Stories of Hope: An Interview with Bethany Yeiser
This is part of a series featuring individuals who share their life experiences with mental health issues. Recently, I asked mental health advocate and author Bethany Yeiser about her journey and her current activities. Here’s our interview:
DS: Tell us about when you first started becoming aware of concerns related to your mental health. How did these issues continue to affect you before you sought treatment? What was the turning point that led you to decide to seek help?
BY: I had a happy, normal childhood. Violin was my passion, and I was proud to become a member of the Cleveland Youth Orchestra at age 13. In high school, I served as a member of the National Honor Society. My dream was to study violin and physics in college. I was a hard-driven, serious student who worked hard to secure a future of promise and success.
In 1999, I began college at my first-choice school, the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. At first, I was an A student. My goal was medical school or earning a PhD to do research in HIV or cancer. But over the course of three years at the university, even though I drove myself mercilessly to study and work all day and late into the night, there was a steady decline in my ability to focus.
The summer after my junior year of college, I spent three months volunteering in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya, Africa. While I was there, I became delusional, believing that I would someday become the next Mother Theresa, sending millions or perhaps billions of dollars of aid to the developing world. I no longer cared about my former plans to do research.
Upon returning to USC from Africa, I could no longer focus. I went from an A student to failing my classes. Unable to concentrate on school, I spent all my time fundraising for the people I had volunteered for and cared about in Nairobi.
Additionally, when I returned to America from Africa, I became paranoid of my family, afraid that they would stop me from making a world-wide impact. On March 3, 2003, just months before I was supposed to graduate, I moved out of the dormitory, forcefully rejecting all help, and became homeless in the LA area. I would be homeless for four years to the day.
For three years, I spent every night in libraries, lounges, and in public bathrooms. My fourth year homeless, I began to live outside in a churchyard, and this was when my hygiene plummeted. The voices in my mind and other hallucinations also began about the time I was sleeping in the churchyard. For one year, I heard a chorus of voices inside of my mind. Visual and tactile hallucinations overtook my life.
On March 3, 2007, my fourth year anniversary of becoming homeless, I woke up in the churchyard as usual, but that day, the voices were more irritating than they had ever been. I was screaming back at the voices, trying to find relief, when I neighbor who heard me screaming called the police. I was picked up that day by two police officers and taken to a psychiatric ward for evaluation.
When I was hospitalized, all I wanted was to return to my homeless life. I missed sleeping outside and spending my days in public parks. I was convinced nothing was wrong with me and that I could never be mentally ill. I thought I was the same person who had studied biochemistry and played the violin, but I had drastically changed. I had become a dirty homeless stranger.
While in the hospital, I was required to begin antipsychotic medication. The first medication lessened the voices but did not eliminate them. After about two weeks, the side effects of the medication appeared including extreme restlessness, a blunt affect, sedation, sleeping 16-18 hours a night, and weight gain. Because I was certain I did not need the medication, and because of intolerable side effects, I discontinued it. My second hospitalization followed after just a few weeks.
During my second hospitalization, my doctor sat down with me and explained that I had a treatable brain disease, and that on medication, I might be able to return to college or work. He said that the medication would help organize my thoughts so that I could enjoy friends and family again. This doctor convinced me to always take my medication, and I have for the last twelve years.
DS: What has your treatment consisted of, and what have you found that has worked well for you?
BY: Although I have treatment-resistant schizophrenia, I have fully recovered on generic clozapine. Prior to clozapine, I spent twelve months trying five different medications with little success. I suffered intensely and my recovery felt hopeless.
Today I know that if a person with schizophrenia fails two oral trials of an antipsychotic medication or one trial of an injectable antipsychotic medication, at that point, they qualify to begin clozapine. They should not have to wait a full year as I did.
Many treatment-resistant patients never try clozapine at all. This is because there are side effects. Persons on the medication need a weekly blood draw at first to prevent a dangerous but very rare side effect where there is a significant reduction in white blood cells. However, this happens less than 1% of persons on the medication.
