French woman with bipolar disorder hitchhikes across France to fight stigma

What would you do if you saw someone on the side of the road holding a sign that read: J’suis bipolaire. Tu m’invites?

This is the question being posed by Léa Vigier, a 32 year-old with bipolar disorder, as part of her Tour de France d’une bipolaire – a quest which has seen her hitch-hike around France from June 27 to late August, raising awareness of – and funds for – mental illness.

Ms Vigier was diagnosed with the condition in February 2024 after seven years. 

Against advice from doctors, she decided to push her limits through a variety of personal challenges, from scuba-diving to 40 metres to climbing Lenin Peak (7,134 metres) on the Kyrgyzstan–Tajikistan border. 

Now her tour is helping to challenge stereotypes still further.

Her timing could not be better. 

Bipolar disorder has received plenty of mainstream media attention already this year following the release in March of journalist Nicolas Demorand’s memoir Intérieur Nuit, which describes battling the condition for more than 20 years. 

He was finally diagnosed 10 years ago.

“Getting a diagnosis saved my life,” says Ms Vigier.

“I went from survival to life. 

"The shame and guilt disappeared. I finally had hope that it would get better.”

She talks to The Connexion quite candidly about her condition, how it is perceived by other people and in popular culture, and why diagnosis is so important.

Her film J’suis bipolaire, tu m’invites? is set to be released on her Youtube channel in October.

How have people reacted to the sign? Do they stop and ask questions or reject you outright?

It always surprises them. Some people think it's a joke, others don't understand and advise me not to display the sign because no one will offer me a ride. 

There's also curiosity, lots of questions, and people who come up to me to say that they are bipolar themselves or that they know someone who is.

Most of the people who give me a ride are not aware of the illness. 

Many stop because they want to help me, not because of my bipolar disorder, but because I'm hitchhiking or need a place to sleep. People want to help.

What image do we have of bipolar people?

Bipolarity is understood as a person who changes mood very quickly, in a matter of seconds. 

The reality is that these phases last over months. The term is also misused, as it is often given to anyone who 'loses their cool'.

How did this get so ingrained?

The biggest problem is what I call the 'Jaws effect’. 

When bipolar people hit the news they are either associated with murderers or confused with sociopaths. But psychopathy is not an illness; it is a disorder.

That is why I call it the 'Jaws effect'. Before the movie came out, no one was afraid or concerned about sharks. 

There are, by the way, four to six times more deaths by vending machines than by sharks each year.

Many bipolar characters in popular culture are villains. Why?

Because the story is more compelling. The duality between good and evil is easy to use. It creates suspense and generates traffic and attention. But that is not bipolarity.

Would you say characters in the 2012 movie Silver Linings Playbook are an accurate depiction of bipolarity? Did you see yourself in them?

I saw it more in Tiffany [played by Jennifer Lawrence] than Pat [played by Bradley Cooper]. The months-long phases of low or elevated moods must fit into a two-hour-long movie, which makes it tricky to judge. But both the high and the depressive periods are a close depiction of what it is, yes.

It also gives hope that mentally ill people can find love. I am sent many messages from bipolar people afraid they will never find love.

What is bipolarity?

It is an alternation of two long phases.

An 'up' phase, which is often characterised by hyperactivity of the brain and body, an absent desire to sleep, a brain working full-speed and willing to do many things with zero aversion to risk, and very high self-esteem. 

This phase stops as soon as the body and the brain reach exhaustion.

Then you enter the 'down' phase or depression, where both the body and brain no longer work. You face the consequences of the risks you took, whatever they are: debts, failing business, infidelity. 

This plays out over months. My highs were from four to five months long and my lows from five to six.

You graduated from the prestigious Essec business school. Were you in an 'up' phase when you took the entry exams?

No. I was lucky that my bipolarity was triggered after my studies. Otherwise, it would have been catastrophic. 

On the other hand, it greatly impacted my professional life. Upon graduation, I wanted to start a business and worked long hours. Then, my body and brain no longer worked, and businesses floundered.

There are two types of bipolarity. There is the type where the highs are high – sufferers are hypomaniacs. That’s me.

And then there are more extreme cases with manic episodes, which are easier to spot because people almost never sleep. They develop psychosis. They are diagnosed very early because it is very visible.

It took you seven years to be diagnosed. Why so long?

My form is less obvious. I always assumed that having a brain on full-throttle was the trait of a genius or some other form of high function until one of my friends, a doctor, began to suspect something after five years. I went to my psychiatrist and talked about it. I was referred to another who made the diagnosis.

The average time to receive a diagnosis is somewhere around 10 to 15 years. Reducing it will save lives and limit suicide attempts, which are as high as 50% among people with bipolar disorder. We need to talk about it to remove the shame, the stigma.

"Knowing I was sick was the most beautiful gift of my 30s," you said. Did it save your life?

I went from survival to life. I wanted to kill myself. I was looking at Switzerland for assisted deaths for mentally ill patients. I could not take it anymore.

But the shame and guilt disappeared. I was given a treatment to solve it. I finally had hope that it would get better.

"The doctors prescribed stability and routine," you said. Are all these adventures a small revenge?

No. There is no resentment, none of that. What I want is to change things on a national level. I would like more resources to be funnelled toward psychiatrists and psychologists. 

It is a Grande Cause nationale 2025 but no budget has been set up to reimburse appointments with psychologists, to have more psychiatrists, to have psycho-educational training so that patients become experts in their illnesses to lead the life they want.This is the life I have chosen. 

It may look just as risky as before but I follow a strict medical protocol now to make it work. I have set up daily routines – daily meditation, walking an hour a day, ranking my daily mood from 0 to 10, avoiding alcohol, etc – to live with it.These routines have changed my life. 

Before them, I was building things that I eventually destroyed. Not anymore.

How do you feel about expressions using words such as ‘crazy’, ‘mental’ or ‘psycho’ to describe abnormality or extravagance?

Regarding expressions, I do not dwell too much on them. A curious thing about bipolarity is that it used to be called 'manic depression'. It was changed to bipolar to perhaps make it less scary.

I had many people on my Tour de France who told me: "Oh, you’re bipolar? No big deal. At least you’re not manic-depressive!"Changing the word has helped, but it remains a bit misused. It will evolve with time.

To donate to Ms Vigier’s fundraising, click here.