Process Journal Entry Seventeen

19^th of August, 2013

                Today I decided that it would be best to finish my bibliography before school starts once again because we are supposed to be submitting our bibliography to Ms. Clark in September. I have met the requirements of having at least two academic sources.

I feel like I have gathered a substantial amount of information about depression. I believe that I have gathered the basic information on photography and that I have a better knowledge of photography in general. Although, there is a lot I can still learn about photography. I have marked pages in the book, Digital Photography Exposure For Dummies in case I need I am unsure about something or if I think that I need more knowledge on that particular subject.

                I will be reading the book from now until the time that I need to start shooting my stories, but I will not be writing down the information in my process journal. I may jot down some notes while reading to help me remember certain things but I do not intend on making any more process journals dedicated to my research.

                In addition, recently my family and I went to Grindelwald and went on a hike. I took my camera with me, thinking that it would be an excellent opportunity to take some practice shots and to test out things that I have learned. I played around a lot with the exposure. I tried different exposure settings to try to make pictures lighter and darker. I found that when I make pictures darker the picture has a dark, dramatic tone to it and when I make the picture lighter it makes the picture look prettier and calmer. I also tried changing the exposure and the shutter speed to see what different affects it had on the picture. But in the pictures that I was taking, which were of mountains and landscapes, I didn’t need to change the shutter speed because nothing I photographed was moving and I didn’t need to change the aperture because I wasn’t taking photos that were zoomed in.

                To progress with my project I will continue planning out the photographs by doing rough sketches and annotating/explaining them. 

Process Journal Entry Sixteen

14^th of August, 2013

I am more or less done with my research. All I have to do now is to make my bibliography and then go over all the information I have gathered and see if I am missing anything. In the mean time I have moved on to planning out my first story, which is the one that I unofficially named “Depression Wins”, since the story ends in the girl killing herself.

I have so planned out on a piece of paper the first five photos, but I mostly know exactly how I want my story to progress. Even though I am only making rough sketches of what the photos are going to be of and annotating/explaining them, it takes a while to get one done (about 40 minutes, depending on how detailed the picture is). Therefore, I have decided to give myself more time to plan out the story. Instead of only limiting myself until the end of August to finish the planning I have extended the planning time until mid-late September.

Other than that, the project is going as planned. I realized that I didn’t as much research time as I had planned, but that it way better than needing more research than I planned. 

Process Journal Entry Fifteen

9^th of August, 2013 

Today I know for a fact that I will be doing a lot of researching because I want to be finished with it and use the rest of the month of August to focus on sketching out and planning what my photographs are going to show. So, to ensure that I stay motivated and keep researching I will be switching in between researching depression and photography. I just researched ways to get better when dealing with depression, but now I want to research more about photography. I will be inserting all of the information into this entry.

 

The Truth about Fear and Depression

DEPRESSION IS TREATABLE.

                There is a number of different ways you can get help if you have depression. There are organizations that offer help in the form of a number you call and a person will be there to talk to you for however long you need (for example: suicide hotline), there are doctors that can prescribe medication and therapists you can talk to. Sometimes having family and friends to talk to is not enough to cure your depression, but having their support is definitely helpful and will help you through the healing process.

Characteristic Among Teens

Most teens get better when treated for depression or anxiety. Teens are especially skillful at growing as a person and achieving a better state of mind by learning or reconstructed their life.

Strategies For Bouncing Back

People who have anxiety or depression should seek medical help and therapeutic help as well. If a doctor prescribes some medication the person with depression must take them as directed to start the process of treating depression. However, even with medical help it is important to maintain a healthy life style so that there is less chance for the person to slip back into depression.

Examples of how to maintain a healthy life style:

• Find activities that make you happy or that you enjoy
• Avoid spending too much time alone, it is okay to have some alone time each day because everyone needs some time for themselves. But avoid spending the whole day alone. Schedule time to hang out with friends or if they aren’t free even spending time with your family at home is good.
• Talk to your family and friends about how you feeling. Talking about what you feel will help you with the healing process.
• Get help with you workload (homework) when needed so that you won’t have to deal with access stress.
• Eat healthy foods
• Do not take alcohol or drugs.
• Exercise often, at least three times a week.
• Get enough sleep each day
• Find time to relax, be it just watching a movie, reading a book, or spending time with your friends.
• When you are feeling stressed take time to breathe deeply in and out to calm you down.
• Focus on the positive things in your life rather than always thinking about the negative.
• Always think positively about your future
• Learn new ways to approach a problem that is bothering you.

