What are mental disorders?
(1)"A mental illness is a disease of the brain that causes mild to severe disturbances in thought and/or behavior, resulting in an inability to cope with life's ordinary demands and routines."
Mental disorders are a very big thing in this day and age and more and more are we being made aware of it. Back years and years ago, there was a substantial stigma attached to the phrase' mentally ill'. Whereas nowadays we are more accepting of it and have found ways to help people with such problems to cope and hopefully thrive, although there is still some stigma attached, especially with older people, together with a lack of understanding. The phase "pull yourself together" is still used by those who still don't understand.
There's many different types of mental disabilities; I for one, have Asperger's, which is a mild form of autism; which is why I decided to pursue this subject.
Autism for example has so many different categories, its unbelievable. Its not a case of saying ' you have type Autism, you have type B, type C...' and so on and so forth. Autism has a spectrum. Someone once described it to me like a rainbow - picture the side to your left is green - leading into yellow, leading into orange, and then ending on your right in red. Everyone fits on that spectrum somewhere. You, if you consider yourself 'normal' will most likely be on the green end of the scale, whereas people like myself are on the greeny-yellow bit. Then you get cases that can be quite severe and been in the orange or even red category - its all a matter of individually assessing where you are on that scale. I know a few people with autism myself which I will attempt to interview, should they permit me.
But no matter WHAT disability or disorder you have, seen or unseen - we're all people. Its not nice for people to point fingers and laugh at others - think they're 'weird' because they see things in a different light or work in a certain way. For instance, If someone was to teach a method to a class of how to get to a particular outcome or equation, I might not be able to understand it at all. However by finding a method that I understand, we're can reach the same outcome but through different means. We can apply that to every day life as well. People aren't weird, or, to coin a particularly nasty phrase, 'retarded' - its just that they see things differently from you and if anything require encouragement.
There are many different types of mental health issues and disabilities- from the blatantly obvious; behaviors and repetition to subtle disorders such as not understanding social norms or how to respond in certain situations. Below I have listed some different mental health disorders I will be looking at In my projects.
My aim for this year is to enlighten myself, as well as raise awareness for mental disorders. Having been bullied a lot my whole life over something that I can't really help has made me understand how difficult it must be for people who are so much less fortunate that I am. I want people to look at my work and research this year and reconsider how they may treat people or see the world. I would love to go into children's book illustrations when I leave university; but more so I would like to become a art therapist - studying the behaviors of children in foster care particularly (as they seem to have very destructive tendencies). I'd like to teach them to channel their anger/aggression/ emotions into art instead of lashing out or hiding away, and maybe read more about that child through their work. My other plan is to become an art teacher. So that is what sparked my interest into mental health and psychology. I hope to have a better understanding of different mental health issues and disorders by the end of this year, including a much wider and more in-depth understanding about autism - which is sort of the 'Main act' in this year's project. I also hope to use this research to create a children's book which can be distributed to people who have children with autism. The idea is they give the book to the child's friend and brothers or sisters - even the child themselves, and they can read this colorful playful book - enjoy the story and the artwork and at the same time inform themselves. Hopefully it'll make the sufferers of autism/Asperger feel less alone and more understood. It'll help them to understand themselves more too.
Here is a list of different mental health category's I could be looking at. I think for my book I will settle on seven. Just to help the story flow better and not be too long: Although there are many different types of disorders, these are a few of the more well known ones. Although I will pick the ones that are only common in children (for instance Alzheimers is an older disorder; not for the young)
(1)"
There are over 200 different types of mental disorders". Some of them are more common than others, and more easily recognized. (1)
"one in four adults have a mental disorder and one in five children." Some can be fixed some can't. That is the difference between mental HEALTH and a mental DISORDER. I will be focusing on disorders mostly. Although depression is also an topic I would like to find out more about.
Cant be cured - DISORDERS
Can be helped and symptoms can be alleviated through treatments but can't be cured
- Autism/Aspergus
- Alzheimers
- Bipolar
- dementia
- schizophrenia
- (2)ADHD (Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder)
- OCD
- Tourettes
- Gender dysphoria
- Down syndrome
ILLNESSES: Can be cured
- Depression
- anxiety
- PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder)
- PHOBIAS (however not appropriate for this study)
Ideas so far;
- Research more into each chosen disorder via books from library
- Illustrate two or three pictures for each disorder- maybe the dragons so it links with concept art for the book I'm doing in the practical project? To display certain behaviours or expressions.
- research into ink spot theory and practice - DO AND SHOW EXPERIMENTS OF YOUR OWN
- How art can help depression as an illness
- How art can Help people with mental disorders
- Books about mental disorders or by authors with mental disorders
- Practices and physiological help for disorders
- who has been working with people with mental disorders and how their work was published.
- Characteristics and behaviors of specific disorders more in-depth - chosen seven - DRAWINGS OF BEHAVIORS
- ask to interview Darren - a sufferer, or Pauline - a retired special needs teacher or Matthew for depression
- Ask tutors to arrange for me to have a day at Wotton lawn - at the hospital; Its a specialist ward for people with disorders and illness. Observe and maybe interview patients or nurses.
- look at books aimed at specific disorders - Any specific style consistant or theme? try in your work.
- Artists who use mental disorders as themes in their work - notice any particular characteristics that stand out? Do your own experiments.
WHAT AM I TRYING TO ACHIEVE WITH THIS PROJECT?
HOW CAN ART HELP PEOPLE WITH THESE DISORDERS ; WHETHER ITS THROUGH ART THERAPY OR AN APPRECIATION OF OLD MASTERS - whether its through appreciation of a piece, practical work or theory.
The first step is identifying the disorders I will be using in my book and looking at them more in depth.
first step; internet and video research
second step; book research
third step; interviews
fourth step; Illustrating characteristics in dragons for each one
REFERENCES
Types of mental health - what is mental health?
(1)http://www.triadmentalhealth.org/what-is-mental-illness/
(2)https://www.childline.org.uk/info-advice/your-feelings/mental-health/types-mental-health-issues/
