WEEKS 1—3
INTENT: I had to begin researching my chosen mental illnesses/diseases, which are Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, and Dissociative Identity Disorder to try and visualize or have an idea as to what images and type will be on the poster. Later, define who my audience and sponsor is for my poster. I started to look in to where these might be posted.
PROBLEM: Our task was to find a way to communicate our problem through visual image and typography.
SOLUTION: For now, what ever solution we come up with lies in how well I research my topic.
SCHIZOPHRENIA Schizophrenia is a chronic, severe, and disabling brain disorder that has affected people throughout history. About 1 percent of Americans have this illness. People with the disorder may hear voices other people don’t hear. They may believe other people are reading their minds, controlling their thoughts, or plotting to harm them. This can terrify people with the illness and make them withdrawn or extremely agitated.
Symptoms
No single symptom positively identifies schizophrenia. An individual may have any combination of symptoms. Furthermore, an individual’s symptoms can change over time. The symptoms of schizophrenia are divided into three categories: positive, negative and cognitive symptoms. Positive Symptoms are also known as “psychotic symptoms” because the person has lost contact with reality in certain ways.
Causes
While an exact cause of schizophrenia is still unknown, researchers do know that the brains of people living with schizophrenia are different from those undiagnosed with the illness. It is too early to classify schizophrenia as either a neurodevelopmental (impairment of the growth and development of the brain) or a neurodegenerative (progressive loss of structure or function of neurons) disorder, as both seem to occur over the course of the illness. Research strongly suggests the emergence of schizophrenia is a result of both genetic and environmental factors.
Diagnosis
Diagnosing schizophrenia is not easy. The first signs of its manifestation may only be a change of friends, a drop in grades or irritability and not even appear to be “typical” signs of psychosis. Complicating diagnosis further is that the symptoms of schizophrenia also resemble those of other mental and physical health problems, such as bipolar disorder and brain tumors.
Treating Schizophrenia
While there is still no cure for schizophrenia, treatments have been developed that help reduce many symptoms of the disease. There are many medications now available to help treat schizophrenia. Psychosocial rehabilitation and family support are also key aspects in providing a successful treatment. Perhaps most important is to address schizophrenia as soon as it is detected. Early treatment has been shown to be effective in limiting the development and severity of symptoms.
The Social Aspect of Schizophrenia
For people living with schizophrenia, support from family and loved ones is some of the most important medication that can be provided. Families who are educated about schizophrenia can offer strong support and help reduce the likelihood of relapse. The key is to be in tune with what the person is open to at any given time. For example, arguing with an individual about delusions when they do not believe they are having any creates distances and is usually ineffective. Instead, empathizing with someone’s distress or success is more likely to foster positive outcomes. source nami.org
BIPOLAR DISORDER Bipolar disorder, or manic depression, is a medical illness that causes extreme shifts in mood, energy, and functioning. These changes may be subtle or dramatic and typically vary greatly over the course of a person’s life as well as among individuals. Over 10 million people in America have bipolar disorder, and the illness affects men and women equally. Bipolar disorder is a chronic and generally life-long condition with recurring episodes of mania and depression that can last from days to months that often begin in adolescence or early adulthood, and occasionally even in children. Most people generally require some sort of lifelong treatment. While medication is one key element in successful treatment of bipolar disorder, psychotherapy, support, and education about the illness are also essential components of the treatment process.
SYMPTOMS MANIA Mania is the word that describes the activated phase of bipolar disorder. The symptoms of mania may include: either an elated, happy mood or an irritable, angry, unpleasant mood increased physical and mental activity and energy racing thoughts and flight of ideas DEPRESSION Depression is the other phase of bipolar disorder. The symptoms of depression may include: loss of energy, prolonged sadness, decreased activity and energy, restlessness and irritability, inability to concentrate or make decisions, increased feelings of worry and anxiety, less interest or participation in, and less enjoyment of activities normally enjoyed, feelings of guilt and hopelessness, thoughts of suicide MIXED STATE A mixed state is when symptoms of mania and depression occur at the same time. During a mixed state depressed mood accompanies manic activation.
CAUSES
While the exact cause of bipolar disorder is not known, most scientists believe that bipolar disorder is likely caused by multiple factors that interact with each other to produce a chemical imbalance affecting certain parts of the brain. Bipolar disorder often runs in families, and studies suggest a genetic component to the illness. A stressful environment or negative life events may interact with an underlying genetic or biological vulnerability to produce the disorder. There are other possible “triggers” of bipolar episodes: the treatment of depression with an antidepressant medication may trigger a switch into mania, sleep deprivation may trigger mania, or hypothyroidism may produce depression or mood instability. It is important to note that bipolar episodes can and often do occur without any obvious trigger.
