On this episode, we hear from Vincent Schmitt and Yoko Motohama, parents of Romain, a 16-year-old boy who tragically ended his life in 2021 after being prescribed a high dose of Paxil — known in France as Paroxetine — and suffering the effects of akathisia for several agonizing months.
Yoko Motohama was born in Japan and earned a Ph.D. in computer science. She did postdoctoral research in the United Kingdom and spent a decade in Japan as an entrepreneur importing French wines.
Her husband, Vincent Schmitt, a native of France, also earned a Ph.D. and became a lecturer in mathematics and computer science at the University of Leicester. Now based in France, close to Lyon, Vincent focuses on applied mathematics in the research department of a multinational company.
Romain Schmitt was born October 12th, 2004, in Leicester, United Kingdom, the son of Vincent and Yoko. When the boy was four years old his parents decided to relocate the family — which also included Romain's younger sister — to France, and not long after that to the Japanese countryside. Romain had already learned English and French and now became a fluent speaker of Japanese. After nine years the family returned to France, in 2018, where 13-year-old Romain started the third year of middle school. He had a good mind for math and physics and was interested as well in geography, philosophy, politics, and even nuclear science and energy, which his grandfather taught him about. Romain was also a good swimmer, played rugby and tennis, and aspired to become a professional soccer player, like his idol Cristiano Ronaldo. His love of the game even inspired Romain to master a fourth language, German, so that he could better follow his favorite team, Bayern Munich.
READ THE FULL EPISODE 18 TRANSCRIPT: www.studiocchicago.com/vincent-and-yoko-transcript
All content for Akathisia Stories is the property of MISSD + Studio C Chicago and is served directly from their servers
with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
On this episode, we hear from Vincent Schmitt and Yoko Motohama, parents of Romain, a 16-year-old boy who tragically ended his life in 2021 after being prescribed a high dose of Paxil — known in France as Paroxetine — and suffering the effects of akathisia for several agonizing months.
Yoko Motohama was born in Japan and earned a Ph.D. in computer science. She did postdoctoral research in the United Kingdom and spent a decade in Japan as an entrepreneur importing French wines.
Her husband, Vincent Schmitt, a native of France, also earned a Ph.D. and became a lecturer in mathematics and computer science at the University of Leicester. Now based in France, close to Lyon, Vincent focuses on applied mathematics in the research department of a multinational company.
Romain Schmitt was born October 12th, 2004, in Leicester, United Kingdom, the son of Vincent and Yoko. When the boy was four years old his parents decided to relocate the family — which also included Romain's younger sister — to France, and not long after that to the Japanese countryside. Romain had already learned English and French and now became a fluent speaker of Japanese. After nine years the family returned to France, in 2018, where 13-year-old Romain started the third year of middle school. He had a good mind for math and physics and was interested as well in geography, philosophy, politics, and even nuclear science and energy, which his grandfather taught him about. Romain was also a good swimmer, played rugby and tennis, and aspired to become a professional soccer player, like his idol Cristiano Ronaldo. His love of the game even inspired Romain to master a fourth language, German, so that he could better follow his favorite team, Bayern Munich.
READ THE FULL EPISODE 18 TRANSCRIPT: www.studiocchicago.com/vincent-and-yoko-transcript
On this episode, we hear from Kerri Lynn. Kerri says that she was taught to trust doctors, taught to trust prescriptions, taught to trust the assessments she received from hospitals. And she did, but, she says, this trust nearly killed her.
[Kerri Lynn] It’s traumatizing what I went through. I never, ever in my life thought a person could feel like that. I never thought a person could think like that, especially against their will. I just knew inside of my soul, this is not me; this is not who I am.
Kerri Lynn was born in Long Beach, California, but was raised and currently resides in the upper Midwest. She grew up in what she calls a dysfunctional home and early on gravitated towards addictive tendencies. At 13 she discovered drinking. As she matured, Kerri chased other self-destructive behaviors and relationships, until her self-described out-of-control nature led to an ultimatum from loved ones: she had to find a solution how not to be self-destructive. Pain and circumstances, she writes, drove her to seek help from 12-step recovery, which, as we'll hear in our conversation, led to her 13-year nightmare with prescribed medications. During these nightmare days, she says, her medical vocabulary expanded as she learned words like suicidal ideation, disassociation, delusion, profuse night-sweats, rapid irregular heartbeat, and agoraphobia. Kerri is now 11 years medication-free and stable and says that today she has a strategy for living that works. We spoke in mid-December over Zoom.
Akathisia Stories
On this episode, we hear from Vincent Schmitt and Yoko Motohama, parents of Romain, a 16-year-old boy who tragically ended his life in 2021 after being prescribed a high dose of Paxil — known in France as Paroxetine — and suffering the effects of akathisia for several agonizing months.
Yoko Motohama was born in Japan and earned a Ph.D. in computer science. She did postdoctoral research in the United Kingdom and spent a decade in Japan as an entrepreneur importing French wines.
Her husband, Vincent Schmitt, a native of France, also earned a Ph.D. and became a lecturer in mathematics and computer science at the University of Leicester. Now based in France, close to Lyon, Vincent focuses on applied mathematics in the research department of a multinational company.
Romain Schmitt was born October 12th, 2004, in Leicester, United Kingdom, the son of Vincent and Yoko. When the boy was four years old his parents decided to relocate the family — which also included Romain's younger sister — to France, and not long after that to the Japanese countryside. Romain had already learned English and French and now became a fluent speaker of Japanese. After nine years the family returned to France, in 2018, where 13-year-old Romain started the third year of middle school. He had a good mind for math and physics and was interested as well in geography, philosophy, politics, and even nuclear science and energy, which his grandfather taught him about. Romain was also a good swimmer, played rugby and tennis, and aspired to become a professional soccer player, like his idol Cristiano Ronaldo. His love of the game even inspired Romain to master a fourth language, German, so that he could better follow his favorite team, Bayern Munich.
READ THE FULL EPISODE 18 TRANSCRIPT: www.studiocchicago.com/vincent-and-yoko-transcript
