Take our Depression Test

Find a therapist near me

Encephalitis is life-threatening brain inflammation, and it's often missed or misdiagnosed.

Delayed or missed diagnosis of encephalitis can cause permanent injury to the brain or death.

By Praveen Prathapan and Ava Easton, Ph.D., MBE

What if the worst day of your life started with something utterly ordinary? A headache. A fever. A strange mood. Maybe someone you know seemed “not quite themselves.” A little forgetful. Irritable. Confused. You might tell them to rest, drink fluids, and sleep it off. But what if those early signs weren’t a virus you could shake off in a week?

Every 20 seconds, someone, somewhere in the world, is diagnosed with encephalitis: inflammation of the brain. It can be caused by infections or by the immune system going wrong and attacking the brain in error. Unfortunately, when diagnosis is........

© Psychology Today