Alex Greenslade

Period 4

10/7/16

Research Paper

The researcher focused his senior project on making a play. In this play, several of characters

have a mental illness. As the such, much of their research was focused on searching three

specific mental illnesses; major depressive disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, and

dissociative identity disorder. They wanted to make sure to portray people with these illnesses as

realistically as they could, not wishing to take many liberties. Here is the result of their findings,

as well as their findings on playwriting.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a mental illness that is defined by the victim having some sort

of stressor, which comes from an event they witnessed or we're apart of. (Friedman,

http://www.ptsd.va.gov) This victim will afterwards continue to relive the event via flashbacks,

nightmares, and bad thoughts if these things are triggered by an event or noise

(www.nimh.nih.gov). Other symptoms include sudden bursts of anger, always feeling on guard

(and have difficulty sleeping as a result), wishing to avoid the place of stress, becoming

emotionally numb and wishing to isolate themselves from others, and/or forgetting bits and

pieces of the event that caused their ptsd(http://www.ptsd.ne.gov). Problems victims with the

disorder can fall into include depression, substance and or drug abuse, problems finding a job,

physical and relationship problems. (http://ovc.ncjrs.gov)

The next mental illness the researcher looked at was Major Depressive Disorder. This is a mental

illness that's typically associated with hard economic burden, loss of a loved one, loss of one's
job, and can lead to other mental illnesses such as anxiety or eating disorders.

(http://www.cdc.gov) Symptoms include feelings of hopelessness, worthlessness, and guilt, loss

of will in doing activities they originally enjoyed doing, lack of energy overall, difficulty

sleeping and/or oversleeping, and constant suicidal thoughts that may cause the victim to act on

them(www.nimh.nih.gov). Treatment for MDD can include a combination of therapy and

antidepressants, although it depends on the patient and how severe their condition

is.(www.nimh.nih.gov)

Dissociative Identity Disorder is a mental illness shrouded in controversy, as it has is debated

whether the illness even exists, as some mental health officials believe that it's really an offshoot

of another mental illness called Borderline Personality Disorder, or a means for the patient to

cope with their relationship problems(http://www.m.webmd.com). Nevertheless, if we assume

this is a factual illness, then there are several theories for how it forms; the result of extreme

early childhood trauma (which results in the individual developing other personalities to help

deal with this abuse), or misconduct by the individuals therapist(Schmidt, 2007). One theory

suggests the disorder is a neurological one, as the Orbitofrontal cortex, which controls the

decision making and your sense of self, Functions abnormally in patients with DID, which could

allow the patient's brain to create multiple selves(http://www.bu.edu). Other symptoms of the

disorder besides other personalities forming include frequent instances of memory loss, lack of

self identity, out of body experiences, and other things such as anxiety, suicidal thoughts, and

depression can form(www.nami.org).

Like with writing anything in general, writing a play is not an easy task. First you wanna do is

start by first developing the play's theme, then do worldbuilding, flesh out the characters, then
start writing(http://hrlibrary.umn.edu). When writing a play, its important to know that they

must be written in a very specific way with specific font usage and specific spacing of words

depending on what part of the play you are talking about, like how the font that must be used is

courier and in 12, and how the margins of the title page, for instance, must be top is 3.5 left is 4,

right as bottom are both 1 inch(ptfaculty.gordonstate.edu). As for writing the play itself, it is

recommended that the play be exciting and paced well, as in keeping soliloquies and monologues

to as much of a minimum as possible; the audience could become easily bored(Fowler, 2006).

Overall, it's recommended you read other plays to get an idea on how you should write yours.

Works Cited

Friedman, M. J. (n.d.). PTSD: National Center for PTSD. Retrieved February 23, 2016,

from http://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/PTSD-overview/ptsd-overview.asp

Schmidt, Tom , Integrative Research Paper: Dissociative Identity Disorder. , November

29th, 2007. From http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED501858.pdf

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Department of

Nebraska Veteran Affairs., 2007. Web. 07 Oct 2016.

http://www.ptsd.ne.gov/what-is-ptsd.html

NIMH- Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. U.S. National Library of Medicine. U.S. National

Library of Medicine. n.d., web., 07 Oct 2016

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd/index.shtml
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Office for Victims of Crime. n.p., n.d., web., 07 Oct 2016

http://ovc.ncjrs.gov/topic.aspx?topicid=83

Depression National Institute of Mental Health, n.d. Web. 2016.

<https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/depression/index.shtml>

Depression. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, n.d. Web. 07 October.

2016<http://www.cdc.gov/mentalhealth/basics/mental-illness/depression.htm>.

Matton, Sean. Arts and Sciences Writing Program. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2016.

<http://www.bu.edu/writingprogram/journal/past-issues/issue-3/manton/>.

"Dissociative Disorders." National Alliance on Mental Illness. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2016.

<https://www.nami.org/Learn-More/Mental-Health-Conditions/Dissociative-Disorders>.

Fowler, N. C. (2006). How to Write a Play. Retrieved from

http://www.theatrehistory.com/misc/how_to_write_a_play.html

This article the website uses was created in 1913.

Gordon State University, (n.d.). The Standard Stage Play Format, retrieved from

http://ptfaculty.gordonstate.edu/lking/CPF_play_formatting2.pdf

Chung, Jwion, and Mariana Leal Ferreira. University of Minnesota Human Rights Center, n.d.

Web. 07 Oct. 2016.

<http://hrlibrary.umn.edu/edumat/hreduseries/TB7/Chapter%203%20P15-P28.pdf>.