A not so a-PEEL-ing disorder

The second unit of our STEAM course is titled Disease. In this unit we closely studied the DSM-V (diagnostic and statistic manual of mental disorders fifth edition). We studied three mental disorders closely; schizophrenia, OCD, and autism. We looked at the descriptions of the disorder, its diagnostic criteria, and its related disorders.

So for this action project we had to closely study any mental disability of or choosing. After we researched the disease in depth, we had to conduct a safe interactive activity, making our peers get the feeling of that disorder. Here's what I did, and I hope you enjoy.

The disorder I chose from the DSM-V is called Trichotillomania, more commonly known as hair pulling disorder. Trichotilliomania is a mental disorder that involves recurrent, irresistible urges to pull out hair from your scalp, eyebrows or other areas of your body, despite trying to stop. When diagnosing hair pulling disorder, there are a couple of criteria that have to be met specifically for an honest diagnosis. Recurrent pulling out of one’s hair, resulting in hair loss, The hair pulling causes clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning, The hair pulling or hair loss is not attributable to another medical condition. "It wasn’t until about 4 years ago that I found out what Trichotillomania was."  Even though trichotillomania is a common disorder, there has been very little breakthrough trying to figure out what brain waves are affected. Even so, we do know that the right inferior frontal lobe is formed differently in patients with trichotillomania.

In class, I gave a slight presentation and interactive activity on trichotillomaina. I had the students put glue on their hands so that when it dried it would be interesting and they would try to peel it during my presentation. This was to insinuate the feeling of wanting to pull out ones hair when feeling distracted or anxious. The "experiment" worked perfectly and I even video taped it below.

During this whole presentation and interactive portion, I was recording what the students' brain waves were while I was presenting. Here is that data in chart form, then in graph form, and lastly in a piecewise function.

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Lastly I created a flier that could be put around to inform about Trichotillomania. It includes information on who to contact as well as what the disorder is. Here it is below.

Work cited:

“Welcome to My Trichotillomania Blog - Trichotillomania Blog.” Trichotillomania Blog, 2017, trichotillomaniablog.com/. Accessed 6 Mar. 2020.

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