Book Review 1: Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan

Book Review #1 - Brain On Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan 6/17/2014

"The existence of forgetting has never been proved. We only know that some things do not come to our mind when we want them to." -Friedrich Nietzsche (From Brain on Fire)

A young journalist (not too unlike myself except for being in New York and actually starting a career in journalism), goes from collecting information and creating stories to being unable to remember major details of her life. In Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan, you get a first person account of a psychotic breakdown.

I enjoyed this book not only because my wonderful mother gave it to me to read (Thank Mom!) but also because of Cahalan's intensive research into her own life - something I can only imagine would be incredibly difficult to do. After being miraculously cured of her very rare disease, she went back to the doctors, nurses, and even her family to find out what had happened in the months her brain had mostly erased from memory.

She watched videos of herself in the hospital - completly detached from the woman on the other side of the screen because she had no recollection of what woman exisiting. Not only is this extremely courageous - Cahalan had no idea what she would uncover about herself in her research - but the meaning behind the story is also heart warming.

Cahalan wrote this novel to put a spotlight on an illness that wrongly gets diagnoses as Bipolar Disorder or even Schizophrenia and in her inspiring ending and afterword, its seems her work to spread awareness did not go unnoticed. Because of her awareness campaign, many more correct diagnosis happen every year. Before about 90% of people with the same diseases went undiagnosed or wrongly diagnosed. After, 81% recover fully.

As an aspiring journalist that wants to create a positive change with my writing, I can say that I without a doubt found Cahalan's account inspiring.

Other quotes from the book:

"Paradoxically, my ability to recognize my own weaknesses was a strength." -Susannah Cahalan, Brain on Fire.