The first chapter, entitled “The Rat’s Revenge”, is funny in a morbid sort of way. Barbara Lipska, a neuroscientist at the NIH, spent much of her life experimenting on rats’ brains, trying to learn more in order to find treatments or even cures for many varieties of human mental illness. By a strange coincidence, after decades of such research, she was diagnosed with metastatic melanoma, one of the most aggressive types of metastasized cancers. In order to save her life, she herself became a guinea pig for many various new treatments, most with devastating side effects. Fortunately, she was cured by the combination of these innovative therapies, and thus able to describe in detail what she experienced while temporarily mentally ill.

As numerous tumors seeded her brain, her behavior and abilities changed dramatically. Her professional specialty was schizophrenia, a disease that makes it difficult to distinguish fantasy from reality. Many of her symptoms mimicked those of schizophrenia and other common mental illnesses and her fascinating description of this intimate experience provides invaluable insight into the strange and sometimes frightening behaviors of the mentally ill. It makes crystal clear the fact that mental illness is a disease of the brain, not some human failing, so this book may remove some of the stigma attached to it. It also brings to light the terrible toll mental illness takes on loved ones, even after they realize the disconcerting behaviors can be attributed to physical problems in the brain. She was extremely lucky and was eventually cured by undergoing several innovative, new therapies. I was encouraged to learn about some of these breakthrough treatments, such as immunotherapy and targeted radiation, that are showing great promise with even the worst cases of cancer.

I found this engrossing, and read it all in one day. With help from her coauthor, Lipska tells the fascinating, if harrowing, story of her brush with death. It was based on a highly successful article written by Lipska in the New York Times. It’s value cannot be overstated as a deeper understanding of mental illness is critically important in today’s world.

Note: I received an advance copy of the ebook from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Barbara Lipska has been a neuroscientist studying mental illness, specializing in schizophrenia, for decades, first in her home country of Poland and since 1989 at the U.S. National Institute for Mental Health. In 2015, she went through two months of symptoms that paralleled mental illness and dementia because of tumors of metastatic melanoma in her brain. She behaved strangely, was uncharacteristically mean to her family and friends and strangers, didn’t recognize her surroundings or remember how to go where she normally went, and, above all, didn’t realize how bad off she was.

In this book, which grew out of an article she wrote for The New York Times, Lipska details the science of what happened to her (as far as she or others could determine it) and the experience itself, the feelings of what it was like to go through it. It’s rightly scary. After surviving breast cancer and then melanoma, she dealt with what was essentially a death sentence of the melanoma metastasizing in her brain. There are few treatments for that kind of cancer once it’s to that stage, and she and her family were devastated at the prognosis. In part because of her own scientific background and connections through her also-scientific family members, she did everything possible to find studies or new treatments that could give her a shot at life. Amazingly, she survived, and the treatments eventually rid her brain of the tumors. What’s equally amazing is that after the experience of being hobbled mentally, going through a serious cognitive decline that had her behaving as someone with mental illness, she seemed to suffer no noticeable permanent cognitive damage and is able to share her story. As she says, it was “a priceless gift for a neuroscientist.”

It’s also a gift for all of us. So many people experience mental illness at some time in their lives or deal with it in a loved one. It still has stigma attached to it, and so much about it is not understood. The brain is so complex and, while it’s becoming a bit better known how damage or problems in particular areas of the brain is correlated to mental illness, that’s just the beginning for a number of reasons. Lipska’s experience, her recollections and those of her family members, coupled with the brain scans and other data collected during her bout with cancer, are amazing ways she could contribute to research, on top of her many years of research on others. But it’s also a way to remind many readers that mental illness is a complex biological issue that should no more be condemned or judged than cancer. This book is fascinating for the science and for the personal insights it brings to readers.

This was a fascinating book about a difficult subject. The author does an admirable job of describing her symptoms without a trace of whining or self-consciousness. She describes the medical terms in ways that are easy for the lay person to understand and she unflinchingly tells about the devastating effect her behavior had on her family. It's wonderful that she has recovered and shared her experience. I'm sure it's of great value to any person - or their family members - who are facing conditions like this.

This book like it states in the title is all about a woman scientist and her story with how she started to "lose her mind" and how she came back from it. I really enjoyed the story right off the bat because it was an autobiography so the fact that she went through this terrible experience but was able to overcome it and manage to retell it amazes me. One of the things that I liked was how because she was a scientist she knew of all the signs on what was happening but because it was happening to her it was harder to view and it just showed how things are more difficult to see in yourself than in others. This story was really good because
its not something that you read about all of the time. It was so hard to believe that so much bad luck could befall one person but alas this woman was dealt it all. While I liked the story the only thing that I didn't like so much was how it was very medical in explaining things. The terms were very clinical I thought it was
going to be easier to understand. Overall the story was alright but parts of it were a little difficult.

