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Susannah Cahalan
Memoir & Personal Growth
Susannah Cahalan is an American journalist and author whose memoir Brain on Fire recounts her hospitalization and diagnosis with anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis.
Biography
Susannah Cahalan is an American journalist and author born on January 30, 1985. She writes for the New York Post and is known for Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness, a memoir about her hospitalization with anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis, a rare autoimmune disease. Her account describes the difficulties surrounding her diagnosis and her life after recovery. Her writing has helped raise awareness of the disease.
Cahalan’s second book, The Great Pretender: The Undercover Mission That Changed Our Understanding of Madness, was published in 2019. Her third book, The Acid Queen: The Psychedelic Life and Counterculture Rebellion of Rosemary Woodruff Leary, followed in 2025.
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Books by Susannah Cahalan
Brain on fire
Brain on Fire recounts Cahalan’s hospitalization with anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis, including memory loss, violent episodes, delusions, and misdiagnoses before her eventual diagnosis. It also explores her life after recovery and her reactions to watching hospital videotapes of her psychotic episodes.