One very important element in recovering from depression is to develop a good social support group of people you love and know you can trust. People with depression will often have a hard time talking to people about how the feel. If they are surrounded by people who care for them and will listen then they might find it easier to talk about what they are feeling. It’s hard to talk to people who are always negative or who are making bad decisions in life, like drinking all the tine or doing drugs often.

Support groups are also very helpful because then you are surrounded by people who know what you are going through. They can offer advice as to what helps when they are having an “episode” or what didn’t work for them.

You can also search the web for help. Just typing in the words “Depression help” tons of websites will show up that can offer you some good and solid advice.

 

                What is great about the book that I am using to research photography is that it shows a picture and then on the left hand side there is a panel explaining how the photographer achieved this picture, as in what settings they used. I think that this is very helpful, especially for some of the photos showing how to photograph people because then I can copy the techniques and get good results. Since I cannot include an example in this process journal I will be marking the pages with post-it notes so that I can always flick back for reference.

                The book offers some great information about how to photograph people in motion. This is very helpful for me because I do want to have some shots that have movement in them. They suggest to set your camera to continuous exposure so you don’t have to worry about if the photo is too light or too dark (you can fix that when you edit the photos). They also suggest to turn off the flash especially when shooting outdoors. If you are photographing something with rapid action is low lighting conditions it is suggested to set your camera on long exposure time to make your subject sharp. For both times of day it is a good idea to adjust the shutter time so you can capture fast moving objects.

                To create silhouettes it is best to place your subject in between you and the source of light. You need to play around with the position of your subject to make sure that you cannot see their face or any other part of their body. Get the angle right so that the shot looks interesting and you can distinguish features of the person.

                When taking shots in “dramatic lighting” you might want to later change the photo to a black and white setting if the light in the picture looks off or if there is not enough. If the light levels are low you want to set your camera to the highest ISO setting possible. As a result you may get a grainy image, but that can either add interesting texture to the photo or can be fixed with photo editing softwares.

                Next I looked at the book called Digital Photography exposure for Dummies. I decided to read the part about exposure so I could understand it better. Exposure controls how dark/light the picture is going to be, many professional photographers play around with exposure when taking photos making pictures look better than they do in real life. By changing the exposure you make a picture have a totally different appearance/mood.

                I also wanted to look into how aperture works more because I didn’t get too much information on it in the other book. This book will help me more with the basics. The Aperture controls the size of the lens, which controls the depth of field. By minimizing your depth of field you can make a subject in the foreground stand out  while the background is soft and blurry. Or, on the other hand, you can maximize the depth of field to make everything in the photo look sharp and clear. 

Process Journal Entry Fourteen

8^th of August, 2013

Research for my Personal Project has been going well. I think I am pretty much done with my research on depression. I now think that I have a good understanding of what it is and how to portray it in a photograph. However, I think that I need to do more research on photography.

I made some changes to my calendar regarding this because the book that I found on photography has a lot of relevant, helpful information and I need more time to study it and retain all the information. In addition, I found some handouts that I got in Art class in 9^th grade that offered some great information about photography and elements of photography. They are now in my binder, I haven’t looked at them yet, but I plan to highlight information and then scan them in so I can put a copy in my process journal and online where I keep my backup process journal in case my word document is lost.

In addition I realized that I didn’t need to go to the Basel Library for more information on depression because the books that my parents have on depression will serve as my academic sources and there are many of them that I don’t think I need to have any more additional sources.

The next step is to start planning out my stories and doing rough sketches of what each one will be. I plan to do this in the next 2-3 weeks so that I will be finished before school starts and then I can start contacting the people that I would like to be in my photographs.

 

In addition I found the following information on depression and taking good photographs:

 

The Truth About Fear and Depression

Mental and Emotional Symptoms of Depression – pg.68

• Long lasting sadness – people with depression are likely to feel sad and empty, or people can feel “numb”- neither happy nor sad. They may cry all the time or a lot of the time.
• Irritability – people with depression may be easily irritated or annoyed at things that didn’t bother them in the past.
• Feelings of anxiety – people with depression often times can be nervous, worried or preoccupied with what people who not experiencing anxiety consider as minor concerns. They may feel restless and experience an upset stomach at times.
• Loss of interest or pleasure in life – people with depression find it harder to experience pleasure; things that would normally interest them don’t and activities that they used to enjoy aren’t fun anymore for them.
• Neglect of responsibility – those who were normally motivated to do extra circular activities or enjoy school and school work might start falling behind or skipping class or the extra circular activities.
• Neglect of personal care – people with depression often do not have enough energy or don’t care anymore about cleanliness. For example: they will not bathe or maintain their regular routine of personal hygiene.

