Susannah Cahalan

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

Minnesota

My Month of Madness

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING CHLOË GRACE MORETZ

A "captivating" (The New York Times Book Review), award-winning memoir and instant New York Times bestseller that goes far beyond its riveting medical mystery, Brain on Fire is a powerful account of one woman's struggle to recapture her identity.

When twenty-four-year-old Susannah Cahalan woke up alone in a hospital room, strapped to her bed and unable to move or speak, she had no memory of how she'd gotten there. Days earlier, she had been on the threshold of a new, adult life: at the beginning of her first serious relationship and a promising career at a major New York newspaper. Now she was labeled as violent, psychotic, a flight risk. What happened?

In an "unforgettable" (Elle), "stunningly brave" (NPR), and breathtaking narrative, Susannah tells the astonishing true story of her descent into madness, her family's inspiring faith in her, and the lifesaving diagnosis that almost didn't happen. "A fascinating look at the disease that...could have cost this vibrant, vital young woman her life" (People), Brain on Fire is an unforgettable exploration of memory and identity, faith and love, and a profoundly compelling tale of survival and perseverance.

Brain on Fire

1d8ced97-ad4d-4b54-a819-a48bd05e76bf-1

Connecticut

An award-winning memoir and instant New York Times bestseller--and inspiration for the major motion picture starring Chloë Grace Moretz--that goes far beyond its riveting medical mystery, Brain on Fire is the powerful account of one woman's struggle to recapture her identity.

When twenty-four-year-old Susannah Cahalan woke up alone in a hospital room, strapped to her bed and unable to move or speak, she had no memory of how she'd gotten there. Days earlier, she had been on the threshold of a new, adult life: at the beginning of her first serious relationship and a promising career at a major New York newspaper. Now she was labeled violent, psychotic, a flight risk. What happened?

In a swift and breathtaking narrative, Susannah tells the astonishing true story of her descent into madness, her family's inspiring faith in her, and the lifesaving diagnosis that nearly didn't happen. "A fascinating look at the disease that...could have cost this vibrant, vital young woman her life" (People), Brain on Fire is an unforgettable exploration of memory and identity, faith and love, and a profoundly compelling tale of survival and perseverance that is destined to become a classic.

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

New Jersey

The Undercover Mission That Changed Our Understanding of Madness

In 2009, 24-year-old Susannah Cahalan hovered on the precipice between life and death. Even as her doctors informed her family that she had incurable schizophrenia and would spend the rest of her short life in an institution, another doctor down the hall performed one final, informal test that, miraculously, delivered a lifesaving diagnosis: her disease was brought on by a physical problem and therefore treatable -- more "real," in other words, than the intangible problem of a purely mental illness. Susannah is the rare patient who has experienced both sides of this divide: the compassionate response to a treatable, physical diagnosis and the frightening realities of the label of insanity. Obsessed with that same dichotomy, psychiatrist David Rosenhan published a study in 1974 in the prestigious journal Science titled "On Being Sane in Insane Places." Eight people -- sane, normal, well-adjusted members of society -- checked themselves into mental institutions with a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia forced to remain until they'd "proven" themselves sane. Rosenhan's watershed report, built on the data they collected, broke open the field of psychiatry, closing down institutions and changing mental health diagnosis forever. But the story doesn't end there: as Cahalan's explosive new research shows, very little in this saga is exactly as it seems. The more we learn about the study, the more questions emerge about what really happened behind those closed doors. How far have we come in answering the question that David Rosenhan posed all those years ago: "If sanity and insanity exist, how shall we know them"?

The Great Pretender

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Indiana

Illinois

Virginia

Please see pictures. Back cover has been bent and creased.

Ohio

"One of America's most courageous young journalists" and the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling memoir Brain on Fire investigates the shocking mystery behind the dramatic experiment that revolutionized modern medicine (NPR). Doctors have struggled for centuries to define insanity--how do you diagnose it, how do you treat it, how do you even know what it is? In search of an answer, in the 1970s a Stanford psychologist named David Rosenhan and seven other people--sane, healthy, well-adjusted members of society--went undercover into asylums around America to test the legitimacy of psychiatry's labels. Forced to remain inside until they'd "proven" themselves sane, all eight emerged with alarming diagnoses and even more troubling stories of their treatment. Rosenhan's watershed study broke open the field of psychiatry, closing down institutions and changing mental health diagnosis forever. But, as Cahalan's explosive new research shows in this real-life detective story, very little in this saga is exactly as it seems. What really happened behind those closed asylum doors?

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