Born: 1984 Trenčín, Slovakia
Profession: Writer and Photographer
Lives & works in: Trenčín, Slovakia

 

“When I was growing up, mental health was not a topic. When you said you didn’t feel well, they told you to play sports or dig potatoes.”

“When you’re thirteen, it doesn’t occur to you that you might be mentally ill. I felt like I grew up very quickly.”

“My parents attributed my problems to the fact that I have a difficult personality …I really started to deal with my mental health after my third divorce, just before my fourth wedding.”

“Depression is a very selfish feeling. You focus only on yourself. You don’t want anything; nothing makes sense to you. It’s not like you don’t care, you just don’t have the strength to do anything.”

“I like to feel useful; I like to feel like the world will collapse without me. I didn’t know I was going to burn out. It doesn’t occur to you until it happens to you.”

“Alcohol gave me relief, but also terrible humiliation and mental pain. You think you can heal your soul with wine, but you can’t.”

“I’m afraid if I’ll ever be able to go back to my original self – the way I was before all this happened. I thought it would be a short-term thing, that I will take some pills and that I will be fine in a few months. And it’s just… it’s been an awful long time.”

“I think if I only had diabetes, I would take it worse. I would consider it my biggest problem. It’s easier to talk about diabetes with someone, after all, it’s not as stigmatized as telling someone you have obsessive-compulsive disorder.”

“I have no reason to be ashamed of it. If it started to be better understood that the world is not a black and white place, there would be a lot less condemnation and hatred. Understanding is simply a scarce commodity.”

Disorder is a series of portraits of people with mental disorders, accompanied by interviews.