Identity In Cahalan's Brain On Fire

You’re inside your brain, it’s dark and the only light you see leads to the outside world. You peek through the hole and you see everyone at your beck and call. It’s a new feeling, a satisfying one. You’re surrounded by voices that tell you this isn’t right, that you shouldn’t be acting this way, but the other voices tell you different. They tell you, you’re in charge, to enjoy the feeling and take advantage of it while you can. There are two sides to every story, there are two sides or more to one person, but there’s always one side to every story to every person that wins. In Susannah Cahalan's Brain On Fire, Cahalan is misdiagnosed a handful of times by her doctor and her therapist. She is finally diagnosed with anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis; …show more content…
She has never been close with her father. She has always been closer to her mother; she did everything with her. Her relationship with her father is a “once every 6 months dinner together” (121) this past relationship with her father allows her obsessions with power to really take over. Her abnormal identity harvests the obsession of power allows her mind to create negative figments of her father, “It was the sound of fists hitting a hard object, like a skull. I could see it all clearly. He was beating her because he was upset with me,” (69). Actuality, her dad never laid a hand on Gisselle. This was Susannah’s mind playing games with her. Her parents divorced when she was still young and always being closer to her mother played a huge role in her relationship with her father. Her father leaving after the divorce did not leave an impact on Cahalan like it would on other kids. Now, since Susannah is ill he tries his hardest to be there for her. He offers his home to her, stays with her at the hospital every day, and stays by her side. Her other mind starts to realize that her relationship with her father is shifting for the good and doesn’t know how to handle it. So the only answer is to act out, however, the relationship she never had with her father doesn’t matter now because now he’s actually trying to be there and help her. She just doesn’t know how to handle that because he’s never been there. She also creates these figments of people who try to help her, “He (MRI Technician) can’t just do that. No, I’m going to destroy him in court! … He hit on me! He didn’t catch the melanoma. I’m suing!” (44) Susannah growing up was always described as “played hard and worked hard” (94) she was an independent woman. Susannah is a person who doesn't like to receive help from others when she believes she’s right. Before a doctor