In 'Do I Know You?,' a science reporter tackles her own face blindness

At the age of 24, New York Post reporter Susannah Cahalan is stricken with a terrible disease. In a matter of weeks, it morphs from paranoia into hallucinations, seizures, and psychosis. It resists diagnosis even by the most prestigious doctors in the US. Only when Susannah becomes catatonic, staring death in the face, do two brilliant neurologists discover the problem: Susannah is suffering from an autoimmune disease that’s causing her antibodies to attack her own brain.

Cahalan’s harrowing portrait shows how frail disease makes us, ready to accept any diagnosis, even when we know it’s wrong; how the US healthcare system serves some patients better than others; and how maintaining a positive attitude is critical to recovery.

By studying the brain, the science of neurology brings the empiricism of science together with mankind’s deepest philosophical questions. What makes us human? What is the true nature of the self, memory, knowing, or action? The late neurologist Oliver Sacks dedicated his life to studying the mysteries and extraordinary powers of the human brain. In The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Sacks presents the case histories of some of his patients. Each story is a profoundly human narrative of struggle, survival, and, in some cases, hope.

Mental health disorders affect millions of people and often lead to the tragic loss of life through suicide. The pain and suffering that accompany mental illness are difficult for those unafflicted to understand. Kay Redfield Jamison, a clinical psychologist living with manic-depressive disorder, has attempted to bring awareness to those experiences in her memoir. By divulging the violent, frenzied, and dangerous aspects of her disease, Jamison hopes to create more understanding about mental illness and more empathy for those who struggle to exist in the normal world.

By studying the brain, the science of neurology brings the empiricism of science together with mankind’s deepest philosophical questions. What makes us human? What is the true nature of the self, memory, knowing, or action? The late neurologist Oliver Sacks dedicated his life to studying the mysteries and extraordinary powers of the human brain. In The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Sacks presents the case histories of some of his patients. Each story is a profoundly human narrative of struggle, survival, and, in some cases, hope.

When you hear the word “bias,” you may think of a conscious form of prejudice—but the most potent biases are actually subconscious. These implicit biases are normal neurological responses to the culture you grow up in. In the United States, everyone encounters and encodes antiblack bias to some degree, even in black communities. This racial bias doesn’t just influence how you make decisions—it determines what you notice in your environment and what becomes invisible. And in high-stakes situations like police encounters, the consequences of racial bias can be devastating.

In this guide, we’ll discuss how your brain creates bias; how that bias impacts every area of your life, from where you live to how you post online; and, most importantly, how to combat implicit bias to create a fairer world for everyone. We’ll also compare Dr. Eberhardt’s research on racial bias to other popular books on racism such as How to Be an Antiracist and White Fragility.

At the age of 24, New York Post reporter Susannah Cahalan is stricken with a terrible disease. In a matter of weeks, it morphs from paranoia into hallucinations, seizures, and psychosis. It resists diagnosis even by the most prestigious doctors in the US. Only when Susannah becomes catatonic, staring death in the face, do two brilliant neurologists discover the problem: Susannah is suffering from an autoimmune disease that’s causing her antibodies to attack her own brain.

Cahalan’s harrowing portrait shows how frail disease makes us, ready to accept any diagnosis, even when we know it’s wrong; how the US healthcare system serves some patients better than others; and how maintaining a positive attitude is critical to recovery.

At the age of 24, New York Post reporter Susannah Cahalan is stricken with a terrible disease. In a matter of weeks, it morphs from paranoia into hallucinations, seizures, and psychosis. It resists diagnosis even by the most prestigious doctors in the US. Only when Susannah becomes catatonic, staring death in the face, do two brilliant neurologists discover the problem: Susannah is suffering from an autoimmune disease that’s causing her antibodies to attack her own brain.

Cahalan’s harrowing portrait shows how frail disease makes us, ready to accept any diagnosis, even when we know it’s wrong; how the US healthcare system serves some patients better than others; and how maintaining a positive attitude is critical to recovery.

Mental health disorders affect millions of people and often lead to the tragic loss of life through suicide. The pain and suffering that accompany mental illness are difficult for those unafflicted to understand. Kay Redfield Jamison, a clinical psychologist living with manic-depressive disorder, has attempted to bring awareness to those experiences in her memoir. By divulging the violent, frenzied, and dangerous aspects of her disease, Jamison hopes to create more understanding about mental illness and more empathy for those who struggle to exist in the normal world.

Your personality may not only affect how you see the world in terms of your outlook on life: It may also affect how you see the world visually. Research suggests people with high personality markers of openness can see things that other people can’t.

By studying the brain, the science of neurology brings the empiricism of science together with mankind’s deepest philosophical questions. What makes us human? What is the true nature of the self, memory, knowing, or action? The late neurologist Oliver Sacks dedicated his life to studying the mysteries and extraordinary powers of the human brain. In The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Sacks presents the case histories of some of his patients. Each story is a profoundly human narrative of struggle, survival, and, in some cases, hope.

At the age of 24, New York Post reporter Susannah Cahalan is stricken with a terrible disease. In a matter of weeks, it morphs from paranoia into hallucinations, seizures, and psychosis. It resists diagnosis even by the most prestigious doctors in the US. Only when Susannah becomes catatonic, staring death in the face, do two brilliant neurologists discover the problem: Susannah is suffering from an autoimmune disease that’s causing her antibodies to attack her own brain.

Cahalan’s harrowing portrait shows how frail disease makes us, ready to accept any diagnosis, even when we know it’s wrong; how the US healthcare system serves some patients better than others; and how maintaining a positive attitude is critical to recovery.

Why and how do people justify their questionable actions and big mistakes? In Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me), social psychologists Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson argue that we self-justify to relieve cognitive dissonance: discomfort triggered when we do things that don’t align with our other beliefs, actions, and values. They examine several unconscious processes we use to reduce the discomfort of cognitive dissonance, including self-justification, confirmation bias, and memory distortion. By learning about these psychological processes, you can unlock awareness of them in your own life and begin taking accountability for your actions.

In this guide, you’ll learn how contradictory thoughts and behaviors create painful dissonance. We’ll also discuss how self-justification, confirmation bias, and memory distortion help us relieve dissonance. Finally, we’ll discuss how the authors suggest we can break the cycle of self-justification and hold ourselves accountable for our uncomfortable actions. In our commentary, we’ll discuss healthier strategies you can use to deal with dissonance and explore some of the neurological processes that drive self-justifying behavior.