Barbara Lipska is a neuroscientist specialising in schizophrenia who had previously survived breast cancer and melanoma. In 2015, diagnosed with brain cancer she grabbed the opportunity to participate in a trial targeting her type of cancer. Surviving cancer, the debilitating effects of the treatment and temporary mental illness, left her with firsthand experience of life on the other side, which she has passed on in her writing. It also left her more aware of life, with a deeper compassion towards others and a fear that her insanity might return.

Barbara discovers she has to live in a world which doesnt make sense, logic doesnt exist as the past is quickly forgotten and the future cannot be planned.

The reader is taken through the different stages of Barbara’s illness and recovery sharing her emotional roller coaster of a journey. You will also have the complexities of the brain explained and gain a deeper perspective of mental illness.

I am touched and in awe of someone who can beat such a non-discerning disease and manage a return to life albeit in a modified way. At times, this made me feel a little emotional and at others made me laugh. Read this in one sitting and enjoyed every page.

Written in an easy to understand format this book provides greater insight into the essential role performed by the frontal cortex and the effect on family. It also helped me understand a little about my own mind and reinforced what an amazing organ it is.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free advance digital copy in return for an honest review of an amazing book.

Barbara Lipska's memoir could have been harrowing. Instead, the reader is filled with awe as she reads about the way a brain melanoma can affect one's personality, abilities, and sense of self, told by a woman who is both a brain researcher and an educator. Many of the symptoms that were caused by the disease had to be reconstructed by this scientist, who had spent her life researching the very topic of how mental illness might be caused - or detected - in the brain, and who had little recollection of these symptoms. Yes, the writer has survived all of the modern treatments, including the most radical immunotherapy techniques, giving hope to those who suffer, and priceless insight to those who do not. Highly recommended.

"The underlying causes of mental illness are rarely as clear as metastatic brain cancer. And yet I felt I understood for the first time what many of the patients I study go through — the fear and confusion of living in a world that doesn’t make sense; a world in which the past is forgotten and the future is utterly unpredictable."
–Barbara K. Lipska, “The Neuroscientist Who Lost Her Mind,” The New York Times, March 16, 2016.

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Dr. Barbara K. Lipska, a neuroscientist and the director of the Human Brain Collection Core at the National Institute of Mental Health, was diagnosed with a brain tumor in early 2015. After surviving stage 3 breast cancer in 2009 and stage 1B melanoma in 2011, the cancer had returned and metastasized to her brain, first manifesting itself through changes in vision. To treat the tumors, Lipska underwent both radiation and immunotherapy in an attempt to eradicate the tumors from her brain. In The Neuroscientist Who Lost Her Mind: My Tale of Madness and Recovery , Lipska recounts her descent into madness during the summer of 2015, as the tumors continued to affect her brain chemistry in adverse ways, with a stunning clarity that offers the reader a unique glimpse into the mind of someone with mental illness.

The way in which the author presented her story felt more clinical than personal, which had the disservice of making the author seem distant and aloof – which is more than likely the direct result of a scientist writing about herself as a patient rather than on a more personal level. Although I get it, this often made it hard to relate to the author as she kept some degree of distance between herself and the reader.

However, I did enjoy this book. I thought it was inspiring to read about Lipska’s resilience in the face of adversity: from moving to America from Poland, to beating both breast cancer and melanoma, and finally through her battle against the tumors in her brain and the subsequent loss of her mind and mental faculties. Through everything, she showed strength and drive, especially through her continuance working, exercising, and devotion to her family.

If you’re interested in getting an overview of this book without reading it (though it only comes in at 208 pages), Lipska wrote an article detailing her experiences, which was published in March 2016 by The New York Times. If nothing else, I’d recommend reading this to learn about a remarkable woman who was able to face her challenges head-on and lived to see another day.

Thank you to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for an advanced copy of this eBook in exchange for an honest review.

Several years ago I had a nasty fall and suffered a mild (but nonetheless) traumatic brain injury. Although I had a very good recovery, it is also true that I have never been the same. My intellectual abilities, while never terribly impressive, were and are intact. My ability to cope with strong emotions, small frustrations, and competing visual and auditory stimuli, however, was altered.

I'm only sharing that because since my accident happened, I've been fascinated by how the brain works and how oddly even the most minor injuries can affect everything we are. This is why I couldn't resist this when it was offered by Net Galley for an advance read.

