Why Mothers Kill: Psychologist Explains Incomprehe

Newswise — In 1994, a young mother in Union, S.C., drove her two sons into a lake, setting off an international media frenzy that made Susan Smith a household name.

When Andrea Yates of Texas drowned her five children in a bathtub in 2001, postpartum depression was debated in two publicized trials. And, in a lesser-known case last year, three children drowned in the chilly waters off a San Francisco pier after a mother told family members that she wanted to feed them to sharks.

A University of South Carolina School of Medicine psychologist has spent nearly three decades studying these incomprehensible crimes. In "Why Mothers Kill: A Forensic Psychologist's Casebook," author Dr. Geoffrey McKee offers an in-depth explanation of why mothers kill their children, also known as maternal filicide, and provides detailed intervention points to help mental-health and other medical professionals determine the risk factors that lead mothers to kill their children.

"I wanted this book to help us understand and prevent these acts of violence," said McKee, a University of South Carolina clinical professor whose 29 years of experience in evaluating murder defendants also includes an evaluation of Susan Smith.

"Why Mothers Kill," published by Oxford University Press, includes profiles of 14 mothers who killed their children. The book describes the crimes and offers insight into the emotional conflicts from which the mothers suffered.

Readers meet women like Barbara, psychotic and depressed, who feared that authorities would take away her children away and send her to a mental hospital; Olivia, who retaliated against her mother-in-law's interference with child-welfare workers, by suffocating her daughter; and Smith, depressed and distraught, who impulsively drowned her sons during a year in which she had multiple extramarital affairs. The names of the women have been changed to protect their identities. Smith, however, gave McKee permission to disclose his evaluation of her in the hopes of helping other mothers who suffer from mental illness.

"Susan Smith's case brought the subject of mothers killing their children to the national forefront," McKee said. "She was so much like us ... in many ways, she was an ordinary woman. We'll never forget her tearful pleas on television. She was so convincing in her denials, and people could not understand how this attractive young mother from a middle-class background could have committed this terrible crime. It shocked the nation."

Though written for those who deal with maternal filicide " mental-health professionals, psychologists, social workers, physicians, law-enforcement officers, lawyers and judges " the 259-page book is an easy read for the interested public.

McKee, a past president of the American Academy of Forensic Psychology, details five primary descriptions of mothers who kill their children: detached mothers, abusive/neglectful mothers; psychotic/depressed mothers; retaliatory mothers; and psychopathic mothers, a new category not previously described in other classifications of mothers who kill.

He also has developed the "Maternal Risk Filicide Matrix," which analyzes the risk factors that might lead a mother to kill, such as postpartum mood disorders, physical or sexual abuse or marital violence, as well as protective factors that might prevent the death of a child, including positive bonding with a child, prenatal care, an intended pregnancy and family nurturing.

The matrix can be used by clinicians to assess the risk of maternal filicide and to provide strategies for family and professional intervention.

"With each of the 14 cases, the book examines the points along the way where intervention may have lowered the risks for homicide," McKee said.

McKee said the data on maternal filicide is incomplete.

"Not all mothers get caught ... not all bodies get found," he said. "Even so, with the figures that we have, hundreds of children die each year at the hands of their mothers. This is a public health crisis. It's critical to understand why these crimes occur and what interventions we can use to lower the risks for the deaths of children."

To learn more about "Why Mothers Kill," visit http://www.whymotherskill.com.