This book is immensely intriguing and frightening. I have long been interested in mental illnesses and society's treatment of them. This book had been recommended to me by several friends as well as trusty Amazon, so I knew I would enjoy it.
The terrifying premise of this book is that a 24-year old successful reporter suddenly starts having hallucinations and seizures and a short time later is in a catatonic state, barely able to walk, speak, or control her movements. She is diagnosed by many as having mental disorders like schizophrenia and psychosis as well as physical conditions, but ultimately, no one can explain what is happening to her. Test after test comes back normal. Finally, she is seen by a neurologist who has recently read an article about something called anti-AMDA receptor encephalitis. Basically, her brain was inflamed and her body was making antibodies that were literally attacking her brain. No one knows what causes this, but since the article was written in 2007, thousands of people have been diagnosed and successfully treated. Prior to that, many people believe that those with this illness (many are children) were diagnosed with autism, schizophrenia, and epilepsy and left to live in a horrific state.
I found this author to be incredibly brave, very informative, truly relatable, and unabashedly honest. Although there is about a month of her life that she can't remember, she has pieced it together from family journals, interviews with the doctors and nurses that cared for her, video recordings of her treatment, and snippets of her memory that have come back.
Thankfully, this disorder is quite rare, so the likelihood of most readers experiencing what the author lived through is very small. I think the primary lesson here is understanding the human experience and the immense challenges that so many people face and triumph over. At our core, we are social creatures who need social interactions to thrive. Any opportunity we can take to better understand those around us, especially those who are struggling, is worthwhile.
The terrifying premise of this book is that a 24-year old successful reporter suddenly starts having hallucinations and seizures and a short time later is in a catatonic state, barely able to walk, speak, or control her movements. She is diagnosed by many as having mental disorders like schizophrenia and psychosis as well as physical conditions, but ultimately, no one can explain what is happening to her. Test after test comes back normal. Finally, she is seen by a neurologist who has recently read an article about something called anti-AMDA receptor encephalitis. Basically, her brain was inflamed and her body was making antibodies that were literally attacking her brain. No one knows what causes this, but since the article was written in 2007, thousands of people have been diagnosed and successfully treated. Prior to that, many people believe that those with this illness (many are children) were diagnosed with autism, schizophrenia, and epilepsy and left to live in a horrific state.
I found this author to be incredibly brave, very informative, truly relatable, and unabashedly honest. Although there is about a month of her life that she can't remember, she has pieced it together from family journals, interviews with the doctors and nurses that cared for her, video recordings of her treatment, and snippets of her memory that have come back.
Thankfully, this disorder is quite rare, so the likelihood of most readers experiencing what the author lived through is very small. I think the primary lesson here is understanding the human experience and the immense challenges that so many people face and triumph over. At our core, we are social creatures who need social interactions to thrive. Any opportunity we can take to better understand those around us, especially those who are struggling, is worthwhile.