Barbara Lipska, a neuroscientist who specialized in studying the neuroscience of mental illness, had navigated through treatment for melanoma, only to have it metastasize years later in her brain. The damage it began to inflict on her caused her to plunge into a period of profound mental and emotional challenges that she terms "madness." Her ability to articulate the bizarre changes she experienced, some no doubt informed by the memories of her devoted but perplexed family, makes for fascinating reading, but it is her nearly poetic reflections on the nature of the brain as the crux of our very being that affected me most.

Even so, I could only give this one 3 stars because while there is so very much to admire about her journey, I remained at some sort of remove from her. That's merely an observation about the writing and the way she told her story; her tenacity and purpose-driven decisions even now deserve a standing ovation.

**
Disclosure: I received an advance Kindle review copy of this book through Net Galley. Thanks to Houghton Mifflin-Harcourt.

The Neuroscientist Who Lost Her Mind, a Memoir of Madness and Recovery, Barbara K. Lipska, release date 3 April, 2018, 208 pages, Penguin

The Neuroscientist Who Lost Her Mind, a Memoir of Madness and Recovery is one of those quick, interesting reads that you’ll want to talk over with a friend. For most of her adult life, Barbara K. Lipska has worked at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). Her main responsibility is maintaining the NIMH’s brain bank, which is exactly what it sounds like: a substantial collection of brains, preserved in ways that leave them useful for research purposes and representing the widest possible spectrum of both age and medical condition. Lipska is also a Schizophrenia researcher, trying to determine whether the disease can be identified by specific brain features and to find ways to treat it. If she were writing about her everyday work world, what she would have to say would be compelling—but she’s writing about something even more fascinating.

Lipska recounts her experience with an aggressive form of malignant melanoma situated in her brain. As the melanoma spreads and as she undergoes different types of treatment, her personality and perceptions undergo immense changes. Neither she nor her family understands at the time what is happening. Then, as her treatment progresses and she returns to her usual self, she and her family begin to realize how aberrant her symptoms were. In fact, although these symptoms had a very different cause, they were much like the symptoms of schizophrenia.

Listening to Lipska as she relates this story—and as she reflects on it and what she can learn about the way schizophrenics experience their world—makes this book remarkable. This is a story of an outstanding woman scientist, of cutting-edge cancer treatments, of the way the family of a cancer patient experience her disease, and of the intensity with which one’s perceptions of the world and those around her can be transformed by forces beyond her control. She is left wondering, as are her readers, about the many components that comprise our identities.

A very good book written by multiple cancer survivor Barbara Lipska, who is such an accomplished lady. She is the head of the brain bank at NIMH (National Institute of M. H.) in and has studied the brain for over 30 years. Until one day hers seemingly went haywire and she had to go and get treated for melanoma in the brain. While she was being treated for it, it left her acting like she had some of the mental illnesses that she'd been studying all those decades.

This is one strong lady used to being in charge and when her brain started acting off, her family really didn't know how to react, and she didn't realize it's happening, so it's a real mess for a while because no one wants to take the reins from her or tell her she's not in charge anymore.

She tells a well planned out story and is so wonderfully qualified to explain what went wrong, and how it made her act while it was going on. She knew pretty quickly that there was a problem and went to get checked out by her doctor, and they found the problem. An MRI was done and 3 tumors were found. It follows as she fights to get well again with this scary condition, knowing what's going on in her head all too well.

An advance digital copy was provided by NetGalley and author Barbara K. Lipska for my honest review.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
April 3, 2018.

I received an ARC of "THE NEUROSCIENCTIST WHO LOST HER MIND" from NetGalley for an honest review. I wish to thank NetGalley, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and Barbara Lipska/Elaine McArdlie for the opportunity to read this book.

This book was so exciting for me to think about reading. However, for me, it got bogged down a bit in the medical jargon. What I really was into reading was the PERSONAL story of the author - how she interacted with her family and friends. I wanted more of that!

It is a VERY interesting story, but it could have been a GREAT book instead of a GOOD book.

I would definitely recommend if you are interested in learning more about the brain, neuroscience, or about the author's personal journey with her brain illness.

Interesting read about a neuroscientist who has to go a procedure for tumors in her brain and how it affected her. What an incredible woman, who went through so much. Some of this was a bit much to read, with a lot of the medical talk that went over my head, but otherwise I found it gripping.

I loved this book; it was a quick read because it kept me interested from beginning to end. I've always been interested in the human condition and have suffered from various mental health issues, mostly stress related, throughout my life and could relate to many of the difficulties she experienced through her ordeal.

