Is this an appropriate topic for a personal statement?

[Trueblue816]

I'm applying in the summer of 2015, so I'm a little bit early in thinking about personal statements. However, I'm really interested in writing about my mental health struggles, and how I was able to learn to manage them and improve my condition. My goal is to become a psychiatrist, so I was thinking about writing about my past issues - how the experiences with treatment ultimately helped me grow as a person (cheesy cliché but true) and how they have made me far more understanding and compassionate towards people with mental health issues of their own that are in many cases more severe than what I struggled with.

The major struggles I've had were severe anxiety, which resulted in self-harm, and social phobia. The anxiety initially came from constant feelings of inferiority related to getting very low grades in my freshman year; however, it became severe when I began to question my sexual orientation (I'm gay) and it led me to start self-harming (I won't go into graphic detail). However, I managed to find an amazing psychotherapist who helped me in figuring out the root of the anxiety and basically changing the relationship I had with my negative thoughts. She also helped me with the social phobia, which wasn't as severe as the anxiety resulting from questioning my sexuality but still made life difficult. I haven't totally conquered my disorders, BUT I've changed my relationship with the negative thoughts that lead to my issues and I'm able to manage them effectively.

My one concern is that this will make med school admissions committees think of me as a "basket case." I know physicians are more likely than the general public to not have a discriminatory view of mental disorders, but I don't want to take chances and have them think of me as being too "fragile" to handle the stress of medical school. So in short, is this a good or bad idea??

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[hoihaie]

if this is why you want to go into medicine and you don't write about it, what would you write about?

just do it artfully

 

[Trueblue816]

if this is why you want to go into medicine and you don't write about it, what would you write about?

just do it artfully

It's partly what made me gravitate towards psychiatry, though my interest in the subject is obviously my most important factor and I plan to write about that as well.

 

[Afford]

I wouldn't risk it. It leads them to think about possible relapses during medical school. I don't think physicians have less discrimination towards mental disorders. Just because they understand the disease does not mean they will ignore it in an applicant.

 

[Irish Luck]

I wouldn't mention self-harming. Also, saying that your anxiety was partially caused by low-grades in college is going to make adcoms worry about how you'll handle a poor grade in medical school.

 

[Sirphillup]

I am one of those people who does not believe in a definitive YES/NO to this question. I struggled with an eating disorder as an adolescent and I've been able to word this experience in a way that has still allowed me to receive interviews this season. I understood that it was a big risk to talk about my past, but I took it, mainly because it has been almost 10 years since this episode. Some folk will be impressed that you took the risk, some folk won't.

Anyway, any secondary that had a question about "greatest accomplishment outside of the classroom/most difficult challenge" got my story on this issue.
At one school in particular, the interviewers were interested about this aspect of my file very explicitly. I was asked all kinds of questions (How did you overcome? How do you deal with stress now? How does this change your view toward medicine/patients with similar issues? What did you learn? etc.) It is my impression that this school was interested in a particular kind of applicant that had an ethical, philosophical understanding of the more abstract aspects to medicine. However, not all schools will be this way.

One thing, though: I made sure to be ready for difficult questions, so if you decide to go for it, make sure you are too. This moment is the perfect opportunity for interviewers to gauge how well you function under pressure. AND do know that these questions are slightly uncomfortable, regardless of how comfortable you may have been talking about it in a secondary. You have to be ready to face the fact that your success at talking about this publicly will make you or break you, so proceed with caution.

This question has been asked before. You should look around the forum to hear what other people (students and faculty alike) have been saying. Hopefully someone on the other end may help in this particular instance, seeing as they may have better insight into this particular topic.

Good luck this season.

 

[Sirphillup]

Also, I agree with other users. Steer clear of revealing those instances that may flag your ability to deal with pressure during medical school.

 

[Trueblue816]

I am one of those people who does not believe in a definitive YES/NO to this question. I struggled with an eating disorder as an adolescent and I've been able to word this experience in a way that has still allowed me to receive interviews this season. I understood that it was a big risk to talk about my past, but I took it, mainly because it has been almost 10 years since this episode. Some folk will be impressed that you took the risk, some folk won't.

Anyway, any secondary that had a question about "greatest accomplishment outside of the classroom/most difficult challenge" got my story on this issue.
At one school in particular, the interviewers were interested about this aspect of my file very explicitly. I was asked all kinds of questions (How did you overcome? How do you deal with stress now? How does this change your view toward medicine/patients with similar issues? What did you learn? etc.) It is my impression that this school was interested in a particular kind of applicant that had an ethical, philosophical understanding of the more abstract aspects to medicine. However, not all schools will be this way.

One thing, though: I made sure to be ready for difficult questions, so if you decide to go for it, make sure you are too. This moment is the perfect opportunity for interviewers to gauge how well you function under pressure. AND do know that these questions are slightly uncomfortable, regardless of how comfortable you may have been talking about it in a secondary. You have to be ready to face the fact that your success at talking about this publicly will make you or break you, so proceed with caution.

This question has been asked before. You should look around the forum to hear what other people (students and faculty alike) have been saying. Hopefully someone on the other end may help in this particular instance, seeing as they may have better insight into this particular topic.

Good luck this season.

Ah ok. I mean, my anxiety was at its most severe only 3 years ago, so that might be too soon to tell them about it. Your answer was really helpful though. I think what I might is do is just talk about it in my secondary apps if I get a question about "overcoming a challenge." But I'll avoid mentioning it in my personal statement, since it might come off as me defining myself by a mental illness that I struggled with (and still struggle with to a much lesser degree).