Psychology Personal Statement Essay

Of all the A-Levels I study, psychology is definitely the most relevant to day to day life; it raises questions related to various aspects of our lives and demonstrates how open minded we must be in order to gain higher levels of understanding in terms of behaviours and mental conditions. Having looked into various career options I have decided I would most enjoy a career in the avenue of psychology. At the moment I am leaning towards clinical psychology however, I also have interest in counselling psychologies and music therapy. These career options I believe utilise my skills in listening to others and rationalising their views. I further developed these skills in high school when I earned a Level 1 certificate in ‘Understanding Young People as a Peer Mentor’, this course encouraged me to develop such skills and motivated me to …show more content…

At the moment I am reading a book called ‘The Man Who Couldn't Stop’ by David Adam, it’s about how OCD affects a person's life and explains how though we all have ego-syntonic thoughts from time to time, constantly living with ego-dystonic thoughts and using rituals to temporarily remove them is so much harder as it affects even a task considered ‘normal’. I have also watched various documentaries like ‘Extreme OCD Camp’, ‘How Crazy am I?’ and ‘Thin’, as well as having read fictional psychological books, through these I have been able to evaluate how people with mental illnesses become stigmatised due to the label of their illness, however, without that label people can often seem ‘normal’. Particularly through the documentaries I have seen how difficult overcoming a mental illness is especially without a high level of motivation. I greatly see the value of not only helping people overcome related issues but allowing them to feel like the valued and respected member of society that they are; I believe we all deserve the chance to