Guest Speaker Dr. Elyn Saks Discusses Memoir “The Center Cannot Hold”
Dr. Elyn Saks spoke at the May 20 Pacific Palisades Task Force on Homelessness community meeting, addressing the public on how to better understand schizophrenia—a condition she has lived with since early childhood.
PPTFH invited Saks, Associate Dean of the USC Gould School of Law, distinguished professor of law, psychology, psychiatry and behavioral sciences, and MacArthur Genius Grant recipient, to educate the public as part of its ongoing efforts to better understand and help homeless individuals struggling with mental illness.
Saks, a summa cum laude graduate of Vanderbilt University, received her master of letters from Oxford University and her Doctor of Jurisprudence from Yale Law School. She is the author of five books and dozens of academic articles. “The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness” is an account of Saks’ personal journey living with schizophrenia for most of her life.
Saks shared that one in three homeless people suffer with mental illness.
“Homelessness is a problem throughout the city, indeed, we even have homeless students on my USC campus,” Saks said. “I myself have serious mental illness, though I’ve never been homeless, thankfully … My hope is to give you a window into the mind of someone suffering with severe mental illness.”
Saks focused her discussion on ways those diagnosed with severe mental illnesses can still lead lives of happiness and dignity.
“My central goals in writing my story are two-fold: to give hope to those who suffer with schizophrenia and understanding to those who don’t,” she shared.
Night terrors, anorexia and flirtations with drug use plagued Saks during her adolescence, soon culminating in full-on experiences of what she termed “disorganization.”
“The first time it happened, my dad snapped at me when I asked him again, ‘Could we go to the beach?’ And that moment it felt as if my self were losing its coherence,” Saks recalled. “It was as if my mind was a sand castle, with all the sand sliding away in the receding surf. There was no center there to take things in, organize them, and make sense of them. This is an experience I still sometimes have today.”
Saks also discussed several issues surrounding mental health treatment, including medication compliance, physical restraints and voluntary versus compulsory treatment options.
“Most people with serious mental illness need and can benefit from medication,” Saks explained. “It’s now understood that you need both medication and psycho-social treatment … some people, you need to stick with them and keep trying.”
Saks concluded her visit with a discussion on policy implications, including the ability for local law enforcement to 5150 homeless individuals that are physically deteriorating on the streets. Currently, if the individuals decline treatment, however severe their illness, the Department of Health cannot admit them.
“If someone doesn’t understand what the issues are, what he or she is going through, what the risks and benefits are, the options are, yes, I think we should have a mechanism for other people to get those individuals treatment,” Saks said.
“Keep introducing new legislation. There’s no easy answer,” Saks continued. “The better treatment we can provide and better circumstances, medicine and therapy, the more likely you are to have these people seek treatment themselves.”
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