Double life

• The Double Life of

Liz Obert - a young woman who lives and works in Portland in the US. Her life, though at first glance it seems perfectly normal, very different from the everyday lives of most Americans. Liz bipolar disorder - a mental illness that manifests itself in the form of alternating periods of mania and depression. Liz put this diagnosis when she was 20 years old. The disease hinders normal functioning, but Liz has learned to live with it. She gets up in the morning, goes to work and all smiles. But when he returns home, he opens the door to an entirely different world. Liz decided to show people how she and other patients with this disease live in reality. The double life of people with mental illness in the project Liz Obert "Duality".

The project participants, who, like Liz, are struggling with mental illness, and who agreed to tell the world about yourself, the author made two photos.

In one of the pictures (on the right) you can see how a patient with bipolar disorder looks when she goes out of her house to the outside world and so would like to see other people perceive it. And on the second (left) - is the real life they lead behind the closed doors of their homes.

Liz when he comes home, he takes elegant dress, dresses in a jogging suit and sits with her cat and a glass of red wine on the sofa. It can sit there for several hours. One day, she thought that there are many people like her, and that she should show the world what it looks like their real life.

So ​​the idea to create a project that shows the difficult double life of people with bipolar disorder. She showed not one but "two lives": official - for show, and the real - hidden behind closed doors.

After Liz Obert psychiatrist diagnosed bipolar disorder, it is constantly taking medication. However, she said, that's not really helping her to avoid a "double life."

"You have to constantly mask the symptoms of the disease, to function in the outside world", - says Liz.

In 2013, when she began her project, Liz as no one else knew, which is not easy to tell the world about his illness. She began with himself and showed his "double life" to serve as an example for other people who are suffering because of the same illness. So far, 14 people agreed to participate in her project.

"I like a man who suffers from bipolar disorder, leading a double life. I have two personalities: one that people see every day, and second, I'm open, "- says the author of" Duality ".

"A lot of people who suffer from bipolar disorder, do just as well as I do - lead a double life. I decided to show it in the photos, "- adds Liz.

In the "duality" ( "Dualities"), each member of the project under his picture Write a little about yourself and your personal experience.

"I hope that this project will help to remove the stigma that is felt by people sick bipolar disorder" - summed up Liz.

5, 7 million American adults are living with a diagnosis of bipolar affective disorder and almost 14, 8 million people suffer from depression. Among the celebrities on their struggle with bipolar disorder have told the actress Catherine Zeta-Jones and Renee Russo.