{"id":15180,"date":"2020-09-20T00:05:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-20T04:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=15180"},"modified":"2020-09-30T18:03:46","modified_gmt":"2020-09-30T22:03:46","slug":"brain-on-fire-characters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-on-fire-characters\/","title":{"rendered":"12 Brain on Fire Characters You Need to Know"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Who are the key <em>Brain on Fire <\/em>characters? What did they contribute to Susannah&#8217;s story?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <em>Brain on Fire <\/em>characters are either medical personnel or are part of Susannah&#8217;s personal life. Throughout her illness, she turned to doctors for answers and her support system to keep her fighting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read more about the important <em>Brain on Fire <\/em>characters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><em>Brain on Fire<\/em> Characters: Medical Team Searching for Answers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Bailey, a famous neurologist, was the first specialist to work on Susannah\u2019s case. Bailey conducts a routine neurological exam and declares everything is normal. He prescribes an MRI, which comes back normal. Dr. Bailey does another basic neurological exam and once again concludes that Susannah is \u201cnormal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sarah Levin was the psychiatrist recommended by Dr. Bailey. Susannah makes the case for her being bipolar. Levin concludes that Susannah is experiencing manic and depressive states, and she prescribes a drug commonly used for mood and thought disorders.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Siegel is<strong> a world-famous neurologist, and he assures Susannah\u2019s mom that everything will be fine.<\/strong> <strong>Susannah\u2019s mom clings to his words as if they\u2019re a lifeline. <\/strong>&nbsp;But Dr. Siegel later quits Susannah\u2019s team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Khan is another psychiatrist and he visits Susannah in the hospital. He describes Susannah as \u201cdisheveled\u201d and \u201cfidgety,\u201d noting that her pajamas are \u201crevealing.\u201d Khan suggests that the team should be looking for neurological causes for Susannah\u2019s psychosis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Russo is a neurologist who brings up the name of a Dr. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/souhel-najjar\/\">Souhel Najjar<\/a>, the doctor to call when nothing makes sense.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Souhel Najjar has a track record of solving a number of mystery cases, and Siegel has confessed that he\u2019s stumped by Susannah\u2019s case. Based on Siegel\u2019s expert summary, Najjar suggests that Susannah might have viral encephalitis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Outside of the Medical Team<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Susannah\u2019s mom and stepdad, Allen, who initially bring her to their home in New Jersey, where they can look after her. Allen has a schizophrenic brother. <strong>As Susannah\u2019s condition deteriorates, Allen\u2019s familiarity with mental illness will prove to be a huge asset.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Susannah\u2019s dad and stepmom, Giselle, care for Susannah when she returns to Manhattan from New Jersey.&nbsp; All goes well at first, but as Susannah and her dad head for the subway, Susannah\u2019s paranoia returns. She\u2019s convinced she isn\u2019t safe in his care<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Stephen is Susannah\u2019s boyfriend, but they haven\u2019t been dating long. Still, he makes a pact to stay by Susannah\u2019s side as long as she needs him. He comes every day, bringing nature documentaries that relax Susannah without her knowing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Susannah\u2019s coworker Angela is one of the first who she shares her symptoms with, telling her about the strange experience in Times Square. Angela suggests that Susannah see another doctor, and <strong>Susannah finally admits that something is happening to her but she doesn\u2019t know what it is.<\/strong> Angela&#8217;s advice starts Susannah&#8217;s journey and makes Angela one of the key <em>Brain on Fire<\/em> characters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Who are the key Brain on Fire characters? What did they contribute to Susannah&#8217;s story? The Brain on Fire characters are either medical personnel or are part of Susannah&#8217;s personal life. Throughout her illness, she turned to doctors for answers and her support system to keep her fighting. Read more about the important Brain on Fire characters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":15285,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,33,12],"tags":[130],"class_list":["post-15180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-people","category-relationships","tag-brain-on-fire","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>12 Brain on Fire Characters You Need to Know - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"During her illness, Susannah meets many people who try to help. These are the 12 key Brain on Fire characters involved in her story.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-on-fire-characters\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"12 Brain on Fire Characters You Need to Know\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"During her illness, Susannah meets many people who try to help. These are the 12 key Brain on Fire characters involved in her story.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-on-fire-characters\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-09-20T04:05:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-09-30T22:03:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/brain-on-fire-characters.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1035\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"602\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rina Shah\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rina Shah\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-on-fire-characters\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-on-fire-characters\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Rina Shah\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d07435826f13a8f422d5d333dceac287\"},\"headline\":\"12 Brain on Fire Characters You Need to Know\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-09-20T04:05:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-09-30T22:03:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-on-fire-characters\/\"},\"wordCount\":515,\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-on-fire-characters\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/brain-on-fire-characters.