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Cover of Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan

Brain on Fire

  • 288 pages · about 5 hours
  • First published 2012
  • 16 editions

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1 About this book

The book narrates Cahalan's issues with anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis and the process by which she was diagnosed with this form of encephalitis. She wakes up in a hospital with no memory of the events of the previous month, during which time she would have violent episodes and delusions. Her eventual diagnosis is made more difficult by various physicians misdiagnosing her with several theories such as "partying too much" and schizoaffective disorder.

The book also covers Cahalan's life after her recovery, including her reactions to watching videotapes of her psychotic episodes while in the hospital.

Good for readers who want: mental health and a true life story.

  • Mental health
  • Biography
  • Journalists, biography
  • Women, united states
  • Autobiography
  • Diseases
  • Patients
  • Health

2 About Susannah Cahalan

Born 1985

Susannah Cahalan (born January 30, 1985) is an American writer and author, known for writing the memoir Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness, about her hospitalization with a rare autoimmune disease, anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis.

Bio adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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