Personality Changes

When people have depression they experience a change in their personality. They do not want to be around people much and in general do not enjoy life, however when depression is cured the person’s personality gradually starts returning back to normal (to how it was before they had depression).

Assistance With The Symptoms

• Symptoms that come from having depression can often times be confused with symptoms for other illnesses or symptoms that you experience with everyday life. For example:
  • If a person who is in their teens has depression and is often times irritated than this symptom can be passed off as “just being a normal teen”.
  • The assistance of professional help is essential when the symptoms of depression become real.

 

How To Photograph Absolutely Everything

What Else is There To Consider?

USING A TRIPOD

• A tripod is the best way to ensure that the photos you take will be high quality
• Good requirements of a tripod are:
  • Sturdy
  • Can rotate easily
  • Are easy to carry

Camera Settings

• USE A CAMERA’S “P” FOR PROGRAM: this setting gives you a high level  of automation, but allows you to still change certain settings.
• IF YOUR CAMERA OFFERS SCENE MODES: use it, you can always then try a different setting and choose which one is better out of the two.
• CHANGE THE ISO SENSITIVITY: if you are working in dim lighting conditions than changing the IOS setting will make your camera more sensitive to light.
• USE THE AP (APERATURE VALUE) PRIORITY SETTING: if you want to focus on something close to the camera a low AV setting will blur everything in the background and vice – versa.

Finding Focus

• If the focus is soft or the picture is a little bit blurry than use photo editing softwares to sharpen the image, or play around with the settings to make it look like the picture was supposed to be blurry.
• The subject of your photos should be the sharpest if the background doesn’t matter than bur it out.

Framing Images

• PLACING MAIN SUNJECT OFF CENTER: closer to one side than the other. You usually want to place your subject roughly a third of the way into the image (Rule Of Thirds).
• USING FRAMING DEVICES SUCH AS DOORWAYS: for example: over hanging leaves, columns, or anything that is placed around the edges of the picture can be used to form a natural frame around the camera. It helps emphasize the subject of your image. It is also useful for hiding unwanted or distracting elements.
• WHEN SHOOTING LANDSCAPES: try pointing the camera high so there is only a narrow strip of land showing. This means that the majority of the picture will be the sky if you are taking the picture outdoors. This helps give the sense of open space.

Capturing Light

• HIGH CONTRASTIN LGIHTS: when the difference between light and dark is great you can get striking results, but this is very difficult to capture. Shoot lots of frame with different exposure settings and learn which one will give the best results.
• IN BRIGHT CONDITIONS USE THE FLASH TO REDUCE SHADOWS
• USE YOUR HAND TO CAST A SHADOW OVER YOUR LENS: this reduces the effect of the sun shining into the lens, which causes flares.
• WHEN TAKING CLOSE UP PHOTOS: use a piece of paper to soften the light. This helps to make colors richer.

NOTE: IF THE EXPOSURE OF THE PHOTO IS NOT TO YOUR LIKING THEN PLAY AROUND IN THE PHOTO EDITING SOFTWARE TO TRY TO MAKE THE PICTURE DARKER OR LIGHTER.  ALSO PLAY AROUND WITH THE CONTRAST.

Removing Distractions And Sharpening

• ANOTHER KIND OF DISTRACTION IS NOISE: this is a byproduct of setting very high sensitivities (high ISO ratings such as 800 or greater). It gives a grainy look to the image. Most photo editing softwares have the ability the remove noise from a photograph.
• WHEN SHARPENING AN IMAGE FOR PRINTING: it should be a little bit too sharp on screen because it will show up differently and less exaggerated when printed. 

Process Journal Entry Thirteen

26^th of July, 2013

                I watched the video that Mikaela recommended about a guy with depression. While watching the video I looked for behavioral traits that people with depression often have.

• Passive aggressive: he would snap at people and say things that are very hurtful and can be taken as a major insult.

