What are psychosis hallucinations? Why did Susannah Cahalan suffer from psychosis, hallucinations, and seizures?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Psychosis, hallucinations, and seizures are all symptoms of anti-NMDA-receptor encephalitis. The disease in Brain on Fire<\/em> caused a number of frightening changes to Susannah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Read more about the psychosis, hallucinations and other symptoms she suffered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n En route to interview John Walsh at the <\/strong>Post<\/em><\/strong> the next day, Susannah feels the walls caving in, the posters contracting and expanding. <\/strong>Her perspective narrows, like she\u2019s looking through a viewfinder. She tells herself to breathe and somehow makes it to the office where she\u2019s to interview Walsh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Walsh starts speaking, but Susannah can\u2019t understand what he\u2019s saying. Disassociated from his words, Susannah laughs uproariously at things that aren\u2019t funny. Annoyed, Walsh\u2019s publicist cuts the interview short. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Pressuring herself to appear competent, Susannah walks Walsh to the elevators. Unable to maintain her balance, she keeps bumping into the walls on the way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The next day, Susannah has another hallucination on her way to work.<\/strong> The garish colors on the Times Square billboards make the hairs on her neck stand up. A scrolling banner makes her want to vomit. She\u2019s instantly hit by a migraine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n She stumbles into work and tells Angela about her strange experience in Times Square. Frightened, Angela suggests that Susannah see another doctor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, Susannah acknowledges to herself that something is wrong with her. <\/strong>She bursts into uncontrollable tears and runs to the bathroom to splash cold water on her face, but as she looks around the bathroom, the stalls suddenly look alien to her. Has she really ever used one before?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Susannah asks another colleague for advice, and the woman gives her an excellent piece of counsel: Susannah should write down every symptom, no matter how small it is. Even the tiniest detail could turn out to be important. <\/strong>Susannah returns to her desk, writes down the word \u201cinsomnia\u201d and shouts, \u201cEverything\u2019s going to be great!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Buoyantly happy for the moment, Susannah saunters over to Paul\u2019s desk and invites him downstairs for a smoke. As she talks a mile a minute, Paul becomes increasingly concerned, convinced she\u2019s on the verge of a breakdown. Excusing himself, he goes upstairs and tells Angela to call Susannah\u2019s mom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Susannah\u2019s now by herself on the street. She feels wobbly. She floats above the crowd, seeing the top of her own head.<\/strong> The Wiccan librarian walks by and tells Susannah she\u2019s just experiencing astral travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Allen and Susannah\u2019s mom agree to let Susannah return to Manhattan under her father and stepmother\u2019s care. All goes well at first, but as Susannah and her dad head for the subway, Susannah\u2019s paranoia returns. She starts screaming on the street, and her father has to push her into a cab to get her to his home in Brooklyn. \u201cThey\u2019re kidnapping me!\u201d Susannah yells at the cabbie. She tells her dad she\u2019s calling the police. She\u2019s convinced she isn\u2019t safe in his care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Exhausted by the time they get to her dad\u2019s place, Susannah just sits on the couch and stares as her dad and stepmom, Giselle, prepare her favorite meal, pasta. When they set it before her, though, Susannah has another hallucination; the tomato sauce is too bright. The basil pulsates. The cheese glistens. Susannah refuses to eat. After dinner, she has another hallucination like the one she had in the car with Allen. She thinks she hears Giselle saying, \u201cYou\u2019re a spoiled brat,\u201d even though Giselle\u2019s lips don\u2019t move. Was this one of the psychosis hallucinations?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Susannah has other psychosis hallucinations that night. A painting comes alive. A bust of Lincoln follows her with its eyes. Her childhood dollhouse is haunted. Her father is beating Giselle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Convinced her father is going to kill her, Susannah is desperate to get out. She runs to the front door of the brownstone and bangs her fists against the door, screaming, \u201cLet me out! Help!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Susannah is admitted to NYU Langone\u2019s Advanced Monitoring Unit (AMU), for patients with severe epilepsy. It has been ten days since her first seizure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That evening, a neurologist comes to Susannah\u2019s room to conduct a health history. Susannah accurately conveys information about her health but also tells the neurologist that her dad is changing into different people to play tricks on her. \u201cUnclear if hallucinating,\u201d the neurologist diagnoses. Later that night, Susannah is convinced that someone is watching her in the bathroom. She calls her mom, telling her that the nurses are trying to hurt her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When a nurse enters the room to tell Susannah not to use the phone, Susannah has another hallucination\u2014she \u201chears\u201d the nurse saying, without moving her lips, \u201cI see you on the news.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe Hallucinations Begin<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
A Fast Downward Slide<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Psychosis and Hallucinations Continue in the Hospital<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Psychosis, Hallucinations, and Recovery<\/h2>\n\n\n\n