One way mental health was presented to the core was through the education of common mental issues amongst the general public, specifically depression. Depression was presented as a massive issue throughout the unit, from beginning to end. At one time a couple of guest speakers came in to talk about mental illness among teens. When speaking they mentioned teen suicide statistics and went off to explain that most of the suicides were related to teens with depression. They stated that suicide related to depression is the third-most leading cause of death for 15-20 year olds in the United States. This surprising statistic reveals the dangerous side of mental illness. Another way we viewed depression was through the scientific perspective. Another large part of the unit was based on The Tragedy Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare. In the unit we were able to observe two individuals who struggled with depression. This part of the unit also helped us realize that depression has been around for a long time, since about Throughout the unit pieces like this were most prevalent in our studies and can easily be related to problems in society that have been around for a long time.
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The guest speakers and a card they handed out
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Another issue the unit addressed was PTSD. PTSD was a another larger issue we studied. Many people have been developing depression, namely many war veterans. One TED Talk we listened to really created a different medium to view the problem through. In this TED Talk with Junger, we learned that PTSD may be recurring constantly in today's society, because society is "cold" and "isolating". These claims provided a unique perspective on the problem with PTSD. It taught us to extract information from places we normally wouldn't poke at. Another part we did with PTSD was based on a StudySync assignment we finished. In the StudySync there was a segment on a person who was in the midst of a battlefield. We analyzed this and related it back to Junger. The stress and trauma that was displayed in the StudySync reading part proved, in a indirect sense, that people in war are used to a terrifying environment. When placed back in a physiologically stressful environment, then it becomes easier to develop PTSD. The speech given by Junger can also relate to a stressful work/school environment that can cause people to develop symptoms of PTSD. This part of the unit really created a "binding" ideology for us to reflect on in the future.
A couple of other smaller parts of the unit were really important that we learned about. For instance, addiction and how it can lead to a deluge of mental illnesses. One project I was involved in related to heroin addiction. In the video my partner and I talked about heroin addiction and how it could lead to many different kinds of mental illnesses. One example of a mental illness it can lead to is depression. We also learned about addiction when talking about dopamine, specifically during the cauliflower lab. In the lab we learned that most illegal drugs cause the user to become attached to the substance. When attached to the substance it is easy to lose control of your life in terms of finances and health, which can cause even more mental issues to occur. in fact, addiction is a mental illness in itself. These ideas in the unit really empathized the value of community outreach and how it can change lives.
Over the course of the unit we learned a lot about mental health and how it is a wide spread issue in many places in the world and is very prevalent in our society. During the unit we also learned many skills relating to community outreach, scientific analysis, in text analysis, scaling of an issue, and a plethora of different skills. These skills and the knowledge we have accumulated can result in perhaps a better future for our communities and the world.
~NEW School Working as a Community~
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