• Irritable: simple things such as women talking loudly would make him angry and irritated, as a result he would scream at the person.

• Always seemed sad: whenever he was having a conversation his voice lacked energy and he would always respond with short quick answers, showing that he didn’t like to talk to people or make any kind of social interactions with them.

• Aggressive: his sister filed a restraining order because he assaulted her and her child.

• Impulsive: he doesn’t think things through. For example he took his niece to a very sketchy neighborhood because he wanted to get her something from his old apartment, although the intentions were good he didn’t stop to think about how bringing the little girl there could be dangerous.

Having a visual reference I think helped me come up with more ideas to show how a person can have depression without having to use texts or words.

Process Journal Entry Twelve

24^th of July, 2013

                I continued with my research, this time looking at a blog that a teenager wrote, reflecting back on when she had depression and how she could help her friend who was experiencing the same thing.

Karla Martinez’s Story on Depression

http://coachellaunincorporated.org/2013/07/08/dont-battle-depression-alone/

All of the bullet points are quotes taken directly from the website

• It is hard to believe that so many young people, with so much life ahead, are willing to give up the most precious gift ever given — their own life.  But it’s true.
• According to the Center for Disease Control, suicide is the third leading cause of death for youth
• I recently noticed a friend acting strange by posting depressing things on Facebook.
• I learned he was stressed out because he was confused about the type of person he was becoming.
• I remember specifically something he told me: “We don’t ask for help when we feel depressed because no one takes it serious.”
• I allowed the stressful world to slowly eat away at me. Having fun and living life was no longer exciting, and I was overcome by darkness.
• When teenagers are depressed, we feel no one understands. I believe it is one of the reasons most don’t speak up. We also think things are going to get better, but it doesn’t always.  As my dad told me, we need to learn to work through these difficulties and believe something is better on the other side.
• When I get down, I keep myself busy. I have gotten involved with extracurricular activites and community organizations — anything that keeps me from staying home and feeling down.
• One thing I learned is that you are better off asking for help than trying to overcome depression on your own.

What I found interesting was that the girl commented on how having someone to talk to and care for you really helps someone with depression, which is what one of my stories focuses on. Furthermore, she gave advice on what she does when she feels sad, or “down” as she described it.

As I research more and more about depression and overcoming depression I have found that more ideas of what each of my pictures can show have come to mind. I already have the first part of one of the stories planned out in my head, but I will then have to put it on paper and then perfect my ideas as a whole. I plan to do that in August when most of my research should already be done.

Process Journal Entry Eleven

19^th of July 2013

During the two weeks I was working in my summer job, I had a lot of extra time to do research when no one needed my assistance. I have gathered a lot of information from websites and I have read more section of the book that I checked out over the summer.

THE TRUTH ABOUT FEAR AND DEPRESSION

Pg. 40-42

Denial – defense mechanism

• Denial is a DEFENCE MECHANISM used to avoid dealing with pain
• Denial is a conscious behavior because people are aware on some level that they are denying reality
• A person may act like something (a problem) is not real or doesn’t exist to protect themselves

Repression – defense mechanism

• Repression is a defense mechanism where unpleasant thoughts, memories or events are pushed from awareness to the unconscious mind.
• Unlike denial people who repress painful things are not aware that they are doing it.

Reaction Formation – defense mechanism

• Reaction formation occurs when someone adopts feelings attitudes or behaviors that are opposite from their desires

For example: if a person has feelings that are deeply upsetting to them; he or she may express exaggerated attitudes or behaviors that are the opposite of his or her beliefs.

• The exaggeration is an attempt to get rid of unwanted feelings

For example: if someone is attracted to another person, who is of the same gender as them, but believes that homosexuality is wrong, he or she may express disgust or resentment  towards anything related to homosexuality.

Pg. 43-45

Depression + Alcoholism

• Depression is a mental disorder cause by the chemical imbalance in the brain
• Many people who suffer from depression also suffer from alcoholism.
• Some people who experience depression might self-medicate by drinking heavily in order to numb the pain.
• Alcohol is a depressant. Therefore it can intensify depression.
• Depression + alcohol addiction cannot only be harmful to a person, but deadly.

Studies have shown that half of the teens who abuse alcohol and other substances have a mental disorder as well.

