What does severe paranoia signal? Are there paranoia causes beyond mental illness?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Severe paranoia is a recurring symptom in Brain on Fire<\/em>. Susannah had paranoid thoughts about her family, her nurses, and her boyfriend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Read more about the severe paranoia exhibited by Susannah Cahalan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n Susannah refuses to go to Dr. Bailey\u2019s for her EEG. Finally, Stephen convinces her to go. On the way to the doctor\u2019s fancy office in New York City, Susannah has a hallucination: Allen is speaking without moving his lips. She thinks he says, \u201cYou\u2019re a slut and Stephen should know.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Enraged, she tries to throw herself out of the moving car. Her severe paranoia causes her to behave recklessly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stephen tells her that her behavior is not okay. She notices that he\u2019s using a new tone of voice and obeys him. After settling down, she goes into panic mode again and flings herself against the locked car door. Finally, she falls asleep on Stephen\u2019s shoulder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When she wakes up, she insists on being fed. They stop at a diner, where Susannah pushes her way past the long line and shouts, \u201cGet me coffee and an egg sandwich!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTo go,\u201d Stephen quietly tells the man behind the counter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sandwich and coffee in hand, Susannah saunters out of the diner, feeling powerful for making things happen. She then throws the food on the floor of the car, saying she\u2019s not hungry anymore. <\/p>\n\n\n\n At Dr. Bailey\u2019s, Susannah undergoes a rigorous EEG. The technician tells Susannah nothing is wrong with her\u2014it\u2019s in her head, just like those stressed-out Wall Street bankers. Susannah laughs bitterly, because now she knows the truth: her family has set up this EEG to punish her for her bad behavior. Her severe paranoia causes her to suspect her family’s motivations.<\/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 severe 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Susannah has other 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 because of her severe paranoia. 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\nSigns of Severe Paranoia<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
A Fast Downward Slide<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n