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Brain on Fire\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Books\",\"People\",\"Relationships\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-on-fire-characters\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-on-fire-characters\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-on-fire-characters\/\",\"name\":\"12 Brain on Fire Characters You Need to Know - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-on-fire-characters\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-on-fire-characters\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/brain-on-fire-characters.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-09-20T04:05:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-09-30T22:03:46+00:00\",\"description\":\"During her illness, Susannah meets many people who try to help. These are the 12 key Brain on Fire characters involved in her story.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-on-fire-characters\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-on-fire-characters\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-on-fire-characters\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/brain-on-fire-characters.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/brain-on-fire-characters.jpg\",\"width\":1035,\"height\":602},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-on-fire-characters\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"12 Brain on Fire Characters You Need to Know\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World&#039;s Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d07435826f13a8f422d5d333dceac287\",\"name\":\"Rina Shah\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/560b3bc3d51625f9becff4fded992607b156f274aa36bc07f8a4285a1d72cdc8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/560b3bc3d51625f9becff4fded992607b156f274aa36bc07f8a4285a1d72cdc8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Rina Shah\"},\"description\":\"An avid reader for as long as she can remember, Rina\u2019s love for books began with The Boxcar Children. Her penchant for always having a book nearby has never faded, though her reading tastes have since evolved. Rina reads around 100 books every year, with a fairly even split between fiction and non-fiction. Her favorite genres are memoirs, public health, and locked room mysteries. As an attorney, Rina can\u2019t help analyzing and deconstructing arguments in any book she reads.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/rina\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"12 Brain on Fire Characters You Need to Know - Shortform Books","description":"During her illness, Susannah meets many people who try to help. These are the 12 key Brain on Fire characters involved in her story.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-on-fire-characters\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"12 Brain on Fire Characters You Need to Know","og_description":"During her illness, Susannah meets many people who try to help. These are the 12 key Brain on Fire characters involved in her story.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-on-fire-characters\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2020-09-20T04:05:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-09-30T22:03:46+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1035,"height":602,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/brain-on-fire-characters.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Rina Shah","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Rina Shah","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-on-fire-characters\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-on-fire-characters\/"},"author":{"name":"Rina Shah","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d07435826f13a8f422d5d333dceac287"},"headline":"12 Brain on Fire Characters You Need to Know","datePublished":"2020-09-20T04:05:00+00:00","dateModified":"2020-09-30T22:03:46+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-on-fire-characters\/"},"wordCount":515,"commentCount":1,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-on-fire-characters\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/brain-on-fire-characters.jpg","keywords":["Brain on Fire"],"articleSection":["Books","People","Relationships"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-on-fire-characters\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-on-fire-characters\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-on-fire-characters\/","name":"12 Brain on Fire Characters You Need to Know - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-on-fire-characters\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-on-fire-characters\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/brain-on-fire-characters.jpg","datePublished":"2020-09-20T04:05:00+00:00","dateModified":"2020-09-30T22:03:46+00:00","description":"During her illness, Susannah meets many people who try to help. These are the 12 key Brain on Fire characters involved in her story.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-on-fire-characters\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-on-fire-characters\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-on-fire-characters\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/brain-on-fire-characters.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/brain-on-fire-characters.jpg","width":1035,"height":602},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/brain-on-fire-characters\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"12 Brain on Fire Characters You Need to Know"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World&#039;s Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d07435826f13a8f422d5d333dceac287","name":"Rina Shah","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/560b3bc3d51625f9becff4fded992607b156f274aa36bc07f8a4285a1d72cdc8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/560b3bc3d51625f9becff4fded992607b156f274aa36bc07f8a4285a1d72cdc8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Rina Shah"},"description":"An avid reader for as long as she can remember, Rina\u2019s love for books began with The Boxcar Children. Her penchant for always having a book nearby has never faded, though her reading tastes have since evolved. Rina reads around 100 books every year, with a fairly even split between fiction and non-fiction. Her favorite genres are memoirs, public health, and locked room mysteries. As an attorney, Rina can\u2019t help analyzing and deconstructing arguments in any book she reads.","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/rina\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/brain-on-fire-characters.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15180"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15180\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15495,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15180\/revisions\/15495"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}