"I'm bipolar, are you inviting me?": Léa tours France to raise awareness of her illness
Video : To "break the taboos" surrounding her illness, Léa Vigier, who suffers from bipolar disorder, chose to "meet people" on the roads of France. "Le Nouvel Obs" followed her for a day.
"I'm touring France to talk about bipolarity." Having just settled into the back seat of the car, Léa presents her project to the couple who have just picked her up hitchhiking. Since leaving Marseille at the end of June, she has been traveling solo across France to meet people. Her goal? "To break the taboos" surrounding her illness, which is sometimes associated "with impulsive behaviors that are frightening." Pierre, while holding the steering wheel, listens attentively to her explanations about bipolarity and its different phases. "Léa has a lot of courage," he comments.
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Between Paris and Troyes, in the Aube region, "Le Nouvel Obs" followed Léa Vigier for a day of travel at the very beginning of July. At 32, the young woman embarked on this adventure with a backpack, a cardboard sign ( "I'm bipolar, will you invite me?" ) and a telephone to share her road trip on social networks . Having set herself the constraint of not spending any money, she relies on the generosity of the people with whom she engages in conversation. "This adventure does me a lot of good, because people don't reject me," she says.
Before her diagnosis at the age of 30, Léa Vigier spent seven long years in the dark about her medical condition and mistakenly believed she was suffering from depression. "I suffered enormously, and I hope I can help many people suffer less," she confided to our camera. Watch our report in the video at the top of this article.
