donald barnat – 50lux.com

Seems that maybe there is, in this eye-opening piece on NYTimes.com, a blurring of the lines between what is thought of as mental illness and what might be considered emotional or other behavioral problems and issues. But nevertheless I’m glad they cast a wide enough net to include many of us and I’m thinking this might be a very interesting ongoing subject to discuss here or amongst any group of creative people.

(I didn’t feel comfortable using an image belonging to one of the photographers profiled in this article without permission so I used one of mine. It is in no way a commentary on nor are the subjects pictured in any way associated with this article.)

To the casual observer, Danielle Hark was living an enviable life, with a devoted husband, a new baby and work she enjoyed as a freelance photo editor. But she was so immobilized by depression that she could barely get out of bed. Her emotional state could not be explained in postpartum terms — she had suffered from debilitating depression for most of her life, and ultimately received a diagnosis of bipolar disorder when her daughter was a year old.

via Photography as a Balm for Mental Illness – NYTimes.com.