• 37% of alcohol abusers have at least one other serious mental disorder
• 29% out of all the people diagnosed with mental disorder either abuse alcohol or drugs.

Symptoms and Recovery

• At times of symptoms of alcoholism and depression can overlap, making diagnosis and treatment more difficult

Symptoms of alcoholism that overlap with symptoms of depression include:

–          Drinking alcohol excessively

–          Feeling overly tired, exhausted

–          Sleep difficulties (too much, or not enough)

–          Gastronomical discomfort (nausea, diarrhea, ulcers)

–          Headaches

–          Feeling emotionally “numb”

–          Eating difficulties (too much or not enough)

Physical effects of alcohol

• Alcohol slows down the central nervous system

Common short term effects include:

–          Decreased inhibitions

–          Relaxation

–          Talkativeness

–          Sociability

Further effects:

–          Blurred vision

–          Impaired hearing

–          Loss of concentration

–          Loss of coordination

–          Loss of muscle control

–          Slurred speech

–          Loss of vision

–          Wobbly legs

ABUSING ALCOHOL MAY LEAD TO A LOSS OF CONSCIOUNESS AND DEATH

Long term effects of alcohol abuse:

–          Cancer of the mouth and throat

–          Stomach ulcers

–          Gastritis

–          Diarrhea

–          Fatty liver

–          Cirrhosis

–          Anemia

–          Skin problems

–          Diminished physical abilities

Pg. 46

Suicide

• Depression increases the risk of suicide
• One of the primary factors of suicide + suicide attempts is alcohol abuse:
  • 35% of suicide victims tested positive for elevated blood alcohol levels
  • Teens who drink are twice as likely to kill themselves
• Alcohol is a major factor in impulsive suicides or attempts that are not planned out.
• Since alcohol reduces the ability to make good decisions and is a depressant, it may push a depressed person to consider suicide.

Pg. 47

Depression and Families

Depression Affects Families

• People who experience  depression withdrawal isolate themselves. They may start to use drugs or alcohol to coop with what they are feeling.
• Others may become irritable and moody and have anger outburst.
• Episods of depression can be triggered by stressful events like:
  • Unemployment
  • Financial problems
  • Illness
  • Martial problems
  • Traumatic events

TEENS SPEAK

Notes:

“Living with Family Members Suffering  From Depression”

• The mother would always want to be alone, when she was usually really close with her daughter and loved her company
• She slept a lot
• She seemed to more like a robot than a person
• She stopped eating; she didn’t look healthy

Children

• It is harder to diagnose children because behavior varies, determining whether a child us going through a phase or has depression is difficult.
• Irritability, anxiety and complaints about boredom are normal parts of childhood.

Preventing Actions for teens

• Preventing depression begins with understanding the problem
• Seeking professional help is important because depression rarely goes away on its own
• Discussion with people you trust is important
• Stay physically healthy: eating right, regular exercise, and sleeping well

Depression in the Family

• When a family member has depression the whole family is affected
• Different people have different coping methods to deal with the loved one with depression.

Insomnia

Introduction

• Insomnia is a sleep disorder that is characterized by the difficulty of falling asleep or staying asleep
• Symptoms include:
  • Difficulty falling asleep
  • Waking up often during the night and having trouble going back to sleep
  • Waking up too early in the morning
  • Feeling tired upon waking up
  • Problems with concentration
  • Irritability

Types of Insomnia

• Primary insomnia: sleep problems that are not associated with any other health problem or illness
• Secondary insomnia: sleep problems because of something else, such as a health condition or illness.
  • Depression
  • Asthma
  • Arthritis
  • Cancer
  • Pain
  • Heartburn

Acute insomnia is when a person’s insomnia is short term and chronic insomnia is when a person’s insomnia is long term.

Causes of acute insomnia

• Stress
• Illness
• Emotional or physical discomfort
• Environmental factors, such as:
  • Noise
  • Light
  • Extreme temperatures
• Some medications (medication used for treating depression)
• Interferences in normal sleep schedule

Causes of chronic insomnia

• Depression and or anxiety
• Chronic stress
• Pain or discomfort at night

Notes on what causes depression:

What is depression?

• Not to be confused with occasionally feeling sad because this is normal; it happens to everyone and the feeling with eventually pass.
• When a person has depression it interferes with their daily activities and causes pain for both the diagnosed and the people who care about the person.
• Many people with depression never seek treatment, however depression is a very treatable illness.
• Forms of treatment: medications, psychotherapies and other methods can treat people with depression.

