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IMPROVING LIVES BY IMPROVING BRAINS

A remarkable story

of self discovery that will transform your

thinking about living with disability and what could and should be done about it.

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Elyn R. Saks Image Quotes

Elyn R. Saks is Associate Dean and Professor of Law, Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Southern California. She is also an expert in mental health law and a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship winner.

Saks lives with schizophrenia and has written about her experience with the illness in her award-winning autobiography, The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness.

“My good fortune is not that I've recovered from mental illness. I have not, nor will I ever. My good fortune lies in having found my life.” - Elyn R. Saks

“Stigma against mental illness is a scourge with many faces, and the medical community wears a number of those faces.” - Elyn R. Saks

“In my experience, the words “now just calm down” almost inevitably have the opposite effect on the person you are speaking to.” - Elyn R. Saks

“If you are walking on a path thick with brambles and rocks, a path that abruptly twists and turns, it's easy to get lost, or tired, or discouraged. You might be tempted to give up entirely. But if a kind and patient person comes along and takes your hand, saying, "I see you're having a hard time- here, follow me, I'll help you find your way," the path becomes manageable, the journey less frightening.” - Elyn R. Saks

“If you are walking on a path thick with brambles and rocks, a path that abruptly twists and turns, it's easy to get lost, or tired, or discouraged. You might be tempted to give up entirely. But if a kind and patient person comes along and takes your hand, saying, "I see you're having a hard time- here, follow me, I'll help you find your way," the path becomes manageable, the journey less frightening.” - Elyn R. Saks

“No one would ever say that someone with a broken arm or a broken leg is less than a whole person, but people say that or imply that all the time about people with mental illness.” - Elyn R. Saks

“Dropping in and out of your own life (for psychotic breaks, or treatment in a hospital) isn’t like getting off a train at one stop and later getting back on at another. Even if you can get back on (and the odds are not in your favor), you’re lonely there. The people you boarded with originally are far, far ahead of you, and now you’re stuck playing catch-up.” - Elyn R. Saks

“Dropping in and out of your own life (for psychotic breaks, or treatment in a hospital) isn’t like getting off a train at one stop and later getting back on at another. Even if you can get back on (and the odds are not in your favor), you’re lonely there. The people you boarded with originally are far, far ahead of you, and now you’re stuck playing catch-up.” - Elyn R. Saks

“The humanity we all share is more important than the mental illnesses we may not.” - Elyn R. Saks

“I needed to put two critical ideas together: that I could both be mentally ill and lead a rich and satisfying life.” - Elyn R. Saks

“But explaining what I’ve come to call “disorganization” is a different challenge altogether. Consciousness gradually loses its coherence. One’s center gives way. The center cannot hold. The “me” becomes a haze, and the solid center from which one experiences reality breaks up like a bad radio signal.” - Elyn R. Saks

“But explaining what I’ve come to call “disorganization” is a different challenge altogether. Consciousness gradually loses its coherence. One’s center gives way. The center cannot hold. The “me” becomes a haze, and the solid center from which one experiences reality breaks up like a bad radio signal.” - Elyn R. Saks

“How many times, I wondered, would I have to deal with the betrayal of this mass of nerves and blood vessels and muscle and skin?” - Elyn R. Saks

“Or try this: Place yourself in the middle of the room. Turn on the stereo, the television, and a beeping video game, and then invite into the room several small children with ice cream cones. Crank up the volume on each piece of electrical equipment, then take away the children’s ice cream. Imagine these circumstances existing every day and night of your life. What would you do?” - Elyn R. Saks

“Or try this: Place yourself in the middle of the room. Turn on the stereo, the television, and a beeping video game, and then invite into the room several small children with ice cream cones. Crank up the volume on each piece of electrical equipment, then take away the children’s ice cream. Imagine these circumstances existing every day and night of your life. What would you do?” - Elyn R. Saks

"With proper treatment, someone who is mentally ill can lead a full and rich life. What makes life wonderful--good friends, a satisfying job, loving relationships--is just as valuable for those of us who struggle with schizophrenia as for anyone else.” - Elyn R. Saks

“There’s a tremendous need to implode the myths of mental illness, to put a face on it, to show people that a diagnosis does not have to lead to a painful and oblique life." - Elyn R. Saks

"We who struggle with these disorders can lead full, happy, productive lives, if we have the right resources.” - Elyn R. Saks

“Different bodies respond differently to different medication; finding the magic potion is pretty much hit-and-miss. This seems obvious, even simplistic, but it's the only consistently true fact in treating mental illness.” - Elyn R. Saks

“The human brain comprises about 2 percent of a person's body weight, but it consumes upward of 20 percent of that body's oxygen intake, and it controls 100 percent of that body's actions.”
- Elyn R. Saks

“Law is based on a theory of personhood; that is, the concept of someone who can make choices and suffer consequences, and who understands the threat of sanction. The doctrine of informed consent (indeed, most of American political theory) presumes that we are not just subjects to be directed, but rather autonomous beings capable of making independent decisions.”
- Elyn R. Saks

“Law is based on a theory of personhood; that is, the concept of someone who can make choices and suffer consequences, and who understands the threat of sanction. The doctrine of informed consent (indeed, most of American political theory) presumes that we are not just subjects to be directed, but rather autonomous beings capable of making independent decisions.”
- Elyn R. Saks

“I needed to put two critical ideas together: that I could both be mentally ill and lead a rich and satisfying life.” - Elyn R. Saks

