concern, though psychiatrists later

determined Laney was psychotic at the time.

Laney used rocks to beat to death two young sons and severely maim her

toddler in 2003. She was acquitted by reason of insanity earlier this year.

Dr. Resnick, who testified in Laney's trial, said he was struck by

comments Laney's pastor made when asked about symptoms of mental illness.

" He indicated that, had some of these things come to his attention, he would

have referred her to a religious person, rather than to a psychiatrist, to

correct her religious perceptions, " Resnick said.

" If you're a hammer, things look like a nail. So if you're a religious

person, you tend to think of religion as the answer to the problem, " he

said.

Olson said that while religion doesn't cause mental illness, he believes

existing conditions can be inflamed by religious environments where leaders

demand absolute obedience and claim to speak for God.

People with schizophrenia, personality disorders and a host of other mental

disorders may be drawn such faiths for their structure, he said.

" This kind of culture, religious atmosphere, group dynamic can set up a

situation where that person is more likely to act out in aggressive ways

under tremendous pressure, " Olson said.

In a recent study of 39 Ohio and Michigan women - all acquitted by reason of

insanity in the deaths of their children since the 1970s - about 15 had

religious-themed delusions, said Dr. Hatters Friedman, a psychiatry

fellow at Case Western Reserve University.

Another study of 56 Michigan mothers referred for psychiatric evaluations

from 1974-1976 after killing their children found nearly a fourth of them

experienced religious delusions, said study co-author Dr. ,

an assistant professor at the University of Connecticut Health Center.

She said nearly all the women were Christian and many attended

fundamentalist churches, but cautioned against assumptions.

" What isn't clear is what's causing what, " she said. " Is the church causing

people to develop these feelings or are people with these feelings more

likely to gravitate toward a fundamentalist church? "

Yates, Laney and Schlosser all followed Christian fundamentalist teachings.

So did their husbands, but with less zeal than their wives.

Schlosser's parents said she became religious in the last several years,

reading the Bible and trying to convert them to the son's teachings.

Laney became much more devout before the killings, hearing God's voice and

waking early to study the Bible, according to trial testimony.

Yates, the Houston mother sentenced to life in prison, said she drowned her

children in 2001 to save them from eternal damnation. Before the killings,

she corresponded with a traveling preacher who taught that only the saved

could avoid hell's fires.

Resnick said religious delusions often convince mothers that they're saving

children from evil or proving their faith to God.

" If you think about why a parent would kill a child, since there's a natural

love and protective instinct, one would say it would have to be overcome

with a psychotic belief that they're doing what's in the child's best

interest, " he said.

©Tyler Morning Telegraph 2004

[Guest guest]

This title really misses the target. It's the drugs not the " chemical

imbalance " in the brain. And it certianly isn't religion that make people

kill their children.

http://tinyurl.com/5xup2

RELIGIOSITY COMMON AMONG

MOTHERS WHO KILL CHILDREN

DALLAS - Yates said Satan told her to drown her five children.

Deanna Laney said the Lord sent her signs to beat her three sons with

stones.

And the night before Dena Schlosser became the latest Texas mother to take

her child's life, she told her husband she wanted to give her children to

God. The suburban Dallas mother was charged with capital murder for severing

her 10-month-old baby's arms. Attorneys were expected to discuss her

competency in court Tuesday.

Women who kill their children commonly cite God, the devil and other

religious influences for their actions. Although the mothers are also often

found to be severely mentally ill or psychotic, the recurring theme of

religiosity begs the question: Is religion to blame?

Theologians, sociologists and psychiatrists generally say no. They say

religiosity is a common theme among psychotics because hallucinations and

delusions usually take familiar forms.

" Most of the people in nut houses are religious because most Americans are

religious, " said Rodney Stark, a social sciences professor at Baylor

University. " We know what causes schizophrenia and it isn't going to church.

It's biochemical. "

But some experts suggest mental illness is harder to detect and treat in

faiths more inclined to attribute odd behavior to Satan and trust prayer

over medicine.

" They're not seeing this as a mental illness. They're seeing it as the

person having demons, perhaps, or a sin problem or not being spiritually

fulfilled, " said Olson, a theology professor at Baylor's Truett

Seminary.

And, in some fundamentalist environments, symptoms of mental illness can

appear normal: Obsession over a religious leader can be interpreted as

religious fervor, and delusions can be interpreted as religious visions.