As I read this book, I felt like much of my own internal battles were being validated. I was never able to get a specific diagnosis and could not explain what was happening to me or what my challenges were in ways that made sense. A broken leg or open wound is obvious, but internal brain issues can seem made up or exaggerated when we are suffering. We do not have the words to describe the difficulties, things just don't make sense but we do not know why they are happening or how to overcome them.

I wish this book had been available many years ago when I was going through the most difficult time of my life. I felt so alone, therapy was only mildly helpful, doctors were unable to "see" anything wrong so tests were not ordered, and self-help books were of limited value. Having this valuable resource could have made all the difference in my own ability to overcome challenges.

Barbara Lipska is a true hero in her own right. She shares some incredibly personal experiences with candor and a matter-of-factness that helps to soothe the shame and confusion that plagues those of us who have not had the ability to voice our own truths.

This was such a fascinating, moving and at times frankly terrifying read. I must commend the author, not only because of the struggles she has had to endure, but also her strength and honesty in telling us about what must have been one of the most difficult times of her life.
From the opening chapter, I was hooked, I needed to know this incredible woman's story, and what story it turned out to be. Although written by a neuroscientist, there is a welcome clarity and simplicity to the language used, technical and medical jargon is kept to a minimum, making the book a pleasure to read. I also loved the fact that as I read, I really felt that I was getting to know the author, and her family, it really seemed like nothing was held back.
I described the book as scary earlier, what I really meant is that reading it demonstrates just how terrifying it can be when something goes wrong with your body, and how much impact it can have, not just on your life but on all those around you.
I cannot recommend this book highly enough, it's one that I know will stay with me for a long time to come.

Harrowing ordeal of neuroscientist Barbara Lipska, who suffered severe mental and physical symptoms from multiple brain tumors. Highly recommended. For fans of "Girl on Fire" and others.

The Neuroscientist Who Lost Her Mind: My Tale of Madness and Recover by Barbara K. Lipska tells us how Dr. Lipska slowly descended into madness, losing her mind, due to three brain tumors, and her recovery from it.

This book drew me in from the prologue. While I wasn’t a fan of much of the first chapter due to its scientific nature, it was helpful as it showed Dr. Lipska’s life and her work before the brain tumors. Once I got past that, this book was one I could not set aside. It gives us a glimpse into what people with mental illness think and feel. I’m glad Dr. Lipska was able to recover from the effects of the tumors because if she hadn’t we would not ave been able to receive this wonderful glimpse into those with mental illness.

I loved this memoir and am glad I read it. I think anyone who is interested in the brain, mental illness, or just stories of triumph will enjoy this book.

I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a review copy in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion of it.

This first appeared in the opinion section of a major paper in March 2016, in a greatly abbreviated version. The piece was well received at the time and I’m glad Barbara K. Lipska expanded her story. She was able to have an unique look at mental Health from a scientific and patient perspective. She is the director of the human brain bank studying mental illness, spending her days cutting into brains to determine if there are differences. .

She also diagnosed with multiple brain melanomas. Looking back now she is able to see why and what happened during her treatment course. It also gave her a better understanding of what some people with mental illnesses face.

Enjoyed the book, I would recommend to anyone who likes memoirs or enjoys science/Medicine

NetGalley provided me with an ARC for my honest review

One day, Barbara Lipska, two time cancer survivor, doctor, and a researcher trying to discover physical markers of schizophrenia in the brain, puts a nice gloppy mass of henna on her hair, wraps it in plastic, and goes for a run. A very long run- we becomes disoriented and lost for quite a while. She returns with red dye running down her head and body, looking like a victim of a serious crime. Then she suddenly loses a quarter of her visual field. Despite being aware that this means something bad has happened in her brain, she thinks little of it. It’s only with urging from her family that she goes to the doctor. All she is worried about is getting ready for a conference where she’ll be presenting, and also getting some skiing time in. This is just the start of another battle with cancer, a return of her melanoma, this time in her brain.

As the cancer spreads and proliferates, her cognitive problems become worse. Radiation brings no permanent solution to her cancer. As the author runs out of treatment options, she enrolls in a clinical trial of immunotherapy. Her cognitive difficulties get worse over the course of the four dose regimen, but she keeps the worst of it to herself. She feels that a lot of her problem is inflammation in her brain due to the immunotherapy, not the cancer itself. She manages to hide her problems enough to get the fourth and final dose, something she knows she wouldn’t be allowed to have if they know how much inflammation she has. If she has too much inflammation, the brain swelling will kill her. If she doesn’t get the final dose, the melanoma will do the job… fortunately, she wins her gamble.