“While medication had kept me alive, it has not helped me find a life worth living.”
- Elyn R. Saks

“Ironically, the more I accepted I had a mental illness, the less the illness defined me — at which point the riptide set me free.” - Elyn R. Saks

“My good fortune is not that I've recovered from mental illness. I have not, nor will I ever. My good fortune lies in having found my life.” - Elyn R. Saks

“Stigma against mental illness is a scourge with many faces, and the medical community wears a number of those faces.” - Elyn R. Saks

“In my experience, the words “now just calm down” almost inevitably have the opposite effect on the person you are speaking to.” - Elyn R. Saks

“If you are walking on a path thick with brambles and rocks, a path that abruptly twists and turns, it's easy to get lost, or tired, or discouraged. You might be tempted to give up entirely. But if a kind and patient person comes along and takes your hand, saying, "I see you're having a hard time- here, follow me, I'll help you find your way," the path becomes manageable, the journey less frightening.” - Elyn R. Saks

“If you are walking on a path thick with brambles and rocks, a path that abruptly twists and turns, it's easy to get lost, or tired, or discouraged. You might be tempted to give up entirely. But if a kind and patient person comes along and takes your hand, saying, "I see you're having a hard time- here, follow me, I'll help you find your way," the path becomes manageable, the journey less frightening.” - Elyn R. Saks

“No one would ever say that someone with a broken arm or a broken leg is less than a whole person, but people say that or imply that all the time about people with mental illness.” - Elyn R. Saks

“Dropping in and out of your own life (for psychotic breaks, or treatment in a hospital) isn’t like getting off a train at one stop and later getting back on at another. Even if you can get back on (and the odds are not in your favor), you’re lonely there. The people you boarded with originally are far, far ahead of you, and now you’re stuck playing catch-up.” - Elyn R. Saks

“Dropping in and out of your own life (for psychotic breaks, or treatment in a hospital) isn’t like getting off a train at one stop and later getting back on at another. Even if you can get back on (and the odds are not in your favor), you’re lonely there. The people you boarded with originally are far, far ahead of you, and now you’re stuck playing catch-up.” - Elyn R. Saks

“The humanity we all share is more important than the mental illnesses we may not.” - Elyn R. Saks

“I needed to put two critical ideas together: that I could both be mentally ill and lead a rich and satisfying life.” - Elyn R. Saks

“But explaining what I’ve come to call “disorganization” is a different challenge altogether. Consciousness gradually loses its coherence. One’s center gives way. The center cannot hold. The “me” becomes a haze, and the solid center from which one experiences reality breaks up like a bad radio signal.” - Elyn R. Saks

“But explaining what I’ve come to call “disorganization” is a different challenge altogether. Consciousness gradually loses its coherence. One’s center gives way. The center cannot hold. The “me” becomes a haze, and the solid center from which one experiences reality breaks up like a bad radio signal.” - Elyn R. Saks

“How many times, I wondered, would I have to deal with the betrayal of this mass of nerves and blood vessels and muscle and skin?” - Elyn R. Saks

“Or try this: Place yourself in the middle of the room. Turn on the stereo, the television, and a beeping video game, and then invite into the room several small children with ice cream cones. Crank up the volume on each piece of electrical equipment, then take away the children’s ice cream. Imagine these circumstances existing every day and night of your life. What would you do?” - Elyn R. Saks

“Or try this: Place yourself in the middle of the room. Turn on the stereo, the television, and a beeping video game, and then invite into the room several small children with ice cream cones. Crank up the volume on each piece of electrical equipment, then take away the children’s ice cream. Imagine these circumstances existing every day and night of your life. What would you do?” - Elyn R. Saks

"With proper treatment, someone who is mentally ill can lead a full and rich life. What makes life wonderful--good friends, a satisfying job, loving relationships--is just as valuable for those of us who struggle with schizophrenia as for anyone else.” - Elyn R. Saks

“There’s a tremendous need to implode the myths of mental illness, to put a face on it, to show people that a diagnosis does not have to lead to a painful and oblique life." - Elyn R. Saks

"We who struggle with these disorders can lead full, happy, productive lives, if we have the right resources.” - Elyn R. Saks

“Different bodies respond differently to different medication; finding the magic potion is pretty much hit-and-miss. This seems obvious, even simplistic, but it's the only consistently true fact in treating mental illness.” - Elyn R. Saks

“The human brain comprises about 2 percent of a person's body weight, but it consumes upward of 20 percent of that body's oxygen intake, and it controls 100 percent of that body's actions.”
- Elyn R. Saks

“Law is based on a theory of personhood; that is, the concept of someone who can make choices and suffer consequences, and who understands the threat of sanction. The doctrine of informed consent (indeed, most of American political theory) presumes that we are not just subjects to be directed, but rather autonomous beings capable of making independent decisions.”
- Elyn R. Saks

“Law is based on a theory of personhood; that is, the concept of someone who can make choices and suffer consequences, and who understands the threat of sanction. The doctrine of informed consent (indeed, most of American political theory) presumes that we are not just subjects to be directed, but rather autonomous beings capable of making independent decisions.”
- Elyn R. Saks

“I needed to put two critical ideas together: that I could both be mentally ill and lead a rich and satisfying life.” - Elyn R. Saks

“While medication had kept me alive, it has not helped me find a life worth living.”
- Elyn R. Saks

“Ironically, the more I accepted I had a mental illness, the less the illness defined me — at which point the riptide set me free.” - Elyn R. Saks

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