Lost Patients

NPR
  • 4.8 (639)
  • DOCUMENTARY
  • WEEKLY SERIES
Lost Patients

Lost Patients takes you into new spaces most people have likely never experienced before — the inside of someone's psychosis, mental health court rooms, and the past and present streets of Seattle, says Esmy.Jimenez, collaborating journalist of Lost Patients, Apple Podcasts' Spotlight show for August 2024. Jimenez, joined by Will James and Sydney Brownstone, have created a deeply immersive six-part docuseries that explores the challenges of treating severe mental illness through the lens of one city's past, present, and future. Together, they have crafted a listening experience that mirrors the labyrinthine journey of individuals and families grappling with this crisis."Lost Patients put us in contact with some of the most profound people we've ever met: people who have experienced psychosis," says James. "They have been to some of the farthest reaches of human experience, often with terrifying or devastating results, and nonetheless wanted to share what it was like with others to help them understand. These conversations have changed my perspective on mental illness — and, in some ways, on being alive."Brownstone agrees, "I hope considering someone in psychosis as being stuck in a dream — rather than simply unpredictable and volatile for no reason — opens up a new pathway to empathy for listeners.""Our goal was to help listeners see all the various shades of gray in these big national conversations about homelessness, addiction, and mental health," Jimenez explains. For James, "This podcast is for the countless people who witness people in mental health crisis — either on the sidewalks, busses, and subways of U.S. cities or in sensational TV coverage — and are working through their own feelings of confusion, fear, anger, and hopelessness."

  1. Churn

    EPISODE 1

    Churn

    Heidi Aurand has watched her son Adam spiral from one psychiatric crisis to the next for about eight years, bouncing between emergency rooms, jails, and homelessness. Now, after treatment at the state's largest psychiatric hospital, Adam was just released back onto the streets of downtown Seattle. A mother asks: How could her son pass through so many institutions and none are able to stop his decline? Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

    47 min

  2. EPISODE 2

    Against Their Will

    Across the U.S., efforts are underway to make it easier to involuntarily commit people to psychiatric hospitals. It's a reaction to the sight of seriously mentally ill people on the streets and the cries of families who say it's too hard to get a loved one help when they're in crisis. But this gets at one of the most delicate questions our society has faced: When does our belief about what's best for someone override someone's right to decide for themselves? Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

    42 min
  3. Nostalgia

    EPISODE 3

    Nostalgia

    After Carrie Davidson learned that her great-grandmother died in a psychiatric hospital, she spent years tracking down details of her life there. Was the asylum a refuge? Or a prison? This earlier era hangs like a shadow over our approach to care today. We peer into horror and nostalgia that surrounds our societal memories of these mental institutions — and try to sort out which narrative is true. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

    48 min

  4. EPISODE 4

    Opening

    In the middle of the last century, a movement to free patients from state-run psychiatric hospitals swept the U.S. This movement — deinstitutionalization — is widely blamed for seriously mentally ill people ending up on the streets. The real story goes much deeper than a loss of psychiatric hospital beds. It's about how incentives and decisions half a century created the dysfunction many people with serious mental illness are lost in today. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

    46 min

  5. EPISODE 5

    The Way Out

    After 10 months at Washington State's largest psychiatric hospital, Adam Aurand is discharged onto the streets of downtown Seattle — ejected into a world shaped by decades of deinstitutionalization and failure to build community-based mental health care. His mother rushes to save him before he gets pulled back into the "churn." A Seattle Times reporter tries to pinpoint where the discharge process failed — and the investigation leads her to new conclusions about the limitations of psychiatric care in the U.S. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

    53 min

  6. EPISODE 6

    Coming up on Lost Patients

    A look ahead at the final episode of Lost Patients, coming next week on April 23. We'll explore what recovery looks like for people with serious mental illness — and what it might look like for our fractured system of psychiatric care itself. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

    3 min

  7. EPISODE 7

    Disease Without Knowledge

    "Something is preventing us from building a system that works for people with serious mental illness. In lieu of that, patients are often left to improvise recovery for themselves. They learn to live with their inner voices and build their own support structures. Can their stories give us insight into what a functioning system of psychiatric care might look like — and what might be getting in the way?You can find resources for people with mental illness and related stories from The Seattle Times and KUOW here: https://www.seattletimes.com/component/lost-patients-podcast/ https://www.kuow.org/podcasts/lost-patients Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

    50 min
  8. Lost Patients Live: First-Person Stories from Seattle's Mental Health Crisis

    EPISODE 8

    Lost Patients Live: First-Person Stories from Seattle's Mental Health Crisis

    Lost Patients compares the system for treating mental illness in America to an elaborate house, where every room, hallway and staircase was designed independently by a different architect. So what is it like to be shuttled from room to room? What sorts of tradeoffs are doctors working within this system forced to make every day? And what might it look like to design care around the needs of patients? KUOW and the Seattle Times convened a forum at the Seattle Public Library to hear perspectives and answer questions. Featured guests included:Laura Van Tosh, patient advocate and founder and convener of Mental Health Policy Roundtable * Carolynn Ponzoha, patient advocate and content creator who goes by @psychotic.in.seattle on TikTok* Timothy Jolliff, acting senior director of clinical programs at the Downtown Emergency Service Center in Seattle*Dr. Paul Borghesani, associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine You can find resources for people with mental illness and related stories from The Seattle Times and KUOW here:https://www.seattletimes.com/component/lost-patients-podcast/https://www.kuow.org/podcasts/lost-patients Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

    55 min
See All Season 1 (8)

Trailer

4.8
out of 5
639 Ratings

About

Lost Patients takes you into new spaces most people have likely never experienced before — the inside of someone's psychosis, mental health court rooms, and the past and present streets of Seattle, says Esmy.Jimenez, collaborating journalist of Lost Patients, Apple Podcasts' Spotlight show for August 2024. Jimenez, joined by Will James and Sydney Brownstone, have created a deeply immersive six-part docuseries that explores the challenges of treating severe mental illness through the lens of one city's past, present, and future. Together, they have crafted a listening experience that mirrors the labyrinthine journey of individuals and families grappling with this crisis."Lost Patients put us in contact with some of the most profound people we've ever met: people who have experienced psychosis," says James. "They have been to some of the farthest reaches of human experience, often with terrifying or devastating results, and nonetheless wanted to share what it was like with others to help them understand. These conversations have changed my perspective on mental illness — and, in some ways, on being alive."Brownstone agrees, "I hope considering someone in psychosis as being stuck in a dream — rather than simply unpredictable and volatile for no reason — opens up a new pathway to empathy for listeners.""Our goal was to help listeners see all the various shades of gray in these big national conversations about homelessness, addiction, and mental health," Jimenez explains. For James, "This podcast is for the countless people who witness people in mental health crisis — either on the sidewalks, busses, and subways of U.S. cities or in sensational TV coverage — and are working through their own feelings of confusion, fear, anger, and hopelessness."

Information

  • Creator
    NPR
  • Episodes
    11
  • Seasons
    1
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2024 NPR - For Personal Use Only
  • Show Website
    Lost Patients

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