Schlosser's husband wasn't alarmed when she told him she wanted to give her

children to God, according to Texas' Child Protective Services. The agency

took temporary custody of the couple's other girls, ages 6 and 9, after the

baby was killed, and cited the father's failure to act after his wife's

warning.

The Schlossers attended the non-denominational Water of Life church, led by

Doyle son, a self-proclaimed prophet who teaches that women possess a

rebellious jezebel spirit and that the Ten Commandments don't apply to the

righteous.

Schlosser's parents believe son's teachings helped push her toward a

psychotic break, but son dismisses those claims, saying he had little

interaction with the Schlossers.

In Laney's case, the lifelong Pentecostal told her congregation in the East

Texas town of Tyler that the world was ending and God told her to get her

house in order. No one expressed concern, though psychiatrists later

determined Laney was psychotic at the time.

Laney used rocks to beat to death two young sons and severely maim her

toddler in 2003. She was acquitted by reason of insanity earlier this year.

Dr. Resnick, who testified in Laney's trial, said he was struck by

comments Laney's pastor made when asked about symptoms of mental illness.

" He indicated that, had some of these things come to his attention, he would

have referred her to a religious person, rather than to a psychiatrist, to

correct her religious perceptions, " Resnick said.

" If you're a hammer, things look like a nail. So if you're a religious

person, you tend to think of religion as the answer to the problem, " he

said.

Olson said that while religion doesn't cause mental illness, he believes

existing conditions can be inflamed by religious environments where leaders

demand absolute obedience and claim to speak for God.

People with schizophrenia, personality disorders and a host of other mental

disorders may be drawn such faiths for their structure, he said.

" This kind of culture, religious atmosphere, group dynamic can set up a

situation where that person is more likely to act out in aggressive ways

under tremendous pressure, " Olson said.

In a recent study of 39 Ohio and Michigan women - all acquitted by reason of

insanity in the deaths of their children since the 1970s - about 15 had

religious-themed delusions, said Dr. Hatters Friedman, a psychiatry

fellow at Case Western Reserve University.

Another study of 56 Michigan mothers referred for psychiatric evaluations

from 1974-1976 after killing their children found nearly a fourth of them

experienced religious delusions, said study co-author Dr. ,

an assistant professor at the University of Connecticut Health Center.

She said nearly all the women were Christian and many attended

fundamentalist churches, but cautioned against assumptions.

" What isn't clear is what's causing what, " she said. " Is the church causing

people to develop these feelings or are people with these feelings more

likely to gravitate toward a fundamentalist church? "

Yates, Laney and Schlosser all followed Christian fundamentalist teachings.

So did their husbands, but with less zeal than their wives.

Schlosser's parents said she became religious in the last several years,

reading the Bible and trying to convert them to the son's teachings.

Laney became much more devout before the killings, hearing God's voice and

waking early to study the Bible, according to trial testimony.

Yates, the Houston mother sentenced to life in prison, said she drowned her

children in 2001 to save them from eternal damnation. Before the killings,

she corresponded with a traveling preacher who taught that only the saved

could avoid hell's fires.

Resnick said religious delusions often convince mothers that they're saving

children from evil or proving their faith to God.

" If you think about why a parent would kill a child, since there's a natural

love and protective instinct, one would say it would have to be overcome

with a psychotic belief that they're doing what's in the child's best

interest, " he said.

©Tyler Morning Telegraph 2004

[Guest guest]

This title really misses the target. It's the drugs not the " chemical

imbalance " in the brain. And it certianly isn't religion that make people

kill their children.

http://tinyurl.com/5xup2

RELIGIOSITY COMMON AMONG

MOTHERS WHO KILL CHILDREN

DALLAS - Yates said Satan told her to drown her five children.

Deanna Laney said the Lord sent her signs to beat her three sons with

stones.

And the night before Dena Schlosser became the latest Texas mother to take

her child's life, she told her husband she wanted to give her children to

God. The suburban Dallas mother was charged with capital murder for severing

her 10-month-old baby's arms. Attorneys were expected to discuss her

competency in court Tuesday.

Women who kill their children commonly cite God, the devil and other

religious influences for their actions. Although the mothers are also often

found to be severely mentally ill or psychotic, the recurring theme of

religiosity begs the question: Is religion to blame?

