Read this when
Brain on Fire
Everyone thought she was 'going crazy.' One doctor asked her to draw a clock. ⏰ Keep pushing for answers.
Who it's for
Cahalan, a young New York Post reporter, slides from numbness and suspected bedbugs into paranoia, seizures and psychosis, and loses a month of memory; doctors first put it down to stress, drinking or psychiatric illness.
Feelings it meets
What it is
Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness is Susannah Cahalan's 2012 memoir, published by Free Press. It recounts how she developed severe psychiatric and neurological symptoms, was hospitalized for about a month with episodes she could not later remember, and was initially misdiagnosed with psychiatric conditions.
Where to find it
In print (Simon & Schuster); widely available from libraries (Libby/Hoopla) and as an audiobook. Not public domain. A Netflix film (2018) stars Chloë Grace Moretz.
Before you start
Heads up: Seizures and psychosis.
Age: Ages 14+
“Hope” is the thing with feathers – That perches in the soul – And sings the tune without the words – And never stops – at all –Emily Dickinson, “Hope is the thing with feathers” (poem 314)
