Dr. Elyn Saks: Psychiatric Law, Criminal Justice, and Mental Health Reform

In this episode of Waking Up Bipolar, Chris Cole speaks with Dr. Elyn Saks—acclaimed scholar, mental health advocate, cancer survivor, psychiatric thriver, and best-selling author of The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness.

Elyn Saks is Orrin B. Evans Professor of Law, Psychology, Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences at the USC Gould School of Law; Director of the Saks Institute for Mental Health Law, Policy, and Ethics; Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry at the UC San Diego, School of Medicine; and Faculty at the New Center for Psychoanalysis. She served as USC Gould's associate dean for research from 2005-2010 and also teaches at the Keck School of Medicine. Saks received her JD from Yale Law School, and a PhD in Psychoanalytic Science from the New Center for Psychoanalysis. She was also awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Pepperdine University.

Saks writes extensively in the area of law and mental health, having published five books and more than fifty articles and book chapters. Her research has included the ethical dimensions of psychiatric research and forced treatment of people with mental illness. Her memoir, The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness, describes her struggles with schizophrenia and her managing to craft a good life for herself in the face of a dire prognosis.

The Saks Institute for Mental Health Law, Policy, and Ethics at USC is a think tank that studies issues at the intersection of law, mental health, and ethics. The Institute spotlights one important mental health issue per academic year and is a collaborative effort that has included faculty and graduate students from several USC departments: law, psychiatry, psychology, social work, philosophy, neuroscience, gerontology, and engineering.

As you’ll hear in our conversation, Dr. Elyn Saks brings a wealth of insight and expertise, both through the highest levels of academia and the depth of her own experience with schizophrenia. I am tremendously honored and humbled to present to you now, the incomparable Elyn Saks.

The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness: https://www.amazon.com/Center-Cannot-Hold-Journey-Through/dp/1401309445

Dr. Elyn Saks’s TED talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/elyn_saks_seeing_mental_illness

Saks Institute for Mental Health Law, Policy, and Ethics: http://weblaw.usc.edu/centers/saks/

Dr. Elyn Saks's POLITICO piece, "The Consent Dilemma:" https://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2017/08/09/drug-treatment-mental-illness-000491

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Chris Cole hosts the Waking Up Bipolar podcast, focused on the intersection of bipolar disorder and spiritual awakening. He is the author of The Body of Chris: A Memoir of Obsession, Addiction, and Madness, inspired by his own journey of spiritual unfolding and mental health challenges. Chris Cole offers life coaching for any number of mental health conditions, specializing in bipolar disorder and spiritual emergence. Chris’s experience with addiction, disordered eating, body dysmorphia, psychosis, and spiritual emergency allows him to relate to a wide range of clients. He utilizes a holistic approach to mental health which views wellness in physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual domains. Learn more about Chris and his work at colecoaching.com.

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