Green Doors. Ivanka Dymyd

“Green Doors” by Ivanka Dymyd is a book about life with bipolar disorder, in which the text is combined with no less eloquent illustrations, candid memories with artistic interpretation, and personal experience with comments and advice from qualified specialists. This is the story of an illness that unfolds against the backdrop of Ukrainian history in recent decades: from the Revolution of Dignity to the full-scale invasion, from worries about her husband, who was a chaplain on the Maidan, to longing for her son, who died at the front.
Describing her experiences with utmost sincerity, Ivanka Dymyd paints a picture in which, through depressive episodes, light and the strength to live shine through, albeit not getting rid of the disorder, but learning to tame it — even in these difficult times.

Ivanka Dymyd about her book: “This book is for families with people with similar symptoms, for people who fall into depression themselves… This is my personal experience, not that of a doctor or specialist, or someone who observes such a person. When I was going through it – and I am still going through it – it seemed to me that I was the only one taking part in it. In fact, my family and friends felt the most pain because they could not help me. If my book helps one person, one of you – my task is accomplished, I will be infinitely happy.”