There are half a million people in America with schizophrenia who are only partially recovered– or may even be totally disabled– who have not tried clozapine, which may bring them to full recovery, as it did in my case.
In addition to medication, it is important to work with a counselor, doctor or other treatment team members to discuss rebuilding your life, making plans for the future, and challenging yourself to always do your best in work and school. It is also important to make time for relationships, especially since people with severe mental illness tend to isolate themselves.
DS: How are things going for you now? What challenges are you still facing? What have you learned that has helped you stay positive and healthy?
BY: In 2011, three years after my diagnosis, I finished my molecular biology degree, with high honors. In 2014, I published my memoir, Mind Estranged.
In 2016, my doctor Henry Nasrallah and I founded the CURESZ Foundation. CURESZ stands for Comprehensive Understanding via Research and Education into SchiZophrenia. CURESZ provides education about cutting edge and rarely used medications for schizophrenia such as clozapine and long-acting injectable antipsychotic medications.
We also feature stories of people who are thriving despite a schizophrenia diagnosis. We offer a Treatment Checklist brochure, nine things that everyone should know about schizophrenia from day one, such as exercise and diet, why it is risky and to discontinue a medication on your own, and cognitive behavioral therapy. We have a YouTube channel with thirty-six educational videos.
DS: You’ve been active in mental health advocacy and/or social media. Tell us about your involvement in those activities.
BY: I engage in a lot of public speaking and present my story for medical students and law students studying mental health law at the University of Cincinnati, churches, hospitals, NAMI chapters, clinics, etc. I also maintain a blog on PsychologyToday.com and keep up personal Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) pages as well Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) accounts for CURESZ.
DS: What would you like to say to encourage others who are still working on their journey of recovery?
BY: Don’t settle for less, and don’t let your doctor lower his or her expectations for your recovery. I was told in 2007 that I was totally and permanently disabled. Fortunately, the doctor I began seeing in 2008 would not give up on me, and fought for my recovery.
If you have schizophrenia and are not getting better, talk to your doctor about clozapine. If your doctor does not prescribe clozapine (some are either not trained to use it) you can log on to the CURESZ Foundation’s website and access our “Clozapine in Schizophrenia Expert Panel” to find a doctor who does prescribe it living near you.
Make goals for the future. Most people diagnosed with schizophrenia are young, 18-25 years old, with their whole lives ahead of them. Find your doctor and your treatment team that works with you and encourages you to dream big. Today, there is more hope that ever for recovery, even for those of us who are treatment-resistant.
About Bethany:
Bethany Yeiser is president of the CURESZ Foundation, which she established in 2016 with Dr. Henry Nasrallah. Before her gradual descent into schizophrenia, Bethany was a promising university honors student. In 2002, following her junior year of college, she spent three months as a volunteer in the slums of Kenya and Nigeria, living in poverty. After her return from Africa, she had her first psychotic break. Because of undiagnosed and untreated mental illness, she was no longer able to focus on her studies. In 2003, Bethany left college, only to become homeless for four years. Eventually, a series of events led her to reclaim her life. In 2008, she made a full recovery. Bethany finished her bachelor’s degree in molecular biology with honor from the University of Cincinnati in 2011. Today, Bethany is a sought–after motivational speaker with a passion to educate and inspire change in the way schizophrenia is perceived and treated, and in the stigma so negatively attached to this diagnosis. Her memoir Mind Estranged: My Journey from Schizophrenia and Homelessness to Recovery was published in 2014. Bethany’s other interests include performing classical and popular music on violin, and studying ancient Hebrew and Mandarin Chinese. You can connect with Bethany via Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), her website and the CURESZ Foundation. Also, check out her TEDx talk.
Thanks so much to Bethany for her inspiring story of hope!
Would you like to share your story of hope? I plan to feature more personal accounts like this from time to time on my blog. If you are interested in sharing your story, please notify me via my contact page. Also, please subscribe to my blog and feel free to follow me on X (formerly Twitter) or Instagram, “like” my Facebook page, or connect on LinkedIn. Finally, if you enjoyed this post, please share it with a friend. Thanks!