For people interested in pursuing a career in Clinical Psychology, how did you know it was what you wanted to do?

[Skibz]

[PsyDuck90]

I was interested in psychology as a field of science starting in high school when I took it as an elective. Then, that interest continued and I also enjoy helping people. I liked the idea of therapy and assessment, as well as research in the realm of trauma in survivors of interpersonal violence. I liked it enough to study it in school for 10+ years lol. 

[Mickey26]

I've always been "a helper" but had always imagined myself working with animals as a zoologist/vet or whatnot. It wasn't until high school when I took psych as an elective that I fell in love with the field/helping people! It wasn't until sometime in undergrad that I was able to tease out the difference between counselling vs clinical, and fell in love with the research side of things. Just started clin psych grad school so my therapy experience is still in it's infancy, but I love it so far  

[Skibz]

These are awesome. High school looks to have had a positive impact on you both :).

[narrativenellie]

you tryna steal my personal statement?! Jk  Reading Malcolm Gladwell's book, Blink really opened the doors to psychology for me, it's funny he's not even a psychologist

[Justice4All]

I grew up the only girl out of 4 children. My angsty preteen years were spent googling birth order and gender differences in parental treatment ?. I stumbled upon Alfred Adler and became fascinated.

I also grew up as the only black girl in my grade school years in a homogeneously White, Southern, and rural town which lead to a lot of feelings of invalidation, isolation, and low self esteem. I learned that my passion for psychology could fuel the research needed to change policies and systems. Clinical/Counseling Psych could help me not only develop and implement treatments/interventions, but also work in wider arenas such as public policy and public health. I learned that research was essentially the basis for justice action and the rest was history!

 

Edited February 18, 2020 by Justice4All

[Skibz]

Thank you all

[xChrisx]

I was sick and tired of being sick and tired tbh. My country does not have enough resources to treat non-serious mental illnesses. Traumatic events were viewed as 'one of those things' and violence against women was taken with levity.  As a woman, I was tired of feeling sorry for other women.It wasn't enough. I knew I wanted to bring a skillset that would improve recovery and outcomes. I wanted to be able to have resources, interventions and treatment options on trauma that were specific to the average woman in my country especially because of the effects of culture and the patriarchy on traumatic outcomes. I knew that if I studied these, my results could be extrapolated to other countries in the region with similar cultures.