DID I Do That?

In this second unit of our STEAM class, Disease, we learned more about the human mind, and how mental disorders affect you mentally and physically. We learned about different kinds of brainwaves, neurotransmitters, and how the nervous system works. For this Action Project, we chose a particular mental disorder, and we had to make a lesson plan to teach our classmates about it as well. Below is my Action Project.

Dissociative Identity Disorder, formerly know as Multiple Personality Disorder, affects the hippocampus and the amygdala, as well as the orbitofrontal cortex. This means that DID changes the way that a person’s memory works, as well as how their emotions and decision making work. The scientific definition states that DID “is characterized by a person's identity fragmentation into two or more distinct personality states. People with this condition are often victims of severe abuse.” My definition is that DID is where a person’s mind splits into different personalities in order to cope with trauma or abuse. These alternate personalities, or “alters”, form a system residing within their head that serve as defense against the memory of the trauma by disassociating from each other. Suzette Boon, a professional psychologist, describes this dissociation as “a kind of parallel owning and disowning of experience. While one part of you owns an experience, another part of you does not. Thus, people with dissociative disorders do not feel integrated and instead feel fragmented because they have memories, thoughts, feelings, behaviors and so forth that they experience as uncharacteristic and foreign, as though these do not belong to themselves.” Some symptoms include out of body experiences, suicidal thoughts, and loss of memory or time.

 According to the DSM-5, which is a diagnostic reference book, the following criteria must be met for a person to be diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder:

• The individual experiences two or more distinct identities or personality states (each with its own enduring pattern of perceiving, relating to, and thinking about the environment and self).
• The disruption in identity involves a change in sense of self, sense of agency, and changes in behavior, consciousness, memory, perception, cognition, and motor function.
• Frequent gaps are found in the individual’s memories of personal history, including people, places, and events, for both the distant and recent past. These recurrent gaps are not consistent with ordinary forgetting.

WH, DID Flier, 2019

Lesson plan:

Minutes into Activity	What the Student is Doing	Materials Needed	Dominant Brainwave
0	Introducing DID	Show flier (computer/projector)	Alpha
1	Definition of DID	Show flier (computer/projector)	Alpha
2	Explain activity	Show flier (computer/projector)	Alpha
3	Explain activity	Show flier (computer/projector)	Beta
4	Do activity	Length of rope, 16’ long	Beta
5	Do activity	Length of rope	Beta
6	Do activity	Length of rope	Beta
7	Do activity	Length of rope	Beta
8	Do activity	Length of rope	Beta
9	Explain connection		Alpha
10	Explain connection/wrap up		Alpha

For the first few minutes, the students will try to form the length of rope into a square. However, certain random students will be selected to not be able to use either their hands, feet, or mouth, to move the rope into position. Afterwards, I will explain that each student represents an “alter”, or alternate personality, in a DID patient. The ones who had restrictions represent alters that couldn’t be able to help in that situation, and just have to try to observe and communicate with the others in the system to get the task done.

Below is the video of my lesson plan being put into action.

WH, DID Video, 2019

Below are Piecewise functions showing the variation in brainwaves, along with a graph representing them:

(2,3) and (3,4) 3-24-3=11  m=1

y=1(x-2)+3

(3,4) and (8,4)  8-34-4=50=0, m=0

y=0(x-3) +4

y=4

(8,4) and (9,3)  9-83-4=1-1=m= -1

y=-1(x-8)+4

WH, Piecewise Functions Graph, 2019

In conclusion, I thought that this project was quite interesting. I learned a lot about mental disorders, and what it might be like to have one, which I didn't have very much knowledge of beforehand.

Works Cited:

“Boston University Arts & Sciences Writing Program.” Disorganized Attachment and the Orbitofrontal Cortex as the Basis for the Development of Dissociative Identity Disorder » Writing Program » Boston University, www.bu.edu/writingprogram/journal/past-issues/issue-3/manton/.

“Dissociative Identity Disorder (Multiple Personality Disorder).” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, www.psychologytoday.com/us/conditions/dissociative-identity-disorder-multiple-personality-disorder.

“Dissociative Identity Disorder (Multiple Personality Disorder): Signs, Symptoms, Treatment.” WebMD, WebMD, www.webmd.com/mental-health/dissociative-identity-disorder-multiple-personality-disorder#4.

“Dissociative Disorders.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 17 Nov. 2017, www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/dissociative-disorders/symptoms-causes/syc-20355215.

Jaide, Andee, and Andee Jaide. “How to Support Someone With Dissociative Identity Disorder.” The Mighty, 12 Mar. 2019, themighty.com/2017/08/how-to-support-someone-with-dissociative-identity-disorder/.

“NAMI.” NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Illness, www.nami.org/learn-more/mental-health-conditions/dissociative-disorders.

Panko, Charmaine, and Charmaine Panko. “How to Help Someone Deal With Dissociative Identity Disorder Triggers.” The Mighty, 12 Mar. 2019, themighty.com/2018/03/how-to-help-someone-deal-with-dissociative-identity-disorder-triggers/.“What Is Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)?” PODS, information.pods-online.org.uk/what-is-dissociative-identity-disorder-did/.