The Psychiatrist of the Opera

Then, a dim light from above casts a huge shadow of the moth flying circles around it.  

The opera starts. The piano beats a haunting melody. The voices of the chorus resonate in perfect pitch and heart- wrenching lyrics. 

Oh, who can understand what war is? To see what you see: to run, to crawl, to fight,  To hear the sounds of war: guns, screams fire…

… I dissolve, my soul explodes. Did we do wrong? Uncle Sam! Were we right? I cannot feel! I feel too much!  After what happened! Along my journey in the night!

So what’s so special? The feelings are real. The stories are real. And the  man who wrote it, Dr. Kenneth Wells, is not a Doctor of Music or Theater, but a Doctor of Psychiatry at the Greater Los Angeles VA. Wells has two passions: mental health and opera. 

His idea to join the two together came from a   desire to bring to the community a better understanding of mental struggles among Veterans. It resulted in Veteran Journeys, an opera performed to packed  auditoriums. To understand his motivation for writing the opera, we should delve into his work at the VA.

The Veterans, the Homeless, and The Community 

Wells works at the Homeless Clinic where he brings a ray of hope to Veterans  who struggle with mental health   issues, and he does so in more ways than one.  

A member of numerous organizations, he is co-director of the UCLA VA Center of Excellence.  

"Our mission is to improve the  health and social outcomes of  Veterans who are homeless and who struggle with mental  health issues and substance use  disorders,” Wells explained. “We also support research to develop  innovative ways to assists Veterans who struggle with mental illness”  

Wells and his colleagues strive to find and use creative ways to help Veterans afflicted by numerous conditions so they can lead fulfilling lives. His work focuses on a range of struggles  from personality disorder to drug use; from schizophrenia to depression. 

“We have a program that engages patients with the arts that is very effective. We had a patient  
(not mine) with borderline personality disorder  Who wrote a show and it became an off- Broadway play,” Wells said.  

That is one way that Wells uses art in therapy. The other way is to bring the community an  understanding of what Veterans go through and perhaps alleviate some of the fears that people have of those who struggle with mental issues. 

They Hear Voices 

Wells wants people to know more and fear less those with mental illness. Take for example Schizophrenia -those people who hear voices and who we shy away from. Many people think that those who struggle with schizophrenia cannot function in society and are dangerous, But that’s not so. 

“Hearing voices or seeing visions is a condition in the brain. Those who experience it may feel they are  persecuted and believe these feelings are real, and that can happen, but more typically they are the people who are victimized,” Wells explained. 

And as for leading a productive life, Wells tells the story or Elyn Saks, whose life’s accomplishments are beyond imagination. 

There’s Life with Schizophrenia 

Elyn began experiencing The Center Cannot Hold Opera symptoms of mental illness at eight years old. She had a full-blown episode when attending Oxford University. And then another breakdown while she was a student at Yale Law School. At that time, she was forcibly re-strained and forced to take anti-psychotic medication. Despite living with schizophrenia, Elyn went on to finish school.

Today, Elyn is an Associate Dean, professor of Law, Psychology, and Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences. She’s also won the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship prize that’s unofficially known as the Genius Prize.  

Then there’s the brilliant mathematician John Nash, whose story was depicted in the movie A Beautiful Mind. Nash was a mathematician who made fundamental contributions to game theory, algebraic geometry, and geometry.  

Nash and fellow game theorists won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics, followed by several other prizes.  

Nash began showing signs of mental illness in his early 30s. He spent several years at psychiatric hospitals being treated for schizophrenia. After 1970, his condition slowly improved, allowing him to return to academic work.  

Schizophrenia is a chronic mental disorder that affects a person’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. This      disorder causes hallucinations, delusions, and difficulty concentrating.

“Schizophrenia can be improved through  medication. There are different treatments available. They may not provide a cure for everyone, but definitely help reduce the frequency and the extent of delusions, allowing people to manage and live productive lives,” Wells said. 

Innovative Approach to Community

Wells goes beyond raising community awareness of mental illness. He actually gets the community to        participate. Take for example depression that afflicts people worldwide. 

“We can have psychiatrists sit in their office and wait for people to come. But if you're depressed, for example, you will most likely stay at home and sit in your shell. Also people who are depressed may not identify themselves as  depressed. We work with churches and parks to get people to seek treatment. 

“Those who work in these places can notice that something is wrong with a person they know. If the clergy has a means to contact somebody in the healthcare system and say, ‘hey, this person is having issues,’ we expedite a way for them to get seen right now.” 

“It’s the same with parks. Many of these recreational program employees may notice that somebody is depressed and stopped participating. They can contact  us and we do early interventions rather than waiting six months,” Wells explained. 

Veteran Journeys - The Audience Cried 

Wells has been so inspired by hearing Veterans’ stories that he decided they need to be told, and what better venue than an opera? 

“I was in a homeless clinic and we started this national study with interviews of veterans and family members. I thought why don’t we do an opera about them? I got the Institutional Review Board’s permission to use that to write an opera.  

“Veteran Journeys is inspired by true stories,  integrating characters together, and sometimes using actual thoughts or words from the interviews. It tells the story of surviving post-traumatic stress disorder, homelessness, and trauma of war,” Wells said. 

The audience reaction was intense “When we did the post discussion literally people were crying. They    
said ‘I have never seen my story told. And now I can talk about my journey and the pain it has caused me.’ Even cast members talked about their history of trauma.” 

Psychiatrists Have Dreams Too 

There’s a whole other story to Wells’ decision to use art as a method to reach people. “People really feel 
it's really hard to deal with mental health in the community. But when you use art, they relate to it in 
a different way,” Wells said. That's when I  decided to go ahead and follow up  on, my dream since I was 12 years old.” 

Wells grew up in a family of professional and artistic duality. His grandfather was vice president of Bell Telephone and a choir director. His father was an engineer and a visual artist. When Wells was 14, he started his first choir at church and had a youth choir that performed in LA. 

“I was arranging pieces for that choir and singing trios with my brother and his girlfriend."

My Long Time Friend Contracted Cancer 

“In junior high, I met someone who became my best friend. We used to go to his home every day after school and listen to opera. He had a huge record collection, and I have developed a love for it and always wanted to write one. But, but  I never had the time. I’m a doctor and a family man” When my best friend, Rick, turned 40 years old, he was diagnosed with cancer and I got him a second opinion that saved his life.  

While we were waiting for him to recover, I said to him ‘let's write an opera libretto.’ So we did. I tried to get  famous composers to compose it. And they said, ‘no, you have to write it  yourself.’ So I did. Because my friend  survived, he got to sing in the premiere.”