Susannah Cahalan, author of “Brain on Fire”, furthers her research into the psychology realm to understand mental institutes and psychology as a whole. Stemming from her own diagnosis process, Cahalan points to the flaws in the system, but also improvements the field is edging towards.
The biggest thing you need to know before this book is that Susannah Cahalan’s body at one point began attacking her brain. This caused her to spiral out of control. She began hearing voices and believed she could hear the thoughts of others. She also perceived that people were “out to get her”. This is just the tip of her experience. During this time, doctors wanted to write her off and give her medicine, rather than digging for the cause of the breakdown.
This experience changed Cahalan. Unlike some similar cases, Cahalan was fought for. Her parents demanded answers and she was working with a medical team who wanted to keep digging. Often, this does not seem to be the case. This flaw in the system led Cahalan to begin researching and “The Great Pretender” came from that research.
This book primarily follows one doctor, Dr. Rosenhan. He is known for his study in which he sent healthy people to asylums to see if psychologists could tell the healthy from the sick. His findings show that they could not. But what if his research wasn’t quite true?
Through much research, Cahalan began to notice discrepancies. And once she saw one, she saw them everywhere. What research was real and what was fake? Was Cahalan’s experience as common as she had thought or were more studies also subject to fabrication?
Overall, this book was fascinating. Readers get an up close view of psychology, that without a degree and some digging is seldom viewed. Psychology’s rocky past will leave readers wondering: what will happen next?
North of Nonsense South of Sophisticated 