The Neuroscientist Who Lost Her Mind: My Tale of Madness and Recovery

The Neuroscientist Who Lost Her Mind: My Tale of Madness and Recovery
 By Barbara K. Lipska Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018. 188 pgs. Biography

Barbara Lipska, a neuroscientist who has studied brain physiology for decades, survived cancer treatment for melanoma in her brain. As she endured radiation, chemotherapy and immunotherapy that caused brain swelling and other problems, she suffered the symptoms of a variety of mental illnesses. In spite of her knowledge, she didn’t recognize the signs of schizophrenia, dementia, and other pathologies even as she began manifesting them in her behavior. It wasn’t until she recovered that she fully realized the trauma she had caused her family and the extent of her evident madness.

Her lack of self-awareness of her problems in spite of being an expert on the brain was a very interesting aspect of her story. Many people who suffer mental illness have this condition, known as anosognosia , making it difficult for them to acknowledge their illness and follow through with taking medications and other treatments. She was absolutely determined to recover from her cancer but didn’t see the abnormality her behaviors until after her treatments were finished. Her story is one of courage and family unity as well as triumph over a lethal form of cancer. We can hope that long term insight into mental illness is also one of the outcomes of her suffering. SH