Psychiatry Personal Statement Essay

As a child I have grown up with a history of mental illness in my family. My uncles, grandparents, and even my dad, currently have some sort of disorder. I also have been diagnosed with depression and anxiety, and it has affected me not only through my social life, but in my own personal health. Mental illness is something very frowned upon in our society, and I am upset since I grew up with it and see the obvious problems with it. There is always much stigma on how mental disease is not a “real” disease in some cultures, and I find this to a be a big injustice. This has fueled my passion in neurological and chemical disorders in people’s brains. Seeing my family and I in this state, I want to dedicate my profession in treating this type of problem through neurology or psychiatry.

One thing I find captivating is the idea that I could implement some reason through my psychology class, through some organic chemistry. Therefore, psychiatry is best for me rather than pharmacology or even pharmacy. I love the aspects of helping the patient and making a one-on-one connection with them. I want to work with people that have serious abnormal illnesses such as schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s, and even epileptic seizures. Both the physical and chemical aspects of the brain fascinate me in every way, and I currently am trying to learn much about it during my time in St. Mary’s as an undergraduate. Every little aspect is what motivates me as a pre-med student. Currently I don’t know whether would want to do neurology or psychiatry, but I am still strongly motivated to take the pre-med route. This is what I want the to help me with, when I am choosing what I want to do in the