Bethany Yeiser

Bethany Yeiser (1981 - present) is a public speaker and mental health advocate on the topic of Schizophrenia, practicing violinist, and author of the memoir Mind Estranged, detailing her experiences as a homeless schizophrenic in Los Angeles, her gradual struggle and success with overcoming the disease, and her beliefs regarding the proper treatment of both mental illness and poverty. She is the founder and acting President of the CURESZ Foundation, a Cincinnati-centered not-for-profit organization for spreading awareness about Schizophrenia and correcting misconceptions regarding the disease . She regularly gives talks at colleges, churches, and mental health functions regarding her experiences and advocating for the mentally ill.
Biography
Early life and development of Schizophrenia
Born in Chicago in 1981, Bethany Yeiser spent much of her life growing up in Ohio studying both music and the sciences. At the age of 13, she became a member of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Program playing violin, a skill that she would later make a focal point of many of her talks. helping publish several research articles on multiple cellular topics.
Recovery
After undergoing treatment at an out-patient psychiatric unit for a year and attempting recovery on different medications, constantly struggling with side effects and with little real success , she was determined to be treatment-resistant by Dr. Henry Nasrallah in 2008, and was prescribed Clozapine, on which she gradually returned to a normal life, returning to college at the University of Cincinnati in 2009, with some initial success. She showed considerable recovery on the medication, eventually graduating with honors and a degree in Molecular biology in 2011, at the same time becoming highly involved with on-campus life and speaking to many teachers and mental health advocates about her experiences.
Afterwards, she began making regular appearances on Mental Health Radio Programs, appearing on Sirus Radio’<nowiki/>s Doctor Radio channel and on the IMHRO special Brainwaves. She began giving talks at multiple Mental Health functions throughout the country and speaking at churches in the Cincinnati area, working closely with The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), serving as the keynote speaker for their 2018 meeting in Dallas, Texas. <ref name=":2" />
CURESZ
In 2016, working alongside her former psychiatrist Dr. Nasrallah, Yeiser created the Not For Profit Comprehensive Understanding Via Research and Education into Schizophrenia (CURESZ) Foundation, in order to spread awareness of and correct misinformation about Schizophrenia. Her organization works primarily to address social stigma regarding those suffering from Schizophrenia, advocate broader usage of Clozapine for treatment-resistant schizophrenia, and attempting to have the mental illness reclassified as a Brain Disease. <ref name":0" /> CURESZ's current objectives also include advocating for novel treatments for tardive dyskinesia, a side-effect of all anti-psychotics, highlighting individuals' stories of full recovery from schizophrenia, and advocating for mental health courts and treatment as an alternative to incarceration. <ref name":3" />
Published works
Mind Estranged: My Journey From Schizophrenia and Homelessness to Recovery- 2014

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