TREATING BIPOLAR
While there is no cure for bipolar disorder, it is a treatable and manageable illness. After an accurate diagnosis, most people can achieve an optimal level of wellness. Medication is an essential element of successful treatment for people with bipolar disorder. In addition, psychosocial therapies including cognitive-behavioral therapy, interpersonal therapy, family therapy, and psychoeducation are important to help people understand the illness and to internalize skills to cope with the stresses that can trigger episodes. Changes in medications or doses may be necessary, as well as changes in treatment plans during different stages of the illness. source nami.org
DISSOCIATIVE IDENTITY DISORDER (D.I.D) Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), previously referred to as multiple personality disorder (MPD), is a dissociative disorder involving a disturbance of identity in which two or more separate and distinct personality states (or identities) control the individual’s behavior at different times. When under the control of one identity, the person is usually unable to remember some of the events that occurred while other personalities were in control. The different identities, referred to as alters, may exhibit differences in speech, mannerisms, attitudes, thoughts, and gender orientation. The alters may even differ in “physical” properties such as allergies, right-orleft handedness, or the need for eyeglass prescriptions. These differences between alters are often quite striking. The person with DID may have as few as two alters, or as many as 100. The average number is about 10. Often alters are stable over time, continuing to play specific roles in the person’s life for years. Some alters may harbor aggressive tendencies, directed toward individuals in the person’s environment, or toward other alters within the person.
Symptoms
Along with the dissociation and multiple or split personalities, people with dissociative disorders may experience any of the following symptoms: Depression Mood swings Suicidal tendencies Sleep disorders (insomnia, night terrors, and sleep walking) Alcohol and drug abuse Compulsions and rituals Psychotic-like symptoms (including auditory and visual hallucinations) Eating disorders
Causes
The causes for DID is yet undefined. There are many controversies regarding this problem and a general conclusion id childhood abuse. Several studies have revealed the fact that the childhood abuse is one of the main reasons for DID. The survey in this related field shows the facts that 97%98% of DID cases, had a traumatic events of abuse in the childhood. On the other hand, 85%cases of DID has been observed in case of adults and
96% of children and teenagers in adolescence have become the prey of child abuse during their early phase of life. In these cases, sexual abuse is one of the most violent result creating events and has created a lifetime trauma in the girls-as per the result of the survey.
Treating D.I.D
Treatment for DID consists primarily of psychotherapy with hypnosis. The therapist seeks to make contact with as many alters as possible and to understand their roles and functions in the patient’s life. In particular, the therapist seeks to form an effective relationship with any personalities that are responsible for violent or self-destructive behavior, and to curb this behavior. The therapist seeks to establish communication among the personality states and to find ones that have memories of traumatic events in the patient’s past. The goal of the therapist is to enable the patient to achieve breakdown of the patient’s separate identities and their unification into a single identity. source nami.org
WEEKS 4—6
INTENT: I drew many inspiration from Matisse, Wes Wilson’s work since I had felt that it related to my mental illness topic. Thus, I started to sketch out countless ideas for my series of poster whether it was good or bad.
PROBLEM: My task was to not only communitcate the message through visual imagery and typography, but my posters had to stylistically relate to one another.
SOLUTION: Having an understanding of the source of inspiration whether its from an artist or other media.
Contextual Image Research
Kim Noble’s paintings Kim Noble is diagnosed with D.I.D. Her and her alters have different identities and have painted all of these. Think of them as 16 people in one body.
Henry Matisse
Alexander Calder
WEEKS 7—9
INTENT: Since the photography did not work as well as I thought, I started to really look into Wes Wilson’s work because what my original concept was to show the disorders personally as if one has that disorder and is in their shoes. By doing that, I started to develop more of a figure that’s surrounding a handwritten style.
WEEKS 10—11
INTENT: After discovering that the combination of Wes Wilson’s and Alexander Calder’s work was not working in my work, I focused more only on Calder’s work. I thought this really relate to my topic because of my concept of connectivity and how a line can represent a person’s life and how Calder’s wired scultures uses either one or more wire to create something.
WEEKS 12—13
INTENT: Now, I has to focus on minimizing the lines and simplifying it a bit more. I had to consider the usage of what colors to use for the background and I had thought of the following: Schizophrenia: Red would represent alert and awareness as one that has the condition, they often feel disturbed and cluttered with hearing voices in their heads. Bipolar Disorder: Blue would represent the mood swings and the feelings that the person with the condition has. Dissociative Identity Disorder: Gray would represent the security of a person. Since the person with condition has 2 or more alters, I thought as though they made cubbies for those personalities to protect their inner self. The acid yellow in the face represents the traumatic events that has happened during his/her childhood.
PROBLEM: To minimize the overlaping of lines of the faces.
SOLUTION: Simplifying the lines and making the posters stylistically relate to one another.
INTENT: Since Clane told the class that this poster project was a semester long project, I decided to keep a sketchbook for this class and project. These are ALL the pages of notes and drawings I did over the course of the term.