Susannah Cahalan is not only a journalist, but also someone who struggled with a mental illness. She combines these two attributes in her book Brain on Fire, in which she tells the story of her life with Anti-NMDA receptor autoimmune encephalitis. She retells how frightening it was to not understand what was happening to herself. Cahalan uses the book as a platform to get her point on living with a disease across. First off, Cahalan states that we do know have sufficient knowledge on mental illness and the brain in general. Throughout the book, it demonstrates the uncertainty of what exactly was wrong with Susannah Cahalan. Several doctors ran a multitude of tests, however, it never gave the family back any final results. For a long time Cahalan
…show more content…
She expresses how grateful she is to have so much support at home. For example, she had her boyfriend Stephen, who was able to be patient with Cahalan and help her with anything needed. She describes in the book, “‘She’s still in there,’ Stephen said. ‘I can see her. She’s still there. I know it’”(120). This optimism Stephen had for Susannah was very significant because it allowed him to care for her. Another example of this support can be seen with her father. While in the hospital a physician barged into Cahalan’s room and started talking about Cahalan’s case with a group of students, an incident that brought the girl to tears. The patient's father went and stood up for her. He shouted at the doctor to leave the room. Family at the hospital was important because it gave Cahalan a voice, as well as hope. Overall, Susannah Cahalan uses her book Brain on Fire to get her points across. She knows the experience of what it is like to live undiagnosed. Cahalan expresses that we still do not know enough on the brain based on her experience and that we need to improve at picking up on cases. Cahalan alone would likely not have been able to go through this. She is fortunate to have had her family and friends who were able to provide the necessary support. She later explains how important the support was for her. The theme and purpose of Cahalan writing her book was to get her point on living with a disease
She expresses how grateful she is to have so much support at home. For example, she had her boyfriend Stephen, who was able to be patient with Cahalan and help her with anything needed. She describes in the book, “‘She’s still in there,’ Stephen said. ‘I can see her. She’s still there. I know it’”(120). This optimism Stephen had for Susannah was very significant because it allowed him to care for her. Another example of this support can be seen with her father. While in the hospital a physician barged into Cahalan’s room and started talking about Cahalan’s case with a group of students, an incident that brought the girl to tears. The patient's father went and stood up for her. He shouted at the doctor to leave the room. Family at the hospital was important because it gave Cahalan a voice, as well as hope. Overall, Susannah Cahalan uses her book Brain on Fire to get her points across. She knows the experience of what it is like to live undiagnosed. Cahalan expresses that we still do not know enough on the brain based on her experience and that we need to improve at picking up on cases. Cahalan alone would likely not have been able to go through this. She is fortunate to have had her family and friends who were able to provide the necessary support. She later explains how important the support was for her. The theme and purpose of Cahalan writing her book was to get her point on living with a disease