Alcohol Use Disorder

This semester I took a class called Disease. The Disease is a steam class which means it uses math and science. In this class, we discussed different topics such as piecewise functions and different types of mental illnesses. For this class, we had one FE when a medical student came in to talk to us about the way they work in the emergency room. We learned about the process of quickly identifying what could be wrong with a patient and how they would address the problem depending on what it is. For this action project, we had to choose a mental illness and make a simulation to show how it affects the person who has it. I chose to study Alcohol Use Disorder, so hopefully, you learn something new!

This disorder is when someone thinks only about getting alcohol and they want only drink. The disease also has many drawbacks such as less focus in the workplace or in school.

Symptoms include:

1.) A great deal of time is spent in activities necessary to obtain alcohol, use alcohol,
or recover from its effects.

2.) Craving, or a strong desire or urge to use alcohol.

3.) Recurrent alcohol use resulting in a failure to fulfill major role obligations at work,

school, or home.

The DMS-V says the following:

Consumed more alcohol or spent more time drinking than intended.

Want to limit or halt alcohol use, but haven’t succeeded.

Spends an inordinate duration drinking, being ill and undergoing the aftereffects of alcohol use.

Strong cravings for alcohol.

Consuming alcohol or becoming ill because of it has kept the person from properly attending to household duties and children, or resulted in difficulties performing on the job or at school.

Continued drinking in spite of it causing problems with family and loved ones.

Discontinue or are only sporadically involved with things that were once enjoyable or important to be able to drink.

Have repeatedly been in situations during the consumption of alcohol that have increased the chance of being injured (using machinery, driving).

Even though a person feels sad or distressed, or it affects an already existing health problem, the person continues to drink. Or, after episodes of forgetting or going blank about the events during drinking, the individual continues to use alcohol.

Have to increase drinking to get the results he wants. (The usual amount of alcohol provides little results.)

When alcohol wears off, causing symptoms like such as insomnia, difficulty staying asleep, aggravation, nervousness, sadness, stomach upset and nausea and/or perspiring. Or, the person felt items were there, but they are actually not

Below are the math and graph used to show the different brain waves used during my presentation.

Below is the breakdown of my presentation

The brainwaves affected by this disorder is the beta and alpha waves because those are the ones that are most commonly used for everyday life. The disorder affects it because it makes you loose focus. 

Below is my simulation and presentation of my disease. 

 

It may be hard to tell in the video but to simulate the effects of AUD I had another class in the background having a pizza party to distract my audience. The point was to ask them at the end if they were distracted. If they said yes then they would have felt the effects of AUD because they had their minds focused on something other than their work without even realizing it. 

Citations:

“Alcohol and Your Brain.” Science NetLinks, sciencenetlinks.com/student-teacher-sheets/alcohol-and-your-brain/.

“Helping an Adult Family Member or Friend with a Drug or Alcohol Addiction.” Partnership for Drug-Free Kids - Where Families Find Answers, drugfree.org/parent-blog/want-help-adult-family-member-friend-drug-alcohol-problem-7-suggestions/.

“National Institutes of Health.” National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, www.nih.gov/.

“SAMHSA - Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.” SAMHSA - Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 3 Feb. 2018, www.samhsa.gov/.