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No, the big difference is most mentally ill people don't go off and murder their children. Some, even take their own lives...after destroying their offspring. Now, that is honestly sick.

But psycho Andrea stopped short of taking her own life. Pretty clever, huh?

And I don't believe everything that came out of Andrea's mouth...except "I finally did it", which was the abolute truth and nothing but the truth.

I agree. In a sense it would have been "better" had she taken her own life, and statistically speaking, you are probably correct about the mentally ill and murder. However, this case is DIFFERENT from the usual in that she was, in her own twisted reality, trying to PROTECT HER CHILDREN FROM HELL. This is evidenced by the fact that she *had* to do it when she did - the oldest was already 7 - which is considered in Christianity to be the age of accountability/reason. If she did kill herself, in her mind that wouldn't have "helped" the children in the way she was intending. She felt she would go to hell for this, and knew she would be punished by the system. This shows that she knew that it was against the commandments, but again, she was willing to lay down her life for her children's souls.

In this way, we're not talking about just plain mental illness - we're talking about mental illness coupled with a twisted fear of one's children otherwise heading toward hell because of her being a "bad mother" (partly due to Rusty's mental abuse and brainwashing, along with that damn preacher and his propaganda).

As for her statements that day, her catatonic state and eerily calm, cool detachment from what she had done clearly shows she was not in her right mind. If you ask me, I believe that she was possessed to some degree at that time.

And in case anyone's wondering, I do believe this woman needs to be kept out of society (although I question whether a prison is the right place for her). My only complaint is that people call her a "cold-blooded" murderer. I heartily disagree.