Brain on Fire

Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness

First edition hardback cover
Author	Susannah Cahalan
Country	United States
Language	English
Subject	Anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis
Genre	Autobiography
Published	2012, Free Press
Media type	Print, e-book, audiobook
Pages	288 pages
ISBN

Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness is a 2012 New York Times Bestselling autobiography by New York Post writer Susannah Cahalan. It was first published on November 13, 2012 through Free Press in hardback, and was later reprinted in paperback by Simon & Schuster after the two companies merged. The book details Cahalan's struggle with a rare autoimmune disease and her recovery.

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. Eventually several physicians, including Dr. Souhel Najjar, began to suspect that Cahalan was suffering from an autoimmune disease. Dr. Najjar diagnosed Cahalan using a test that involved her drawing a clock, a test normally given to people suspected of having dementia or Alzheimer's disease. Rather than drawing the clock face normally, the disease caused Cahalan to draw all of the numbers 1 through 12 on the right face of the clock, because the right side of her brain, which regulates the left side of the body, was inflamed. Najjar used this to help diagnose Cahalan and start her road to recovery.

The book also covers Cahalan's life after her recovery, including her reactions to watching videotapes of her psychotic episodes while in the hospital. Cahalan also discusses her symptoms prior to her hospitalization, as she had previously been diagnosed by both a psychiatrist and by herself with bipolar disorder. While researching, she learned that the disease is fairly newly recognized and had only been officially discovered three years before she became ill. Her research indicated that in 2009 most people with the disease were either misdiagnosed or undiagnosed. Cahalan was fortunate to be correctly diagnosed because, according to Dr. Najjar's estimates, only 10 percent of people with the disease were properly diagnosed at that time. Since then, a better understanding of the disease and its symptoms has resulted in more frequent diagnosis and treatment.