The blues, listlessness, suicidal thoughts and the black dog, then suddenly, limitless energy, drive and bursts of creativity. Maarten Hemmen has bipolar disorder and is determined to change the stigma of this mental illness.

Living with bipolar disorder: an estimated 350 million people worldwide suffer from this mental illness. Many of them struggle to lead an orderly life. What makes it even harder is that in most societies, mental illness is not spoken of openly. Maarten Hemmen is all too aware of this. For some time now, he's been keeping a blog on his condition and his experiences with it. At an event in Cologne, he found an opportunity to make direct contact with lots of interested people. But it also confronted him with a challenge. First, Maarten had to lift the gray veil of depression and jump into the deep end. A report by Alexej Getmann.


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