What are the different forms of depression?

• Major depressive disorder or major depression is characterized by a combination of symptoms that interfere with a person’s ability to do simple everyday tasks. It is disabling and stops people from functioning as they normally would.
• Dysthymic disorder or dysthymia is explained to be a long term effect on a person (lasting two years or longer) that will not necessarily be severe enough to disable a person but will still prevent them from functioning normally or feeling well
• Minor depression is characterized by having symptoms for two weeks or longer, that does not mean that the person meets the full criteria for major depression.  Without treatment people who have minor depression are at a high risk for developing major depression.
• Psychotic depression occurs when a person has severe depression plus some form of psychosis, such as being delusional or having hallucinations.
• Bipolar disorder also called manic depressive illness is not as common as major depression. It is described as a disease that gives you major mood swings – from extreme highs (mania) to extreme lows (depression)

What are the signs and symptoms of depression?

• Persistent sad, anxious, or empty feeling
• Feelings of hopelessness pessimism
• Feelings of guilt, worthlessness or helplessness
• Irritability restlessness
• Loss of interest in activities and hobbies that once were pleasurable to the person, including sex
• Fatigue and decreased energy
• Difficulty concentration, remembering details and making decisions
• Insomnia
• Appetite loss or over eating
• Thoughts of suicide and suicide attempts
• Aches or pains, headaches, cramps. Or digestive problems that do not ease even with treatment.
• `I started missing days from work, and a friend noticed that something wasn’t right. She talked to me about the time she had been really depressed and had gotten help from her doctor. `

What illnesses often co-exist with depression?

• Anxiety disorders such as, post traumatic stress disorder, OCD, panic disorder, social phobia and generalized anxiety disorder, often accompany depression, meaning that if you have depression than it is very possible that you may have one of these illnesses as well.
• PTSD occurs when the person has experienced a terrifying event or ordeal such as a violent assault (rape), an accident, terrorism, war, ect.
• Alcohol and other substance abuse issues may also co-exist with depression.
• Depression will also occur with other serious health problems such as heart attacks, stroke, cancer, HIV/AIDS, diabetes and Parkinson’s. People in this situation tend to have more severe symptoms.

What causes depression?

• Most likely depression is cause by a combination of genetic, biological, environmental and psychological factors.

“It was really hard to get out of bed in the morning. I just wanted to hide under the covers and not talk to anyone. I didn’t feel much like eating and I lost a lot of weight.

“Nothing seemed fun anymore. I was tired all the time, and I wasn’t sleeping well at night. But I knew I had to keep going because I’ve got kids and a job. It just felt so impossible, like nothing was going to change or get better.”

How do children or teens experience depression?

• A child with depression might pretend to be sick, refuse to go to school, cling to a parent, or worry that the parent may die.
• Older children may sulk, get in trouble at school, be negative and irritable and feel misunderstood.
• Before puberty boys and girls are equally as likely as to develop depression but after puberty girls are twice as likely to develop depression

How is depression diagnosed or treated?

• Visit a doctor or mental health specialist
• The doctor may refer you to a mental health specialist. Once diagnosed a person with depression can be treated in many different ways. The most common treatments are medication and psychotherapy.

How can I help a loved one who is depressed?

• Help your friend, make an appointment and then go with him or her to the doctor’s office.
• Encourage your loved one to stay in treatment
• Offer emotional support, understanding, patience and encouragement.
• Talk to him or her, listen carefully.
• Never dismiss feelings or ignore comments about suicide ad report them to your loved ones therapist or doctor.
• Remind your loved one that over time and with treatment the depression will lift.

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/depression/index.shtml

The Truth About Fear And Depression

Substance Abuse – pg. 54

(Alcohol) Short term effects:

• Disorientation
• Impaired vision
• Loss of touch with reality

When drugs are injected into the bloodstream, diseases such as HIV/AIDS and hepatitis can occur through the use of dirty syringes.

If the drugs are taken through the nasal passage damage can occur to the nose and sinus cavities.

Drugs that are taken orally can irritate and damage the gastronomical tract and inhaling drugs can lead to an increase in the risk of getting lung diseases.

Depression, Causes Of – pg.56

No one knows for sure what causes the chemical imbalance that result in depression. This is why researchers and scientists focus on risk factors rather than causes.