As the inflammation goes down and the tumors shrink away, she begins to remember all the strange things she went to while her brain was swollen and being pushed on by tumors. She realizes she has lived through a situation very like schizophrenia, proving that mental illness can be created by physical stresses on the brain.

It’s interesting to read; Dr. Lipska relates the various cognitive issues she had to the parts of the brain that were inflamed or squeezed by tumors. The prose is a little choppy but readable. You don’t often read accounts of people who “lost their minds” and then were able to get them back

Despite all my years of studying brain disorders, for the first time in my life I realize how profoundly unsettling it is to have a mind that does not function.

The doctor becomes the patient in this fascinating memoir. Exhibiting symptoms of dementia and schizophrenia, much to the horror of those who knew and loved her best, Barbara Lipska’s doctors do everything possible to figure out what is going on. Why was her frontal lobe failing her? From where was her madness coming from? It is melanoma, brain cancer. Amazingly, when immunotherapy began to heal her, she remembered everything that happened during her descent into madness, bringing with her firsthand knowledge about what happens in the mind (brain), aiding science in better understanding.

Mental illness today is still a mystery, there is so much we just don’t comprehend. How does a brain injury alter behavior? What about traumatic events? Are the answers only in the brain? Is schizophrenia a disease, something going haywire in the brain, what about anxiety? Depression? How do such conditions relate to Lipska’s brain tumors and the effect they had on her mental state? Thirty years of studying mental illness couldn’t teach her as much as her own experience. More than anything, this memoir is eye-opening, humbling in relating what those with mental health difficulties and brain disorders live with. It is frightening to think no one is immune. At any time, an injury, an illness, a mental disturbance could plunge our fragile mind in a state of madness. It’s easy to dismiss this brain we don’t think too much about, that does so much for us our entire lives, never imagining it could fail or trick us. We all will age, studying the brain is crucial to our health, to our very being.

I remember a law class I took in high school, meeting a lawyer who warned us against riding motorcycles because he had a client that was in a horrific wreck and suffered a brain injury. He told us, his entire personality changed, this once kind man became violent, believing he was being persecuted by everyone. What can understanding cancer, brain injuries do to help with treating dementia? Other mental illnesses? It’s important to understand the science behind the mind, what a vast universe that demands exploration. Could it help, I wonder, understand how our environment, our experiences change our brains? The mind is a mystery, as Lipska’s unraveled she was able to find the right treatment and return to herself, mind intact and with first hand knowledge to add to her years of study.

I’ve always wondered, what is it that causes the individual with mental illness to lose their grip on reality, why does a certain treatment work for one person and yet not another. Is it all the brain? How do experiences in life alter the mind, why? Is mental illness a curable disease? Is it something bigger than science? I have an uncle who has schizophrenia, it is somewhat known he used LSD during his time in Vietnam (in the army). He also had something traumatic happen, either witnessed or was involved in. He was never the same. We always wondered, was it genetic, caused by drug use, trauma? A combination of all three? I don’t know the answers. I hope in the near future we understand mental health far better than we do today, and more that we can have compassion. Truth is, it terrifies people, it makes them uncomfortable and it’s a shame because instead of understanding what is happening in the mind, people are shunned. My son has an austism spectrum disorder, so understanding the science behind the mind has been important to me. How does it happen? When? Thinking on Autism alone, there there are so many variations, different ways stimulating the mind can help with higher functioning. As much as we know, there is still far more we don’t.

It is vital to every human being to understand the workings of the brain, we all have one, despite evidence to the contrary we sometimes see. All kidding aside, this is a fascinating memoir. Also, anyone dealing with mystery illness can relate to the struggle of trying to get the proper diagnosis. Dr. Barbara Lipska is highly educated, she has the means, and even for her it’s a fight to understand what is happening. Imagine the obstacles for those with little to no money and poor access to the best doctors. It’s vital we understand our own health, our needs. Demand doctors who are knowledgable in whatever disease, or mysterious illness that we suffer from. Easier said then done, though.

A memoir about a woman who is both patient, and doctor. Interesting read.

Publication Date: April 3, 2018

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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Wow. Barbara Lipska is an amazing woman. This short and highly readable (despite a fair amount of scientific info) chronicles her descent into a nightmare and emergence back into the light. Some will undoubtedly quibble with her beliefs about the origins of mental illness but it's clear to me that she's not an absolutist- this is about her experience, not about everyone else. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. This is eye opening.