Krista L. R. Cezair

• Cezair was initially diagnosed with bipolar II disorder while working at Google after years of depression and suicidal thoughts. After experiencing full manic episodes, including psychosis and hospitalization, her diagnosis was changed to bipolar I disorder with psychotic features. [1]
• She later wrote publicly about the diagnosis and her experiences in a first-person essay for Ms. magazine. [1]

• Cezair has described manic episodes involving very little sleep, unusually high energy, pressured speech, impulsive spending and difficulty completing work. During one period, the symptoms became severe enough that she left her job at Google and nearly missed her Harvard Law School interview. [1]
• She has also described psychosis, delusions and hallucinations during manic episodes, as well as multiple psychiatric hospitalizations. In 2019, after becoming severely manic while visiting Harvard, campus police were called and she was taken to hospital; she then spent more than a month across several institutions. [1]

• Cezair has described repeated psychiatric hospitalizations as well as visits with psychiatrists and therapists. In 2018, when she had little insight into the severity of her mania, she was involuntarily hospitalized twice; later that year she was hospitalized again for bipolar depression. [1]

• After her 2019 hospitalization, Cezair received another deferral from Harvard and spent additional time focused on recovery. She has said that this time she stabilized and was able to attend a local historically Black college in Florida during her gap year. [1]
• She has also described recovery as non-linear, emphasizing that periods of improvement could be followed by renewed mania. [1]

• Cezair has used her lived experience to challenge stigma around serious mental illness and assumptions that people with conditions such as bipolar disorder are fundamentally different from those around them. [1]
• Her broader work examines inequities in mental-health care affecting marginalized communities, and she has also spoken publicly about the criminalization of mental illness. [2][4]

“Please know that we are among you, your friends, loved ones and community, contributing to society.”

— Krista L. R. Cezair [1]