Psychology and its Intention of Change by Rosemarie

Psychology and its Intention of Change by Rosemarie - June 2020 Scholarship Essay

Rosemarie Howard
Varsity Tutors College Scholarship
10 June, 2020

Psychology and each career it embodies is centered around change. It's in the very nature of human kind, and it is every psychologists intended outcome. Change is the only way to progress, the only way to move through the world we live in. My intention in going into psychology is to bring change to those I serve, as they have come to me in search of assistance in moving forward in their own life, and overcoming their own struggles.
I can't say I understand what it is that draws me to the study of others, but I can say that through my own experiences I've gained a perspective that far too many people like me have. Struggling with depression and anxiety my entire life and never speaking the name of what has inflicted me has left marks on me that will never leave. It's these scars that will enable me to help others like me in ways I wish I could have been helped.
Up until my senior year, I was told by my grandparents that I was no better then the parents who left me living with them. As I heard those words day after day, I eventually started to believe them. It wasn't until the latter years of my high school career that I recognized these and other experiences to be abuse, and so I moved out a month after turning seventeen. Living on my own, working while attending school to pay rent, caused a rise in my anxiety. After my mother died this past January, I reached my breaking point and attempted to commit suicide. Adults around me helped me to realize that the thoughts I had been having were signs of depression, and that I had been depressed for likely most of my life.
My only goal in explaining all of this is to show what I wish to avoid. For many kids like me, depression isn't even a recognizable word. I didn't know I was depressed until I was separated from my grandparents telling me all of these thoughts were my own creation, and were my fault. No child should have to get to the point I got to, and my goal is to help those in need before they get to that point.