So I started writing the long involved and somewhat angry review, which I have now deleted. It turns out that this book hits on 2 of my "issues." The first is what I call the cult of assertion.

No one wants to go to a doctor and be told "I don't know" and no one wants to read a newspaper article in which "Something happened but it's not clear." As a result doctors and journalists are continually asserting things when they should probably (as my handle suggests) stfu. Even Doctor "Bugsy" Siegel, seems angry (for reasons that are never explained) when he is off the case, but it's probably that he doesn't want to admit defeat. He has to assert his departure aggressively.

The second issue is that of matter over mind. The physical is real and the mental is but a result of physicality. To discover what is wrong means to find something physical causing the mental. Though it is acknowledged that an illness can be brought on by stress (something physical caused by something mental) this is taken as an evasion, or a temporary explanation waiting for the real (i.e. physical) one to be discovered.

These two combine in the reification of mental illness diagnoses (like schizo-affective disorder) with a bit of a stigma attached to them as opposed to something caused by germs or auto-immune disorders or genes.

Much of the book suffers from these unacknowledged prejudices (which I will not take the space to debunk though they are endemic to our culture) even as doctors continue to assert wrong diagnoses and Ms. Cahalan tries to explain her mental states without seriously challenging her underlying view of emotional reality.

Despite this, it's an interesting read; a lucid first person account of what it's like to go through a break from consensual reality.

(Oh, my third issue is the passive acceptance of the economics of health care in this country.)