Have you ever wondered why people do what they do? What would drive a person to laugh? What’s their reason to love? What’s their reason to commit crimes? Or merely wondered what they are thinking of. I always have, ever since I was a child. My name is Jeanette Nadia. S, I’m a high school student of Teruna Muda Secondary School and I am currently a 16 years old with an interest in the human mind.
Everybody is different and special, they react differently to different things and has different opinions to anything. With what I have learned, I know how to deal with different people in different situations. What to do when an angry person becomes upset? What to do when a passive person becomes angry? What to do when a person experiences panic attacks? And more. I want to pursue this curiosity, I want to learn more about this passion of mine, and my plan is to explore more once I enter university. My plan is to take Psychology as my chosen field of study.
Psychology is the scientific study of the human mind and its functions, especially those affecting behavior in a given context. Like all others, it’s a scientific field which includes research and observations, the only difference being, since it involves humans as the object of study, experimentations are rarely done, though unlike other scientific fields, psychology isn’t definite. It’s more complicated and difficult since there are so many unknown variables and there are so many things that still needs to be studied. Being a psychologist is like being a doctor, but instead of fixing something that could be seen and touched, you’re attempting to repair something that couldn’t even be seen.
My reason to choose Psychology is a simple as a matter of curiosity and passion, but there was one important occurrence in my life that left a large mark on my life. When I was a Sophomore during my Junior High years, I met a freshman, a girl. She was quiet and reserved, and she was often seen alone. I didn’t really care, I just thought she liked being alone, but as the days passed by, I often found myself looking at her when we would pass each other in the hallways. I never knew why but when every time I looked at her, my instincts just told me that something was wrong. One day, I figured it out, I realized that she was always wearing long sleeved shirts and always tugged at the sleeves.
I knew right away what that meant so I confronted her and saw the deep scarring around her wrist. It was a wake-up call to me and I felt guilty for not realizing it sooner. I immediately began counseling her, listening and supporting her. In the time span of a few months, she had changed for the better and she told me, that I was the first person to even realize her condition. She told me that merely because of realizing it, I had saved a life. Understanding the ‘why’ in people’s behavior and actions is like solving a mystery to me, an ever evolving mystery that would never stop fascinating me. Of course, it would also provide me with the chance to save more lives.
I think that on the long run, Psychology has a true future involvement in society. Recent government studies show that 1 to 5 averages adult shows some form of mental disease and psychologists predicts that the number would only continue to increase over time. There are various jobs that would need a psychologist’s area of expertise. For example, in industries and companies, psychologists would be needed to vet their employees before employing them for the chosen job. In the military, psychologists are needed for soldiers, who had been mentally scarred in the battle; they would usually come back with illnesses such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and so many more. Studies in Mental illnesses, however, are still being done. Psychology however, is often affiliated with neuroscience, since the center system of the human body that processes emotions is the brain, which means that a basic understanding of the human brain is needed in order to be a psychologist.
Most universities have psychology as a field of study so I am confident about which university that I should go to, but I do plan on choosing a school in Germany since that particular country would be best for their psychology studies. There is so much I could do and the opportunities are limitless. Being able to read something that no one else can. Repairing people in a unique way like what Melanie Klein, Ivan Pavlov and Karen Horney did, in my opinion, is magic in itself like no other.