Melody Moezzi

• Moezzi was diagnosed with bipolar I disorder in 2008, at age 29, after a manic episode with psychosis led to psychiatric hospitalization. She has said that she had previously lived for years with what she now understands as bipolar disorder. [2]
• She began writing publicly about the diagnosis soon afterward. Her 2013 memoir Haldol and Hyacinths: A Bipolar Life recounts the years leading up to her diagnosis, her experiences in psychiatric hospitals, and her decision to speak openly despite the stigma she encountered. [3]

• Moezzi has described experiencing severe mania, psychosis and depression. During her 2008 manic episode, she became increasingly energetic and sleepless, developed grandiose and religious ideas, and eventually lost touch with reality. The episode led to psychiatric hospitalization. [2]
• She has also written about periods of profound depression, including suicidal thinking, as well as the disorientation and loss of control she experienced during psychosis. In Haldol and Hyacinths, she describes both the illness itself and the experience of being treated within the psychiatric system. [3]

• Moezzi has described treatment as involving both medication and psychotherapy. She has said that antipsychotic medication is particularly important when she begins becoming manic, because severe racing thoughts and loss of sleep do not respond to ordinary sleeping medication for her. [2]
• She has also spoken about working closely with psychiatrists to find medications whose side effects she can tolerate, stopping some drugs when they interfered significantly with daily functioning. Over time, psychotherapy also became part of her ongoing care, despite her earlier skepticism about it. [2]

• Moezzi has described learning to live—and “even thrive”—with bipolar disorder after the severe episodes and hospitalizations that led to her diagnosis. She has emphasized that this does not mean the illness has disappeared, but that she has learned how to recognize warning signs and manage it more effectively. [4]
• She has emphasized the importance of medication and sleep in managing mania, and has said that support from other people living with mental illness has been particularly helpful to her. [5]

• Moezzi has become an outspoken advocate for people living with mental illness, particularly around stigma, discrimination and psychiatric care. She has argued that people with bipolar disorder should be able to speak openly about their experiences without being reduced to a diagnosis or treated as inherently incapable. [5]
• She has also emphasized the importance of including people with lived experience in conversations about mental-health policy and treatment. Through her writing, speaking and advocacy, she has challenged stereotypes about bipolar disorder while also being candid about how serious and disabling the illness can become. [3]

“I’m not cured by any stretch. I struggle with this illness every day.”

— Melody Moezzi [6]