Camille Moreau // Photo credit: Fabian Sommer / DPA / dpa Picture-Alliance via AFP 07:08, March 30, 2024

It is a disease that affects almost 1% of the French population: bipolarity, the international day of which we celebrate this Saturday. In the heart of Paris, “La maison perchée” is a café open to all which raises awareness among the general public about psychological disorders and supports young adults with schizophrenia, borderlines and bipolar disorder. 

At first glance, it is a café like any other where you can lean at the bar and have a drink on the terrace. But on the counter of “La maison perchée”, leaflets raise awareness of psychological disorders. Sitting at the bar, Ulysse, 27 years old and bipolar, finishes his espresso. He is a regular here. 

“I’m experiencing exactly the same thing.”

"It feels good because we can talk and discuss at 'La maison perchée'. We can't do it with family and with friends too, it's a bit complicated. They don't understand everything. It allows us to to see that there are other people like us too and the fact of having this possibility, this escape, it's very nice because I don't know where I would be otherwise." 

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That day, Ulysse talks with Lison, a volunteer waitress, also bipolar: “When I write while hypomanic, it goes really quickly in my head and I think I'm a genius”; “I’m experiencing exactly the same thing,” Ulysses retorts. Lison, like the other servers, have all followed training to support newly diagnosed people: "Help a person who is having a suicidal or psychotic crisis. How to properly present 'La maison perchée' to people, how to protect yourself because We have a disorder, too, so we can be subject to relapses. We have to be careful.” 

Here, the café is open every morning to the general public. The objective: to combat preconceived ideas and show that we can live with these diseases. “La maison perchée” is also present on the internet in order to be accessible to all patients aged 18 to 40, everywhere in France.