For example: cancer is a risk factor for depression

Depression could be triggered from traumatic events

Psychological Risk Factors – pg. 59

Childhood experiences:

People who become depressed usually, more often than not experience a traumatic event in their childhood, such as:

• Sexual or physical abuse
• A violent upbringing
• Separation from a parent
• Mental illness in a parent

Stress:

Stress is an emotional response to “disruptive” or “upsetting” event that occurred.

Some people develop depression after a stressful event occurs.

Events such as:

• Death of a loved one
• Loss of a job
• End of an important relationship

Those events are classified as negative triggers; stress can be also caused by positive triggers.

Positive triggers:

• Marriage
• A move to a new city
• A new job

Both positive and negative triggers can cause depression.

Stress can also occur as a reaction to loneliness or the feeling of loss.

Although the normal reaction would be grief.

Grief usually starts as a result of an event occurring. For example: the death of a loved one. However, it usually passes with time.

Grief usually resolves itself, but when it does not then the person is at the risk of developing depression.

“DEPRESSION IS – AT ANY AGE – A TREATMENT CONDITION.” – pg. 64

 Genetics and Family History

• In some families depression occurs generation after generation. This shows that depression is possibly inherited; however people who do not have a family history of depression can still develop depression.
• Certain genes may cause depression or stressful factors in the household environment can increase the risk of family members developing depression. For example: an abusive family.

In addition, to help me create ideas for what my pictures are going to show my friend sent me a short film on depression. I believe that seeing this film will give me a better incite on how I can portray depression and its effects on a person in a visual way.  I had originally put in my research plan that I should be looking at music videos about depression, but I believe that short films will work just as well or even better.

Furthermore, when I was working at Roche I found out that one of the employees in the office I was working at liked taking photos at a professional level. Unfortunately, I didn’t have much time to interview him, but he gave me some good tips about what I would want to do to take different kinds of photographs. He also recommended two photo editing softwares that did not only work very well but that don’t cost a lot of money.  I will record what he said to me in more detail in my next process journal entry. .

Process Journal Entry Ten

3rd of July, 2013 

Something that I have noticed when collecting research about depression (especially when watching the BBC documentary) is that quotes about how a certain person felt are usually from adults, from the ages 30 – 60. However, my project is about how teenagers experience depression since I all of the models I will be using for the photographs are going to be around 15 or 16 years old. This means that I will have to be more selective with the sources I use to gather my information. I think the internet will be a great place to gather this information seeing as a lot of people with depression will blog about it and in addition I am sure that there are some “internet support groups”, meaning a place where people can post how they are feeling and other people can comment.

In the mean time I have been learning a lot about the medical side of depression through a website that i found to be very useful. However, I have not looked at my research plan in a while, so I will have to look at that soon to make sure that I am staying on schedule.

In addition, even though this is not a reliable source to get information from seeing as it is a movie, I recently watched The Silver Linings Playbook. In the movie the two main character has types of depression and I do believe that watching the movie did give me a better understanding of how people with depression act on a day to day basis. Furthermore, a friend sent me a link to short film that is about teenager with depression. I believe that this will help me a lot with understanding how teenagers act who are diagnosed with depression as well as stimulate new ideas about what my pictures are going to be of.

Process Journal Entry Nine

30^th of June, 2013

            When looking for good resources to help me understand depression I stumbled across a BBC documentary on YouTube. It was about an hour long, but I found it to be very helpful and as a result got about three pages of notes. The documentary explained the how having depression affects the brain as well as showed interviews with people who are and were diagnosed with depression.

