Barbara Lipska's The neuroscientist who lost her mind

 

The Neuroscientist Who Lost Her Mind is a book by Barbara Lipska, one of the leading experts in mental disease neuroscience, and her experiences following the diagnosis of melanoma. This disease had spread to her brain, with the result being that with a few months, her frontal lobe, which presides over cognition, had begun to shut down. She ended up descending to madness, often exhibiting symptoms that were associated with schizophrenia and dementia. A consequence of this situation was that she ended up being treated through a number of measures including immunotherapy, which worked well and allowed for a marked improvement. Thus, within eight weeks of the event beginning, Lipska returned to a life of normalcy. However, despite this being the case, one major difference that Lipska experienced was that she remembered her entire experience with considerable clarity. Lipska’s experiences can be considered to have been quite important in contributing to her work as a neuroscientist. It allowed for the development of a situation where there was an addition of value to the way that she understood the workings of the human mind and the manner through which it responds to a diversity of stimuli.

The lessons that Lipska had because of her experiences allowed her to better understand the mind and the brain. This is especially the case when one considers that in this book, she explains the connections that are there between brain injury, mental illness, and age and the way that they end up changing the cognition, memory, personality, and behavior of individuals. She further tells the story of her firsthand experience of the issues surrounding mental problems and how she was better able to understand the processes that were taking place. Moreover, based on her experiences, she goes as far as revealing which parts of the minds of individuals end up disappearing and those that remain. A consequence of this scenario is that she makes use of her experiences as the basis upon which to study neuroscience, especially mental illness and the ways that they can end up creating an environment within which it is difficult for individuals to attain clarity over their lives.

Despite their frustrating aspects, it is important to note that cognitive lapses that she experiences are separate enough to be recognized. Thus, even Lipska, in her condition, was able to understand that the cause of her problems was her brain being placed under a lot of stress. The effects that it had on her personality are also significant because she ended up losing the capacity to determine the impact of her actions on others. The love that she displayed towards her family suddenly turned to tantrums and harshness to such an extent that she essentially treats them as strangers. However, once the tumors in her brain were in remission, she finds it quite difficult to remember the behavior and moods that she had displayed and put so much strain on those who had been with her at the time. Lipska therefore writes as a means of making sure that there is a greater understanding for the actions that mentally ill individuals take.

Lipska leverages her understanding of the complex connections in the brain as a means of creating connections and relationships between the diversity of functional areas within it. She is therefore able to weave together real and tactile scenes as well as characters from her life to provide an insight into the experiences she underwent. It is also noteworthy that because of this approach, Lipska is able to succeed in a wide range of criteria since she is adept at the employment of her vast trove of knowledge as a neuroscientist to apply it to clinical settings where human research is being conducted. She is also able to provide a rich experience of the senses that she had following the loss of her mind, as seen through her attempt to ensure that there is the promotion of a scenario where the reader might taste, feel, and smell in order to better understand what takes place in the mind of mentally ill individuals.

Lipska also takes on the pertinent step of comparing the experience she underwent to that of her research animals. She believes that the severance of communication between her hippocampus and prefrontal cortex is a major cause of her mental illness. She compares this to the prefrontal cortical connections in rats that she disrupts in the lab as she studies schizophrenia. The significance of this observation is based on the fact that she felt the unpleasantness of the situation, which, because it was happening firsthand to her, allowed her to feel the way that she recognizes her research animals feel. She comes to the realization that her only chance at surviving this event is through an immunotherapy treatment that, despite not having been proven completely due to its being in the early stages of testing, is her best chance at returning to normalcy. It is important that because of her decision, she essentially took the place of the experimental animal.

She explains that her neurological symptoms came about because of inflammation, which was caused by the immunotherapy. This experimental process is one that allowed her to survive because following the swelling being treated using steroids, her neurological symptoms not only abased, but they also led to a scenario where her madness was also cured. Lipska therefore became a survivor of an event that is usually extremely difficult for individuals to come back from. She was given the hope of a total remission and despite there being considerable anxiety concerning recurrence, she recognized the reality of her having beaten this problem at that time. As a survivor with memories of what had taken place, Lipska is therefore in a prominent position when it comes to better understanding how best to handle research concerning neurological treatment of the symptoms of mental illness.

In conclusion, the manner through which Lipska grappled with her identity as well as her gradual acceptance of her condition is significant in allowing her to be more effective in her work. This is especially the case when it comes to the way that she grapples with her mental illness and the way that she connects her own suffering to the sense of identity that individuals will experience in their lives. The grasp with the sense of identity that Lipska experienced was therefore essential in enhancing her capabilities as a neuroscientist. It allowed her to gain a different perspective concerning how to describe the experiences of mental patients and how best to handle their afflictions.