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The story of twenty-four-year-old Susannah Cahalan and the life-saving discovery of the autoimmune disorder that nearly killed her -- and that could perhaps be the root of "demonic possessions" throughout history.

Shortlisted for the 2020 Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize Named a Best Book of 2020 by The Guardian * The Telegraph * The Times "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?

Rosemary Woodruff Leary has been known only as the wife of Timothy Leary, the Harvard professor-turned-psychedelic high priest, whose jailbreak captivated the counterculture and whose life on the run with Rosemary inflamed the U.S. government. But Rosemary was more than a mere accessory. She was a beatnik, a psychonaut and a true believer who tested the limits of her mind and the expectations for women of her time. Long overlooked by those who have venerated her husband, Rosemary spent her life on the forefront of the counterculture, working with Leary on his books and speeches, sewing his clothing and shaping - for better and for worse - the media's narrative about LSD. Ultimately, Rosemary sacrificed everything for the safety of her fellow psychedelic pioneers and the preservation of her husband's legacy. Drawing from a wealth of interviews, diaries, archives and unpublished sources, Susannah Cahalan writes the definitive portrait of Rosemary Woodruff Leary, reclaiming her narrative and her voice from those who dismissed her. Page-turning, revelatory and utterly compelling, The Acid Queen shines an overdue spotlight on a pioneering psychedelic seeker.

Rosemary Woodruff Leary has been known only as the wife of Timothy Leary, the Harvard professor-turned-psychedelic high priest, whose jailbreak captivated the counterculture and whose life on the run with Rosemary inflamed the U.S. government. But Rosemary was more than a mere accessory. She was a beatnik, a psychonaut and a true believer who tested the limits of her mind and the expectations for women of her time. Long overlooked by those who have venerated her husband, Rosemary spent her life on the forefront of the counterculture, working with Leary on his books and speeches, sewing his clothing and shaping – for better and for worse – the media’s narrative about LSD. Ultimately, Rosemary sacrificed everything for the safety of her fellow psychedelic pioneers and the preservation of her husband’s legacy. Drawing from a wealth of interviews, diaries, archives and unpublished sources, Susannah Cahalan writes the definitive portrait of Rosemary Woodruff Leary, reclaiming her narrative and her voice from those who dismissed her. Page-turning, revelatory and utterly compelling, The Acid Queen shines an overdue spotlight on a pioneering psychedelic seeker.

'My first serious blackout marked the line between sanity and insanity. Though I would have moments of lucidity over the coming days and weeks, I would never again be the same person ...' Susannah Cahalan was a happy, clever, healthy twenty-four-year old. Then one day she woke up in hospital, with no memory of what had happened or how she had got there. Within weeks, she would be transformed into someone unrecognizable, descending into a state of acute psychosis, undergoing rages and convulsions, hallucinating that her father had murdered his wife; that she could control time with her mind. Everything she had taken for granted about her life, and who she was, was wiped out. Brain on Fire is Susannah's story of her terrifying descent into madness and the desperate hunt for a diagnosis, as, after dozens of tests and scans, baffled doctors concluded she should be confined in a psychiatric ward. It is also the story of how one brilliant man, Syria-born Dr Najar, finally proved - using a simple pen and paper - that Susannah's psychotic behaviour was caused by a rare autoimmune disease attacking her brain. His diagnosis of this little-known condition, thought to have been the real cause of devil-possessions through history, saved her life, and possibly the lives of many others. Cahalan takes readers inside this newly-discovered disease through the progress of her own harrowing journey, piecing it together using memories, journals, hospital videos and records. Written with passionate honesty and intelligence, Brain on Fire is a searingly personal yet universal book, which asks what happens when your identity is suddenly destroyed, and how you get it back. 'With eagle-eye precision and brutal honesty, Susannah Cahalan turns her journalistic gaze on herself as she bravely looks back on one of the most harrowing and unimaginable experiences one could ever face: the loss of mind, body and self. Brain on Fire is a mesmerizing story' -Mira Bartók, New York Times bestselling author of The Memory Palace Susannah Cahalan is a reporter on the New York Post, and the recipient of the 2010 Silurian Award of Excellence in Journalism for Feature Writing. Her writing has also appeared in the New York Times, and is frequently picked up by the Daily Mail, Gawker, Gothamist, AOL and Yahoo among other news aggregrator sites.

Uma jovem jornalista com uma carreira promissora em Nova York se vê aprisionada em sua própria insanidade com uma doença que nenhum médico consegue diagnosticar. A rotina no jornal onde ela trabalha é substituída por inexplicáveis alucinações, surtos e ataques de paranoia - os mesmos sinais atribuídos a casos de possessão. Poderia se tratar de um episódio de House, mas é a história de Susannah Cahalan, que escreve com impressionante riqueza de detalhes o período de terror em que se transforma em desconhecida para si mesma e seus familiares. Sem poder contar com a memória para escrever sua reportagem mais difícil, Susannah recorre aos próprios rascunhos do período em que esteve doente, além de relatos de médicos, familiares, namorado e documentos para construir um drama psicológico sobre os caminhos misteriosos e assustadores do nosso próprio cérebro.

Susannah Cahalan, vingt-quatre ans, se réveille entravée sur un lit d’hôpital. Incapable de bouger ou de parler, elle n’a aucun souvenir de la raison pour laquelle elle est là. Celle qui, quelques semaines plus tôt, était une jeune fille en bonne santé, vivant sa première relation sérieuse et promise à une brillante carrière de journaliste, se retrouve désormais cataloguée comme psychotique violente, abrutie de médicaments. Que s’est-il passé? Ma vie en suspens est l’histoire incroyable mais vraie d’une plongée inexplicable dans la folie. Susannah Cahalan raconte sans fard et sans concession cette descente aux enfers et son combat pour reprendre le dessus, retrouver son identité. Adoptant le point de vue de la journaliste, elle dresse la chronique de sa maladie : les crises de violence alternant avec un état de catatonie, les examens coûteux ne donnant aucun résultat, l’éventualité d’un internement à vie et enfin, après un mois de calvaire, l’arrivée d’un nouveau médecin dont le diagnostic lui sauvera la vie.