The Beautiful Mind

In unit 2 of our STEAM class Disease, we turned our focus towards mental disorders. During this unit we read Naoki Higashida’s The Reason I Jump, which explores the inner monologue of a 13 year old boy with autism. We also read sections of the DSM-5, which is used as a guide to diagnosing mental disorders, and focused on mental illnesses like Depersonalization and Bipolar Disorder. We learned the different types of brainwaves and their purposes like how delta brain waves are responsible for restorative health and empathy. For my action project, I chose to focus on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and its effects on the brain. As part of the project, I had to come up with a lesson plan on PTSD, a presentation for the disorder, and a simulation, of sorts, to depict how I feel having PTSD would feel like. During my presentation, I played an audio clip of a car crashing, then later displayed imagery of cars to have the class think and be reminded of the audio they had heard earlier. Also, we had to create a flyer to give brief information on PTSD and provide actual resources one could use, if they were looking to reach out for help.