Locked in...

Monday, January 18th, 2021 - Sunday, January 24th, 2021

During my week in ISM, I was focused on one thing: my original work. I was able to do research on another very common mental illness in India, bipolar disorder. I felt that this was an illness that I needed to focus on because of how much misconception there is about it. The media has portrayed bipolar disorder in many lights, through celebrities suffering from it to movies about it, like Silver Linings Playbook. I was able to learn about the illness itself and the varying levels of it., with Bipolar I Disorder being the most severe and Cyclothomia being the least severe. I plan on moving forward on my research of the various mental illnesses that are common in India by spending time next week learning about anxiety disorder. One question I have going into this research is what causes there to be so many different anxiety disorder, is it because of the stimulus, the chemical makeup of the person’s brain, or something completely different?

Along with this, I have been looking into social media as a platform to distribute information on mental health to help raise awareness in Indian society. I looked at a couple of successful online campaigns and what strategies worked best for them. One of the more interesting ones that I saw was used by the Buddies for Suicide Prevention, where they kept people active in the campaign through the use of activities like slogan-writing and script-writing competitions. This is something I will look to include in the one-pager I plan to write next week, just as I did with the education system.

The only thing that I have had some trouble with is what direction I want to take my project in, as there are so many different opportunities that I have. I plan to get this worked out with my mentor next week, who I am hoping I will be able to meet with next week. Altogether, I am going to continue to stay locked in and do my best work!