My Inspiration To Obtain Education In Psychology
After witnessing the psychological distress that my mother has experienced through her epilepsy, I became intrigued to find out how epilepsy could cause such emotional issues. Having researched further into this, I found out that epileptic seizures are brain malfunctions, and therefore, can cause major depression and anxiety. This ignited my interest in psychology as I became fascinated by different mental health's, such as depression and anxiety.
My academic studies have further peaked my fascination for psychology, specifically in sociology, as it has enhanced my skills to apply scientific methods to different situations, for example, to analyse people and the conducted studies in different social groups. This is useful as psychology does this also, however with different methods to achieve their goal, as sociology focuses on society as a whole, psychology focuses on one person in particular so it's more efficient to their study. Sociology has also given me the advantage of evaluating different standpoints on how society works.
My study in English literature and language has heightened my vocabulary and writing skills, which will be valuable if I want to achieve a psychology degree. English literature is also useful in the development of different characters in certain books we've been asked to read, for example, Blanche Dubois in 'a streetcar named desire' by Tennessee Williams showed aspects of being mentally unstable, as it was implied that she had PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and many more. Business has given me good leadership skills and has made me improve on presentation works which will be useful for a psychology degree.
Work experience in the goods receiving department at the hospital has given me good team working skills, as it shows me how the NHS function to treat all their patients properly. During this, I was able to see how a doctor communicates with their patients to make them feel safe and secure, in order to make them trust the doctor which will be useful if I want to focus on clinical psychology as being one, I will have to spend a lot of time with patients, therefore I will have to be able to express the communication skills I have learned from the doctor. Volunteering with more than mentors, to mentor a young girl with multiple difficulties such as problems with old friends, bullying and family issues, causing her to be stressed and therefore affecting her grades, I was able to put into practice what I've learned from my work experience. During this time period, I succeeded to gain her trust and managed to develop an active relationship with her to help her out as much as I could.
Having also volunteered at Shpresa program, an organisation that focuses on the contribution of the Albanian-speaking community in the UK, I have been able to help children to develop their English and translate for them at the program. I was also able to help out in fundraising events such as, running a marathon and performing concerts which required traditional Albanian dancing that I was apart of in order to raise money. After winning 2 Jack Petchey award in 2013, I donated the GBP500 I was given to Shpresa program in order to provide resources for the children to learn. I am also currently completing an online course about the history and science of psychology to find out more about it as it is not a part of any of my A levels, while completing this, I am learning about the origins of psychology while looking into the key individuals who have shaped the way psychology is portrayed now. This will be useful as I will need these key pieces of information to start this degree.
Although psychology does have its difficulties, with the skills and knowledge I have gained through my experiences volunteering to be a mentor, work experience and club activities, I hope to overcome these difficulties and face my education in psychology.
