What drives a Mother to kill her children? I just heard the story on the news

Unfortunately recycledgoth this is actually a common occurence....more than we know or even care to realize...I came across this site http://members.tripod.com/~leelah/index0.html and as hard as it is to go through and read these stories (and its VERY HARD)..I share this link with ppl as often as possible and hope that at least some go through and read the stories because its very really and ONE OF the key reasons why I get on ppl so much about stepping in when they suspect abuse and not just turn a blind eye.... What causes a caregiver (its not just mothers) to kill their own kids? Unfortunatley there are numerous reasons..I believe one of the obvious and main ones would be severe mental instability/disorders.....Then again I think...ya knwo..I'm certainly not all there mentally and have had some really hard times as a parent especially when I was a junkie but even at my WORST time I could never take the life of my child(ren)...ever....

Stories like that really gets to me. I think the people who do these things must be very ill. A parent will usually go to all lengths to protect their children - what makes them want to kill them instead? I think they must be psychologially very ill at the time of the crime. I believe they must somehow think this will be the best solution for the children and themselves. I cannot imagine anyone doing this without honestly thinking it would be the best thing to do. It is so tragic that people do not feel able to ask for help before it comes to this.

Mental issues... whenever I hear stories like this one, I get a chill down my spine and like you I cannot imagine how parents can do that to their own children. What abt the child abuse cases, esp those committed by own parents or family members... those are not much better... and again it fills my heart with horror and greqat sadness. It must be some psychological problems and something that drove the woman to that edge where she would do such a thing. I've heard of similar cases like this one on sufferers of post-natal depression. Whatever the case, however bad something seem... we have to believe that things will work out eventually and there will be a way out. If we close our mind to things... well terrible things will happen such as this one... and imagine the burden of sin you have to carry for murdering your own children. These people need a lot of help and there is often no place or person for them to turn to. Has our society become so v. heartless... do they not know that there are places and NGOs that could at least lend a ear or perhaps a helping hand? I do not know how effective they are... but maybe it's not enough or ppl are just not going to get help from them for some reason. Maybe more public awareness is needed... and most of all more caring people are needed and this world needs more love.

i´m from germany and i saw on the german news, that a depressed mother has killed her 5 children and after that her self. i think it doesn´t matters to the children. those parents must have extremly problems in life to do that.

Was she suffering from Postpartum depression? That might explain it...even if she wasen't, having 2 young kids at home and being totally housebound can be enough to drive anyone crazy!

I wish I had an answer to this because it makes me sick to my stomach that someone can kill their own child. Children are miracles to me. Not everyone can have them and the one's that could care less get pregnant easily. Just doesn't seem fair to me. If you do not want your kids give them up for adoption let them have the best life possible. I am so sick of hearing the stories about woman putting their kid in the oven, another one cooking the kid in the microwave...another one child being tortured because he did not pray hard enough. They are sick individuals that need help.

Mother cannot hold the pain of her children. If you ask me, there could have been something else added to this which is the driving factor to creating pain to her children. She couldn't have seen any other way except give them relief from the pain. May be she couldn't have bore that much pain and killed her children. With that she could have no other option other than kill herself having ended her children's lives. Anybody on this planet earth can be selfish, cruel and nasty but mother is all against it and she does everything for her children. She is never bothered of her happiness and comfort. She is happy and comfort if her children are. This is the love of a mother that i have got from my sweet mom. Thank you mom.

You know, just like you, we probably will never know the true real reason why she killed her children and herself. I have a child also and can't even think of him not being in my life. Obviously she was sad, depressed, not sane, and possibly had issues going on we probably, again, never know... It's one of those unsolved mysteries, one can assume, but never know the truth.. That has happened in the DC area, a mother drowning her kids, or a father who killed his son then himself. I just don't understand...It's truly sad all the way around...

I have no idea. I have wondered about the same thing. The woman that killed her sons because she had a new boyfriend and he didn't want kids really gagged me. My sons mean the world to me and I can't imagine anything happening to them, much less by my own hand. I wonder if they had had a fight or something? I can't imaging the horror he felt when he found them and he is probably going to blame himself even if there was nothing he could have done - if there were no clues. Hind sight is 20/20 but sometimes there are just no signs. :*(

I remember a few years back when a mother of five or six children systematically killed them each by drowning them in the tub. The declared her mentally incompetent, but you have to be pretty determined to do that over and over, and some of the kids were older and fought her. I know we all have times when our kids are driving us insane and all we want to do it run and hide. But to actually be capable of hurting one of my kids, especially in that manner, is probably beyond most mothers.