• “It’s like a black cloak… you feel like your brain is crushed. All you want is to be on your own, isolated.” – A woman’s description of how depression felt like for her
• Lack of motivation to do simple tasks such as getting out of bed, making yourself food and getting dressed
• “You get to the point where you think: I’m too much of a burden.” – A woman’s description of how depression felt like for her
• “It’s absolutely terrifying and you are in an absolute inner turmoil of despair.” – A woman’s description of how depression felt like for her
• There is a one in four chance that depression why affect you once in your life
• “Every day I have went through death with this depression.” – A man’s description of how depression felt like for him
• People want to hide their depression because people with it are judged to be weak.
• Some people even think that depression does not exist
• Some people will not leave the house for a long time, sometimes up to a year or more.
• Medical: The part of the brain that is responsible for memory and emotion is called the Hippocampus; this is where the depression forms. The hippocampus in depressed people behaves differently than the hippocampus in those without the illness.Studies have shown that people with depression not only have an alteration in how the brain works, but also an alteration in how the brain is formed.
• The hippocampus is one of the areas that is found to be smaller in people suffering from depression.
• When people develop depression the hippocampus becomes smaller and shrinks.
• Scientist found that overall there was decrease of 25% in hippocampus which is the section of the brain that has nerves and nerve cells.
• This is evidence that depression exists in the brain
• In the past people with depression were called lunatics – discrimination
• Heather’s depression was stimulated by witnessing a young boy’s death, which affected her greatly when she became a mother not too long after the incident. (WHAT TRIGGERS DEPRESSION: TRAUMATIC EVENTS) Heather seemed to be experiencing panic attacks (shortness of breath, her heart was pounding really fast)
• She couldn’t sleep at all (insomnia)
• She was paranoid and that something would happen to her child
• She tried to hide her depression from people
•  “It (depression) makes you feel so alone… Life is just going on around you and you just don’t know what’s happening to you.” – A woman’s description of how depression felt like for her
• “People will say the silliest things in the world, ‘What do you have to be depressed about?’ … people will say, ‘Pull yourself together and get yourself on.’ That’s the worst thing to say…. ‘cause if you could you would. You’re so depressed you can’t do that. ” – A woman’s description on depression
• Stress makes depression worse. Many people often turn to alcohol as an answer to ‘numb’ their pain.
• Many people turn to committing suicide as a last resort.
• “The thoughts in your head are nonsensical.” – A man’s description of how depression felt like for him
• You get to the point where you think that suicide is the only answer, that people are better off without you and that you are helping them when in reality they will be devastated because of your death.“I’ve attempted suicide… I just can’t see a way out.” – A woman’s description of how depression felt like for her
• “You feel you’re in the way, you feel that everyone is better off without you.” – A woman’s description of how depression felt like for her
• “It’s so terribly frightening. I can’t eat anything when I have it.” – A woman’s description of how depression felt like for her
• “If someone came to your door and said, “You have won 23 million on the national lottery,” or said, “that your family was whipped out in an aircraft disaster.’ It would be like that )hand signals), nothing. You are void of feeling and emotion.” – A woman’s description of how depression felt like for her
• “I used to use thoughts of suicide as a comfort blanket… If I don’t get better I can always kill myself and everyone will be better off without me because I will never be able to live like this, I can’t live like this.” – A woman’s description of how depression felt like for her
• “I was self medicating, I was using drugs. I got myself into some terrible situations. I was working on drugs. I was terrible, I was a mess… All I thought was I need respite from this feeling. If alcohol numbs it for a bit, if cocaine numbs it for a bit that’s what I am doing ”  – A woman’s description of how depression felt like for her
• Many people do not believe depression to be a real illness, the documentary says that many people have described depression to be a “designer illness”, showing us a quote that says the following, “Depression is the new black.”
• “When people do say that to you ( to just get over it) it puts an awful pressure on you because you can’t actually do it and when you can’t it’s like a failure as well and it actually makes you worse. “ – A woman’s description of depression.
• “If I could pull myself together, I would.” – A woman’s description of depression.
• “They’re judging me; they’re putting a label on me.” – A woman’s description of depression.
• Studies showed that depressed people’s brain exaggerated negative images.The science shows that people with depression loose perspective and part of their brain is much more sensitive to negativity.
• Meaning that people with depression will see or hear negative things and react much more to them than a person without depression would.
• People with depression have much bigger adrenal glands meaning that there are much more stress chemicals being pumped into the body.
• People have a lack of feeling when they have depression. They always feel the same way and things that would normally make a person happy doesn’t make them feel anything at all.
• Depression is very treatable, psychologists say that on average depression can be cured in three to seven months.

Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5YubjEqbZ8

A Story About Anxiety

I found a set of pictures that are drawn like cartoons describing a person’s experience with anxiety, which is often times effects people with depression.

However, because of the way this blog site is set up I could not post all the photos together so I chose to add in the last one to show as an example. The full story can be seen on the website listed down below and is in my second copy of my process journal inserted in the word document.

Source: http://snapdraws.tumblr.com/post/50082858616/apologies-for-the-terrible-image-quality-im