Robert O. Boorstin

• Boorstin was diagnosed with manic depression, the term then commonly used for bipolar disorder, in 1987 while working as a reporter for The New York Times. He disclosed the diagnosis when he was hired to work on Michael Dukakis’s presidential campaign and later spoke publicly about living with the illness. [1]

• Boorstin experienced a major episode in 1987 and a second manic and delusional episode in April 1988. During the 1988 episode, he was hallucinating and was arrested by security before being taken to Massachusetts General Hospital. He was subsequently transferred to McLean Hospital for psychiatric treatment. [4][3]

• After his 1988 hospitalization, Boorstin was treated with mood-stabilizing medication and outpatient therapy. Contemporary reporting specifically documents lithium as one of the medications he took. [4][3]

• By April 1993, Boorstin had not experienced another manic-depressive episode since his hospitalization five years earlier. He nevertheless remained watchful for recurrence and continued to regard the illness as something requiring ongoing management. [4]
• In later discussions, he continued to acknowledge the possibility of future episodes rather than presenting the condition as permanently resolved. [5]

• Boorstin became a public advocate for mental-health coverage after his insurer initially refused to cover part of his psychiatric hospitalization. He said that experience turned him into a “crusader and advocate” for people with mental illness. [4]
• While working on health-care reform at the White House, Boorstin argued that mental illness should receive the same consideration as physical illness in health insurance and spoke publicly about his own diagnosis in an effort to reduce stigma. [4][3]

“The thought of being without your mind is a lot scarier than being without anything else.”

— Robert O. Boorstin [5]