I had read this on the online news, and I too was deeply disturbed and shocked. I guess there are some answers to cases like this that we'll never find out. My personal guess is that she had depression. So so many times when mothers kill their children, it's because they have depression. Not that they don't love their child, they're just completely overwhelmed by the responsibilities that come along with having a child. I cannot imagine what her husband must have though upon finding their bodies. It's something that I just cannot comprehend. My thought and prayers go out to the family at this devastating time.

Stories like that really get to me and hurt my heart. As a mother I could never imagine killing my child or harming her in any way, shape, or form. The mother is extremely sick, and now the father will be scared for life. No matter how hard he tries, he will never get those images out of his head. My heart goes out to him and his family.

That is just sad. I don't understand what could drive a person to do something like that. She shouldn't have ever been a mother in the first place. It really doesn't make any sense. Why spend all those years and all that time caring for your children to just one day throw it all away. I know kids can be a pain but seriously she had to have had some major mental problems.

thats seriously very strange.but sure must be reason for this act.since no mom can ever even imagine such a thing to her child, the reason for driving this lady to do this sin must be large enough.so there is no point in cursing the lady without enough info..

I think it is horrible when a mother or father does this to their children and themselves. I think something was psychologically wrong with her which caused this to happen. It is possible the children or the father were getting on her nerves and maybe this was a way to get back at the father. If a parent can not handle or does not want their children, they should put them up for adoption so that the children can have parents that will love and treat them great. Nobody will know for sure what went through her head at the time but it sad to hear this.

Ive heard this story and you are right it is truely sickening. All i can say is that in my humble opinion she was suffering such a terrible mental condition that all rational thought had long since left her. In this situation, the usual rules do not apply and any event is possible. Im afraid it is just one of the terrible consequences of un diagnosed, and therefore untreated, mental illness. Blessed be

a few weeks a go there a news on tv about a mother kill her 2 kids in my country because her husband want to marry another lady...I think what she have in her mind was that she is so angry with the husband because he is looking for another lady to marry,...and may be at that time the kids did something which makes her anger become more and more...and finally unconsciously have killed the kids....I just can't understand why some peoples can't control their mind and end up with something which is really stupid like this.....

I missed the news this morning so your topic was the first I have heard of it. I am just wondering if the father had known that his wife could not cope. Surely there must have been some signs there. I still feel sad for him as even if he had noticed something, this must have been a great shock to him. I can't see how he will ever get over it...the poor man. I cannot understand anybody killing their own flesh and blood.

Everyone experiences stress, from toddlers to mothers, fathers, siblings, older folks etc... Whatever it was that caused parents to do inhuman things to their children and themselves just point to the severity of such offenses. There should be public awareness of personal stress symptoms via forums, talks, educational flyers, etc, to bring awareness to everyone about symptoms they may experience or know of someone with these symptoms. They shoud have hotlines people can access if they are on the verge of a breakdown, and if they are aware of their symptoms. People under severe stress sometimes don't talk to anyone about their situations. That is why it is so crucial to have notices of helplines or places they can go to, openly publicised, so people can still call and deal with their situation in absolute privacy. I'm sorry I'm not answering your original question. But I just felt led to spread this message, so that you or anyone may suggest to the government to set up call lines for those who need 'help' of a psychological kind but who don't know where to go to or who are financially strapped. At least the government should serve as some sort of 'clearing house' for people like this, so a hotline may be their first point of contact, to a psychologist or a social worker who can work some things out at least for the short term.

Post Partum Psycosis is what its termed at. When the mother goes leagely insade and generally does something like this. VERY VERY few people get away with this. Very few people actually get this. Its a very rare form of post partum depression in which the mother no longer is capeable of thinking properly, She is actually insane. There are alot of warning signs along the way to this path, however most of them are brushed off as the typical baby blues, or still commen post partum depression ( which i suffered through ) Although it can be medicated i dont think you can actually fully recover. Its a terrible thing... and she probably wasnt thinking at all, or if she was... her thought process was very muddled.