Discussing Mental Health in Personal Statement

[Cheese Machine]

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Good morning SDN!

I am currently writing my personal statement and do not know if a particular topic could be seen as a red flag. My mother has struggled with mental health for all of her adult life. She is a survivor of multiple traumatic experiences and had severe postpartum depression which persisted and became clinical depression that she still struggles with today. Her journey and struggle has been an integral part of my journey, however I am worried that stating that mental health issues run in the family might scare some ADCOMs. I personally do not have any mental health issues, have not struggled with depression or anxiety, or had any severely traumatic experiences in my life. Do you think this would be okay to include, or should I consider going a different direction?

Thank you for your input!

 

[Goro]

You'll be fine, go ahead and use it.

 

[mk04447]

Be careful how you use it. If seeing your mom struggle got you interested in healthcare, motivated you to volunteer, shadow, and see what docs do fine. Avoid the my moms condition drove me to this conclusion, don't be preoccupied by her specific mental health issue, it will open you up to value questions like, why doc and not counseling; you should be prepared to briefly and clearly draw that line if your interview swerves that way. I'd hit you with, "you do know that medicine deals with a lot more than mental health issues", you don't want to leave blood in the water when you answer.

 

[Peach Newport]

I’m going to give a preliminary “go ahead” on this one.

However, please take my advice on this:

1) go *very* light on the doom, gloom, and woe
2) go heavy on the optimism and self discovery
3) remember, this is about YOU, not about your mom.