Alice W. Flaherty

• Flaherty was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 1998 after experiencing a postpartum manic episode during a period of profound bereavement. [1][5]
• She has spoken openly about the illness in interviews and in her writing, including The Midnight Disease. [1]

• During the 1998 manic episode, Flaherty developed hypergraphia, an intense compulsion to write. She wrote tens of thousands of words and sometimes wrote on whatever was available, including napkins and her own skin. [1][3]
• She has described moving between mania and severe depression. During one period of depression, she found even taking her medication physically difficult. She was hospitalized for nine days during the illness. [1]
• Flaherty later experienced another major period of hypergraphia. She has said that although she enjoys being able to write so much, the state is not stable for her and can leave her jittery and agitated. [3]

• Flaherty has said that she manages bipolar disorder with medication. She has specifically discussed using mood stabilizers as part of managing recurring hypergraphia. [5][3]
• She has described her mood changes in later years as more like changes in energy. [3]

• Flaherty continued working as a neurologist, researcher, teacher and author at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. [4]
• Her experience with hypergraphia helped lead to her research into creative drive and the brain. [2]

• Flaherty has spoken publicly about the abilities of people with mental illness and has challenged the assumption that mental illness is incompatible with creativity. [2]
• She has also said that she wants mental illness to be understood more as an illness and less as a personal or moral failure. [2]

“I would like it to be seen more as a disease and less as a failure of willpower.”

— Alice W. Flaherty [2]