Elyn Saks

Elyn Saks is a distinguished mental health advocate, law professor, and author. She is best known for her battle with schizophrenia and her memoir, The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness, which details her experiences.

Early Life and Education

Elyn Saks was born in Miami, Florida in 1955. She experienced symptoms of psychosis from an early age, but was not formally diagnosed with schizophrenia until she was a student at Oxford University. Despite her struggles with mental illness, Saks excelled academically. She graduated from Vanderbilt University before attending Oxford as a Marshall Scholar, and later received her J.D. from Yale Law School.

Career

Saks is currently the Orrin B. Evans Professor of Law, Psychology, and Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law, where she specializes in mental health law. She is also the founder and faculty director of the Saks Institute for Mental Health Law, Policy, and Ethics.

Advocacy

Saks is a prominent advocate for the rights of people with mental illness. She has spoken openly about her experiences with schizophrenia in an effort to reduce stigma and improve treatment options. In 2009, she was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, also known as a "genius grant", for her work in mental health advocacy.

Publications

In addition to The Center Cannot Hold, Saks has written several books and articles on mental health law and the rights of psychiatric patients. These include Refusing Care: Forced Treatment and the Rights of the Mentally Ill and Interpreting Interpretation: The Limits of Hermeneutic Psychoanalysis.

Personal Life

Saks lives in Los Angeles, California with her husband, Will Vinet. She continues to manage her schizophrenia with a combination of medication, psychotherapy, and support from her family and friends.

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Elyn Saks speaking at a conference

See Also

• Mental health advocacy
• Schizophrenia
• Mental health law