Personal Experiences: A Case Study Of Abnormal Psychology

After every parent-teacher conference, my parents would come home to tell me that I was a great student but I needed to stop talking so much. I have always had something to say to everything. My mind seemed to work faster than most and I was difficult to control or slow down. I struggled with remembering to do my homework or which chore I was supposed to do. I considered myself creative and passionate, but my teachers thought I was forgetful and full of excuses. My mind was like a room full of radios. I would be listening to a country station but the rock station would get louder and distract me so I couldn’t understand the country lyrics. Then classical music would start but was full of static which kept me from understanding country or understanding …show more content…
You had to combine past experiences with current characteristics and differences to find the name for a disorder. I wanted to gain experience with mental disorders and discovered the local homeless shelter. When the time came to work at the Manhattan Emergency Shelter, I was excited but also nervous. I had no previous training in how to handle people with addictions, depression, or mental handicaps. The shelter turned out to be a wonderful place of personal growth and training. My clients were just as confused about the world as I had been, with many of them never having formal clinical treatment. I spent my time researching disorders and self-diagnosing clients in my mind. I would compare my predictions with their true disorders and became skilled at recognizing undiagnosed disorders. I improved those skills at Larned State Hospital and gained significant training in psychopathology and treatment. I knew within the first hour of working at the hospital that this was the environment I thrived …show more content…
I am better able to empathize and understand the difficulties of others because of the difficulties I have faced. I want to help people name their struggles and empower themselves with knowledge. The best place for me to do that would be in an inpatient or outpatient facility. That intense, high-energy environment would allow me to utilize my strengths while also keeping me interested and driven. Being a part of research and the development of effective diagnostic assessments and treatments is something I have a passion for and my creative thought processes will guide me to new discoveries. I want to be a part of psychological science so I can help others find the name to their problems and help them to find their