Susannah Cahalan

Susannah Cahalan – Life, Career, and Notable Quotes

Learn about Susannah Cahalan (born 1985) — American journalist, memoirist, and mental health advocate — her journey through illness, her bestselling works Brain on Fire and The Great Pretender, and the insights she offers about diagnosis, identity, and resilience.

Introduction

Susannah Cahalan is an American journalist, author, and public speaker, best known for writing about her own experience with a rare autoimmune brain disease in Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness. Born in 1985, she has since become a leading voice on brain illness, misdiagnosis, and mental health care reform. Her work combines rigorous investigative journalism with deeply personal storytelling, drawing attention to how medical systems treat (and sometimes mistreat) people whose symptoms are difficult to categorize.

In this article, we’ll explore her life, career, the events around her illness, her books, her influence in mental health discussion, and a selection of quotes and lessons drawn from her story.

Early Life & Background

Susannah Cahalan was born on January 30, 1985.

She studied journalism and political science at Washington University in St. Louis.

Cahalan began her professional career as a journalist, writing for the New York Post and other publications. The Atlantic, Scientific American, Glamour, Psychology Today, and others.

Illness, Diagnosis, and Recovery

The Onset & Misdiagnoses

In 2009, at age 24, Cahalan began experiencing strange neurological and psychiatric symptoms: sensory disturbances, insomnia, delusions, hallucinations, and changes in behavior.

Over time, physicians misdiagnosed her with psychiatric conditions such as bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, attributing her symptoms to stress or mental illness.

Correct Diagnosis & Treatment

Eventually, neurologist Dr. Souhel Najjar used a diagnostic test called the “clock test” (asking Cahalan to draw a clock) to detect dysfunction in one half of her brain. That test, along with other investigations, led to the diagnosis of anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis, a rare autoimmune disease affecting the brain.

Cahalan underwent treatments including immunotherapy, steroids, plasmapheresis, and other interventions. Over time, she made a full recovery without lasting brain damage.

Her illness journey was partially lost to memory—she had a “lost month” during which she could not reconstruct events, and much of Brain on Fire is about piecing together what happened during that period via hospital records, interviews, and other sources.

Major Works & Writing Career

Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness (2012)

Cahalan’s first and best-known book, Brain on Fire, is a memoir recounting her descent into illness, misdiagnosis, struggle to be understood, and eventual recovery.

The book was a New York Times bestseller, has sold over a million copies, and has been translated into more than twenty languages.

In 2016, Brain on Fire was adapted into a film starring Chloë Grace Moretz as Cahalan.

The Great Pretender: The Undercover Mission That Changed Our Understanding of Madness (2019)

Her second book, The Great Pretender, investigates the landmark 1973 psychology experiment by David Rosenhan (“On Being Sane in Insane Places”) and challenges some of its assumptions.

Cahalan’s investigation raised questions about how psychiatric diagnoses are made and how “madness” is defined in institutional settings.

The Great Pretender was shortlisted for the Royal Society’s 2020 Science Book Prize and received critical acclaim from Time, The Guardian, and others.

Other Projects & Work

Cahalan continues to write, speak publicly, and advocate for better understanding and care in neuropsychiatric illness.

She has delivered lectures at medical schools, universities, and conferences, focusing on narratives of mental health, misdiagnosis, and patient experience.

She was awarded the Poynter Fellowship in Journalism (Yale) and other lecture honors.

Her newer work includes The Acid Queen (2025), a biography of Rosemary Woodruff Leary, highlighting Cahalan’s expanding interests beyond her personal medical journey.

Legacy & Influence

Raising Awareness of Anti-NMDA Encephalitis
Cahalan’s memoir significantly raised public awareness of anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis, contributing to more diagnoses and research into the disease.

Reframing Mental Illness and Diagnosis
Her work questions rigid divisions between “neurological” and “psychiatric” illnesses, pushing for a more nuanced understanding of brain disorders, misdiagnosis, and the human aspects of medical narratives.

Storytelling as Advocacy
Cahalan’s blend of investigative rigor and personal vulnerability has influenced narrative nonfiction on medicine and psychological illness, making medical mysteries accessible and human.

Medical Humanities & Patient Voices
Her voice is often cited in medical, psychiatric, and neuroscience spaces as a representative of patient experience—pushing institutions to value narrative alongside laboratory data.

Personality, Style & Approach

Cahalan writes with clarity, empathy, and intellectual curiosity. Her style is investigative yet deeply personal, combining factual reconstruction with emotional reflection.

She often frames experiences from multiple perspectives—hers, her caregivers’, her doctors’—to build empathy and complexity.

Her work reflects resilience, courage, and a determination to reclaim narrative control over her own experience.

Selected Quotes

Here are some notable quotations (or paraphrased sentiments) from or about Cahalan:

• “What I remember most vividly is the fear and anger.”

• On writing Brain on Fire: she described it as a “dissociative process,” reconstructing her month via hospital records, interviews, and forensic narrative.

• (On The Great Pretender) — she challenges how we define sanity and examines how institutional labeling can distort truth.

Because much of Cahalan’s public discourse is contained in interviews, lectures, and essays, many of her most impactful lines are embedded contextually rather than collected in quote compilations.

Lessons from Susannah Cahalan

From Cahalan’s journey and body of work, we can derive several lessons:

1. Narrative can heal and empower
   Taking control of one’s story—even when parts are hidden or lost—can restore agency and meaning.

2. Medical humility is essential
   Symptoms do not always fit tidy categories; clinicians must remain open to anomalies, contradictions, and rare causes.

3. Patient voice matters
   Those undergoing illness often have vital insights; they should be partners, not passive subjects.

4. Bridging science and story
   Complex medical topics become more accessible when grounded in human narrative, without diluting scientific rigor.

5. Resilience doesn’t mean forgetting
   Recovery does not invalidate the memory—there is value in remembering, reconstructing, and sharing.

Conclusion

Susannah Cahalan’s life arcs from journalist to medical mystery to advocate. Her memoir Brain on Fire brought a rare illness to widespread attention, and her investigative follow-up in The Great Pretender compels us to rethink how we label, diagnose, and treat mental phenomena.

Her work continues to shape conversations in medicine, psychiatry, and narrative nonfiction. For anyone interested in the intersections of brain, mind, and story, Cahalan’s example remains powerful and instructive.