Theologians, sociologists and psychiatrists generally say no. They say

religiosity is a common theme among psychotics because hallucinations and

delusions usually take familiar forms.

" Most of the people in nut houses are religious because most Americans are

religious, " said Rodney Stark, a social sciences professor at Baylor

University. " We know what causes schizophrenia and it isn't going to church.

It's biochemical. "

But some experts suggest mental illness is harder to detect and treat in

faiths more inclined to attribute odd behavior to Satan and trust prayer

over medicine.

" They're not seeing this as a mental illness. They're seeing it as the

person having demons, perhaps, or a sin problem or not being spiritually

fulfilled, " said Olson, a theology professor at Baylor's Truett

Seminary.

And, in some fundamentalist environments, symptoms of mental illness can

appear normal: Obsession over a religious leader can be interpreted as

religious fervor, and delusions can be interpreted as religious visions.

Schlosser's husband wasn't alarmed when she told him she wanted to give her

children to God, according to Texas' Child Protective Services. The agency

took temporary custody of the couple's other girls, ages 6 and 9, after the

baby was killed, and cited the father's failure to act after his wife's

warning.

The Schlossers attended the non-denominational Water of Life church, led by

Doyle son, a self-proclaimed prophet who teaches that women possess a

rebellious jezebel spirit and that the Ten Commandments don't apply to the

righteous.

Schlosser's parents believe son's teachings helped push her toward a

psychotic break, but son dismisses those claims, saying he had little

interaction with the Schlossers.

In Laney's case, the lifelong Pentecostal told her congregation in the East

Texas town of Tyler that the world was ending and God told her to get her

house in order. No one expressed concern, though psychiatrists later

determined Laney was psychotic at the time.

Laney used rocks to beat to death two young sons and severely maim her

toddler in 2003. She was acquitted by reason of insanity earlier this year.

Dr. Resnick, who testified in Laney's trial, said he was struck by

comments Laney's pastor made when asked about symptoms of mental illness.

" He indicated that, had some of these things come to his attention, he would

have referred her to a religious person, rather than to a psychiatrist, to

correct her religious perceptions, " Resnick said.

" If you're a hammer, things look like a nail. So if you're a religious

person, you tend to think of religion as the answer to the problem, " he

said.

Olson said that while religion doesn't cause mental illness, he believes

existing conditions can be inflamed by religious environments where leaders

demand absolute obedience and claim to speak for God.

People with schizophrenia, personality disorders and a host of other mental

disorders may be drawn such faiths for their structure, he said.

" This kind of culture, religious atmosphere, group dynamic can set up a

situation where that person is more likely to act out in aggressive ways

under tremendous pressure, " Olson said.

In a recent study of 39 Ohio and Michigan women - all acquitted by reason of

insanity in the deaths of their children since the 1970s - about 15 had

religious-themed delusions, said Dr. Hatters Friedman, a psychiatry

fellow at Case Western Reserve University.

Another study of 56 Michigan mothers referred for psychiatric evaluations

from 1974-1976 after killing their children found nearly a fourth of them

experienced religious delusions, said study co-author Dr. ,

an assistant professor at the University of Connecticut Health Center.

She said nearly all the women were Christian and many attended

fundamentalist churches, but cautioned against assumptions.

" What isn't clear is what's causing what, " she said. " Is the church causing

people to develop these feelings or are people with these feelings more

likely to gravitate toward a fundamentalist church? "

Yates, Laney and Schlosser all followed Christian fundamentalist teachings.

So did their husbands, but with less zeal than their wives.

Schlosser's parents said she became religious in the last several years,

reading the Bible and trying to convert them to the son's teachings.

Laney became much more devout before the killings, hearing God's voice and

waking early to study the Bible, according to trial testimony.

Yates, the Houston mother sentenced to life in prison, said she drowned her

children in 2001 to save them from eternal damnation. Before the killings,

she corresponded with a traveling preacher who taught that only the saved

could avoid hell's fires.

Resnick said religious delusions often convince mothers that they're saving

children from evil or proving their faith to God.

" If you think about why a parent would kill a child, since there's a natural

love and protective instinct, one would say it would have to be overcome

with a psychotic belief that they're doing what's in the child's best

interest, " he said.

©Tyler Morning Telegraph 2004