What Inspired You to Become A Psychologist

[PsychMajorUndergrad18]

Hello Everyone,

What made you guys want to become a Psychologist? Was it the helping others that made you want to be a psychologist? Or was it solving complex problems that made you choose this profession? What Inspired all of you guys?

I know for me what inspired me to start my schooling in Psychology (and to become a I/O Psychologist and/or a Professor in the future) is the desire to help others, the really interesting research being done in the various fields of psychology and most importantly to possibly be able to shape the future generations of psychologist.

Thanks to Anyone who contribute to this thread

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[ClinicalABA]

No other marketable skills

Seriously, I don't remember a moment of inspiration where I decided that this is what I want to be when I grow up. I did volunteer and work with special ed classes and students in high school, and recall liking that. Left undergrad after 3 years, with a semester off between transferring to new school. I tried to find a job in retail or food service, but due to my lack of experience, all I could find was a job as a behavioral tech in TBI rehab facility. From that point fell into other positions, and eventually grad school. Now, many years later, nobody will pay me enough to do anything else (which is ok, because I enjoy what I do).

 

[smalltownpsych]

The human mind. I have always loved discovering how everything works, from stars to starfish, but I enjoyed living things more. For me, the human mind is the last frontier of knowledge. I also had significant psychological conflicts or issues of my own to work through and the benefits and insights I derived from my own growth led me to want to share that process with others. So natural curiosity, personal reasons, and desire to help others.

 

[deleted343839]

When I started college I was interested in medicine. A mentor told me that I needed research experience to be competitive for medical school, so I started working in a neuroscience lab. Then I decided that human subjects research would be interesting and... then I discovered a passion for research and I was hooked. Meanwhile, I worked in several medical settings during college, and I witnessed the psychological turmoil that patients often go through in the course of their medical care. I decided what was going on in those patients' brains was really more interesting to me than what was going on in their hearts or guts. I halfheartedly completed my pre-med coursework, but I knew that psychology was where I belonged.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

I can't say I was inspired, but I had an interest in the field. I started w. psych, biz, and pre-med classes, started to do research in the psych dept….and I ended up with a great mentor. I was setup for both med school and grad school, though at the time joint MD/Ph.D. programs were a better fit for me. While investigating that route I was recruited into the Tech industry and decided to give that a go. It was a fun ride and I did well in it, though it wasn't going to keep my interest long-term. The hours were ridiculous and burnout was high, so I went back to school bc it would give me more flexibility. Putting in a 50-60hr wk w. grad school seemed like part-time work, so that was actually a nice change. I took some time to re-evaluate hobbies (no $ to fly to random places on a whim) and mellow out. Losing my personal assistant and going back to being a lowly student took a lot of adjusting during my first year. It was definitely a different trajectory (friends who stayed in instead of pivoting already have vacation homes and are looking at retirement by 40-45), but I very much enjoy what I do. I didn't exactly trade in my first career to be a pauper, but I think I have a better appreciation for work/life balance and the value of being able to go to work and actually enjoy it most days.

 

[WisNeuro]

. Losing my personal assistant and going back to being a student took a lot of adjusting. It is definitely a different trajectory (friends who stayed in instead of pivoting already have vacation homes and are looking at retirement by 40-45), but I very much enjoy what I do.

Just go into forensics full-time, retire by 50

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

Just go into forensics full-time, retire by 50

I have since come around to the idea of doing more forensic work, so that is something I'll be more open to going forward. There is a huge need for it in my city (and state), though I am super picky with cases because there are so many pitfalls if you get involved with a bad case.

 

[WisNeuro]

I have since come around to the idea of doing more forensic work, so that is something I'll be more open to going forward. There is a huge need for it in my city (and state), though I am super picky with cases because there are so many pitfalls if you get involved with a bad case.

Yeah, I keep edging more and more that way the more I become disenchanted with VA work. It's moved from my 10 year window into my 5 year window at this point.

 

[PsyDr]

Friendly advice: define your exact income requirements before going into forensics and/or private practice. Otherwise greed may lead to working too much and becoming burnt out.

 

[smalltownpsych]

Friendly advice: define your exact income requirements before going into forensics and/or private practice. Otherwise greed may lead to working too much and becoming burnt out.

Tell me about it.
I am seeing the effects of a lot of recent cancellations and no shows along with a week off that I took over the summer and was thinking about adding more slots for patients including my lunch hour. Danger lies down that road.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

I just converted from an academic position + private practice (work as much or as little as I wanted) to one set salary for everything. I already dislike it bc of capped earning, but I have excellent security and opportunities going forward . I'm giving it a year.

 

[WisNeuro]

I'm not as worried about capped earning at this point, financially things are great (no debt, own a home, multiple retirement accounts, fiance who is a physician). I'm more concerned about job satisfaction in the long-term. Luckily, I have flexibility given my training background, so I plan on making full use of that in the coming decade.

 

[PsyDr]

Through insane work hours and a ridiculous savings rate, I've saved enough to feel very secure for a long time. Now my age is catching up to me, so I'm moving into redesigning my career for a while.

 

[bmedclinic]

I had two of "those" moments. The first came in undergrad, after I had taken 2-3 psych courses and was mildly interested in psychology. I took a job working at a adolescent inpatient setting. And that was a rough job on so many levels. BUT, it inspired me. I saw psychologists doing amazing work there, and I thought that was pretty admirable. I saw those people really care about their patients on a level, that at that time, I wasnt emotionally mature enough to comprehend.

The second came as a result of that first moment, when I was a junior in college, finally a psych major, and was just starting in a professor's lab. I loved the lab, I loved the research questions, I loved designing experiments, and I thought it was probably just the coolest job ever. Kinda sealed the deal.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

Through insane work hours and a ridiculous savings rate, I've saved enough to feel very secure for a long time. Now my age is catching up to me, so I'm moving into redesigning my career for a while.

I had always planned on working hard through my 20s and 30s and retiring early (thus the Tech career), but it is much harder to do as a psychologist (while slightly more feasible doing forensic or neuro)…so the timeline is stretch to 50ish. I'm hoping that other business ventures I'm considering will provide additional income I can stash away for a rainy day. I'd like to have a house paid off by then and a rental property at least paying for itself by then.

 

[clinpsyc87]

All my friends say I'm so good at giving people advice, and I can tell what's wrong with people in like a second

 

[cara susanna]

I read Sybil as a teenager and was fascinated by how the mind could deal with trauma. By the time I found out the case was iatrogenic I had already taken intro psych.

 

[LETSGONYR]

I initially entered college wanting to go into speech/language or communication disorders. During undergrad I realized that I wasn't that interested in many aspects of that field, but was fascinated by the brain and how disorders of the brain directly led to functional impairment in communication. So I followed that passion and it eventually led me to neuropsych. The pediatric part came later- I never thought I'd be a peds person, but learned that I enjoy it so much more than adult work.

 

[Nahsil]

Studied English, realized I enjoyed psychological thought (English exposes you to a lot of things) and wanted a more applied field. Happened to help a friend with some basic reality testing/cognitive stuff around that time and she told me it really really helped. I was definitely inspired by that, didn't feel like I'd done anything special. But yeah, I really enjoy helping people figure **** out and empathizing and all that good stuff. Also really interested in the more philosophical side of the field--phenomenology, some archetypal stuff, some psychoanalytic thought, etc.

I'd say I'm pretty damn passionate, can't actually imagine people doing this without passion...

 

[PsychMajorUndergrad18]

Thanks everyone for contributing to this thread!