NEUROCHEMISTRY

To help us choose subjects for self-directed briefs last term we partook in a mind mapping exercise. One of the three avenues I came up with was psychology and mood disorders.

For the self-directed brief I am working on now deal with neurochemistry. I have been reading a very engaging book ...

I've been looking art therapy exercises, particularly ones that fall into three categories: emotional, relaxation and happiness.

These are ones that I found particularly relevant:

HAPPINESS
Take photos of things you think are beautiful Draw a quote you like Represent freedom Document a spiritual experience

RELAXATION
Mandala (circle with a centre) depicting yourself as you are now Draw outside Use colour blocks to create an image
EMOTIONAL
Paint a mountain (what makes you happy) and a valley (what makes you sad) Release a balloon with a message attached Design a postcard you will never send Draw three wishes Draw yourself as an animal A free drawing
Keep an art journal

I chose a few to test out and record how I felt after completing, one or two from each category.

Take photos of things you think are beautiful
Mandala (circle with a centre) depicting yourself as you are now
Use colour blocks to create an image
Release a balloon with a message attached
A free drawing

At first I experimented with using the activity to try and improve my memory. I recorded my dream as soon as I woke up, did an exercise and then wrote what I recalled from the dream again. I got rather tired of recording the same information and realized it was just better to focus on how the activity effected my state of being.

First I tried the colour block exercise.

Next up was the Mandala... which left me feeling a bit angry.

The free drawing activity left me with the ability to concentrate.

Then I gave the mountain/valley exercise a go, but had a hard time thinking of things that made me happy/sad.

My favourite was the balloon send-off! It was pretty cathartic but somewhat disappointing... as you will see in the last photo.

After researching, my initial reaction to the symptoms of bipolar disorder was that they seemed typical of what we experience on a daily/weekly basis, particularly in London. I created a worksheet for people to fill in for 3-4 days, twice a day that indicates how they are feeling and what they are up to during the time.

I then made a graph of each person's feelings and where they fell in the range of symptoms from depression and mania.

My last experiment was recording where I felt symptoms of bipolar disorder during my journey from home to Uni. I generated a large list of symptoms to refer to and gave them numbers.

It's been since organized into an info graphic.. I am considering making a book, a handbook for 'Life Disorder' that encompasses all my experiments and their findings.