Unit 2: Mental Health Reflection

http://www.visionsteen.com/2014/06/find-the-top-mental-health-facility-for-teens-in-southern-california/

"Approximately 20% of adolescents have a diagnosable mental health disorder" (Schwarz, NCCP) and these symptoms usually appear during adolescence. Depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, eating disorders and other mental illnesses are commonly found in adolescents. If these illnesses are left untreated, they can have lasting effects or even harm the person who has them. That's why N.E.W. School took 8 weeks to learn about mental illnesses and their physical effects, being able to recognize the symptoms, even in fictional characters and raising awareness for these illnesses through creative mediums. 

One of the earlier and smaller projects we did in N.E.W. school was labeling a cauliflower as if it were a brain, looking at the physiology of the brain. We used a website for reference so that we could cut up the brain to symbolize the right and left sides of the brain, then label the parts inside to represent sections of the brain. An example would be the brain stem is the cauliflower stem because it is they resemble each other. Then on a separate document, we made a key with a paragraph of what each of the parts does and how it affects neurotransmitters, hormones, and overall mental health. 

After we finished labeling the cauliflower, we moved onto part 2. Part 2 was when the teacher physically altered the brain, with our group we had a tumor in the back of the brain. We researched it and found it to be medulloblastoma, a tumor found in the cerebellum. It is usually found in young children.

http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0004-282X2003000200008

When we finished researching the symptoms of medulloblastoma, we had to write a narrative from the perspective of the patient, the parent or the doctor dealing with this disease. I decided to write it from the point of view of the patient, taking account nausea and trauma they would be dealing with. The story can be found on this blog or with this link. 

A larger project our class worked on was the Romeo and Juliet Psychoanalysis. To lead up to the essay we acted out the play in class. This helped us better understand the emotions and interactions between characters before analyzing their behavior to write our essay. 

Romeo and Juliet acting

After finishing the play, we each got to pick a character and pick what mental disorder they most likely have by using the book and online resources as evidence. I picked Mercutio and diagnosed him with intermittent explosive disorder (IDE) because of his sudden outbursts. This essay helped me better understand how to find scientific resources to back up analyzed claims and recognize the symptoms and signs of mental disorders. 

Storyboards for the Mental Health Awareness Project

The last project I will talk about is the culminating mental health unit project where we had to pick a creative medium to raise awareness for a mental health disorder of our choice. I chose depression and rose awareness for it by creating an animatic (unfinished animation) of a day in a person with undiagnosed depression. 

 This project helped me better understand how it feels to have a mental disorder, how to recognize it in other people and be able to raise awareness for mental health disorders in general. I called my animatic Silent Sickness, because depression is not something easily seen by the eye. This project also helped me learn how to use the tools at my disposal to make something greater, since I had to use an animation program, online resources, a voice recording program, and an editing software. Overall, this project culminates science, english and technology because it used narrative techniques, scientific thought and technology knowledge. 

Showing the animatic at the Exposition

To restate all the above points, each of these projects helped me better understand the concept of mental health and learn how to recognize and raise awareness for mental health disorders. I used Science to better learn about the physical and neurological implications, Technology to research and educate about these disorders, and English to be able to communicate my points effectively, whether through narrative or analytical techniques. This unit helped me understand the emotional and mental points of view of people with mental health disorders, who are all around us.