As an illustrator, I thought for me art was always more related to work than to therapy. I have suffered from depression in the past, and at those times I was unable to draw, because it felt too much like hard work. But when I started feeling better, images would come to my mind, which described how depression affected me. Slowly but surely, I ended up having enough images to publish my first book about depression 12 Mois Sans Intérêt, only published in French . Somehow, creating that book helped me to be at peace with my own experience of depression.

A couple years later, I had another experience involving anxiety and creation. In 2011, I was invited to Lyon, France, for a three week artist residency. I was really thrilled about the project and to be invited. I decided not to prepare in advance, to allow myself to be inspired by the city and by the travel experience itself. But when I arrived in Lyon, I was tired, stressed, jet-lagged and I realised I only had three weeks to develop a significant project. I started to worry; I felt it was impossible. For a couple of days, I felt unable to work as I was completely overcome by anxiety. So I started drawing how I felt: how the jetlag affected me, how I wished I'd find some ideas, how I was unable to work, and so on. As the ideas kept popping into my head, I started feeling better. I decided that sharing that anxiety would be my residency project. And by the end of the three weeks, I was really proud to share the result.

After that residency, I continued to make illustrations about depression and anxiety, for fun and because I felt inspired. With a goal in mind to create another book on anxiety, I started analysing the origins of my anxiety: how I can see it coming, how it comes and goes, what makes it worst, how I can try to manage it. It was a rational work.

I didn't aim to use art as therapy, but in the end it helped me a lot. I learned more about myself and how I react to events in my everyday life. I had to dig deep into my guts, to explore my darker side. I had to admit I wasn't perfect and, the hardest for me, I had to admit I had a fear of rejection. Saying it out loud was like saying "hey, I'm not as strong as I always pretended to be". At first, I was not so comfortable sharing something I had tried to hide all my life. But, I also felt I had to be honest, and somehow I knew that my personal struggle had something universal.

Illustrating has helped me cope with and understand my anxiety. I am still an anxious person, but I have more tools to deal with it now.

Thin Slices of Anxiety by Catherine Lepage, published by Chronicle Books £9.99

To purchase the book click here

All illustrations used in this post credited to: © 2016 by Catherine Lepage