Introduction
Released in 2016, Brain on Fire can be considered one of the most important biographical movies in terms of medical practice. In fact, it is based on the true story from the life of Susannah Cahalan who was building her career as a journalist in a popular American tabloid newspaper. The movie demonstrates specific features of suffering from a mysterious illness at a young age. Initially, the movie premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival where it received a variety of positive reviews.
Lately, numerous research studies were conducted with the intention to analyze and explore the disease discussed in the movie, which is anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis. Therefore, it is essential to note that the movie’s director, Gerard Barrett, has made a considerable contribution to the area of healthcare. Currently, medical staff, including nurse practitioners, have a high level of awareness when it comes to this kind of brain inflammation, which is the main achievement of Brain on Fire.
Brief Overview of the Movie
The movie begins with a general overview of the life of a 21-year-old Susannah before she was diagnosed with a rare health issue. After receiving the Master of Journalism degree, the young girl applies for a job as a writer at a daily tabloid newspaper in New York City (Barrett, 2016). In addition to building a career in this field, Susannah lives happily with a boyfriend Stephen who is seven years older than her. Despite the fact that the couple had been dating for around four months before the first symptoms of the disease were noticed, Stephen was supporting her throughout the entire process of treatment. As clinicians highlighted later, the presence of Stephen near Susannah was associated with the better overall well-being of the patient.
Each day of the young writer had been starting with a smile and numerous plans for the future until she became suddenly ill. First, the main character has started experiencing episodes of mood swings (Barrett, 2016). Second, regular symptoms of the flu, including fever, cough, fatigue, and headache, affected the health of Susannah. Lastly, the girl faced a seizure, which was the reason that she was hospitalized at the treatment center. Some doctors diagnosed her with bipolar disorder due to unpredictable mood swings. Other clinicians stated that the well-being of a writer was affected due to physical exhaustion. As a result, they recommended improving nutrition and sleep, as well as reducing the impact of stress. However, none of the recommendations helped Susannah recover and improve her well-being.
Even though clinical tests did not help to detect any health issues, the girl’s parents asked healthcare providers to hospitalize her due to another outburst. After being misdiagnosed with schizophrenia, Susannah gets acquainted with a Syrian-American neurologist who takes appropriate measures to investigate her case. After performing several tests, the doctor realized that the right hemisphere of the patient’s brain was inflamed.
Accordingly, Susannah was finally diagnosed with anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis that was initially studied and described by researchers in 2007 (Barrett, 2016). The whole process of treatment took approximately seven months, although it was successful. The movie ends with a scene where a young writer arrives at the office of the tabloid newspaper and keeps working. She is asked to start working on her personal book in order to share her experience with the world.
Personal Thoughts and Perceptions About the Movie
Movies depicting the real-life stories of people’s experiences with various health issues have always played an essential role in terms of medical knowledge and practice. In fact, the media can be considered a significant tool for sharing information and increasing the level of awareness of medical conditions today. Taking into account that this movie was initially released on Netflix, which is a globally known streaming service, Brain on Fire has received huge recognition in different parts of the world. In addition to serving entertainment functions, this movie is also a vast source of information regarding the rare autoimmune disorder. A total of 216 individuals had been diagnosed with this disease before the Susannah case (Palsetia et al., 2018). Hence, this health issue can be considered a tremendously rare condition.
The movie’s graphic portrayal of symptoms associated with encephalitis is accurate, as Susannah experiences hallucinations, delusions, and aggressiveness. On the one hand, it was predicted to startle the general audience. On the other hand, clinicians were expected to benefit from this representation of disease. As a result, the release of this movie has demonstrated that each disease has its unique symptoms that should be detected. The majority of tests performed by healthcare providers should not have been done. However, a Syrian-American neurologist analyzed the case of the young writer from a different perspective, thereby achieving the goal to treat the patient successfully. Thus, Brain on Fire has become a crucial motivator for medical staff to increase the level of awareness in terms of brain inflammation.
The Way This Movie Can Change Medical Practice of Nurse Practitioners
This movie provides important information about symptoms, causes, and treatment options related to anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis. For instance, in order to determine the health issues that affected the health of Susannah, her doctor performed the clock-drawing test that is usually used for cases, such as Alzheimer’s disease or dementia (Palsetia et al., 2018). This screening test is based on the idea to determine a person’s cognitive abilities.
In the case of Susannah, the doctor asked her to draw a clock with all the appropriate numbers. The patient drew the clock on the right side of the face. As a result, the doctor realized that the writer’s health issue is related to inflammation of the right hemisphere of her brain. Therefore, the medical practice of nurse practitioners should be based on the idea to use a variety of different tests for diagnosing rare autoimmune disorders. In this case, the clock-drawing test to understand whether the patient’s brain is inflamed.
Furthermore, this movie encourages nurse practitioners to analyze current methods of medical training. Most frequently, training sessions for the medical staff include information regarding pathology, diagnosing disease, and acquiring the language of medicine. Accordingly, nurse practitioners tend to associate patients with their disease. It is quite a common practice when they describe a specific patient as “hypertension in room 25” or “acute kidney disease in room 37” (Barett, 2016).
In turn, the movie demonstrates that teaching by way of clinical rounds should be transformed into another type of practice. Nurse practitioners should understand that patients are not zoo animals, which is why it is essential to avoid cases when medical staff observes them in this way. In turn, it is important to review each case with the help of patients’ medical history and clinical course.
Moreover, this movie has encouraged nurse practitioners to consider mental health issues as interrelated elements with physical health issues. In fact, the movie demonstrates that Susannah’s brain was gradually betrayed by her own body. In other words, the mind and body of each person are intrinsically linked. Therefore, nurse practitioners should take into consideration both physical and mental health symptoms.
This approach to diagnosis and treatment is expected to be more beneficial for the overall health status of patients and the entire medical practice. Hence, the accurate approach to the treatment has helped Susannah’s doctor to determine her disease and successfully treat it. Currently, there are still numerous rare health issues that are not studied well. Consequently, this movie encourages medical staff to analyze each case in the context of both physical and mental health.
Conclusion
Brain on Fire is a great example of a movie that serves the functions of entertainment and education. On the one hand, professional actors and the director have created a tremendously interesting drama movie that represents the story of a young girl living in the US. the general audience is expected to be impressed by characterization, theme, and positive ending. On the other hand, this movie is a vital source of information for all medical workers, regardless of their job experience and knowledge in this field.
The disease discussed in the movie was initially described by researchers less than 15 years ago, which is a short period. Therefore, the lack of knowledge and practice in terms of diagnosing and treating this health issue negatively affects the well-being of patients. Susannah is the person who has managed to overcome this disease and attract attention to this problem from the whole world.
References
Barrett, G. (2016). Brain on Fire [DVD]. Denver and Delilah Productions.
Palsetia, D., Rao, P., Tiwari, S., Lodha, P., & De Sousa, A. (2018). The clock drawing test versus mini-mental status examination as a screening tool for dementia: A clinical comparison. Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine, 40(1), 1-10. Web.