Conquer from Within

As I have been rigorously working on my final product, pertaining to mental illness awareness amongst children, I learned something. Throughout the entirety of my ISM journey and the great passion I have taken in pediatrics, I figured out that I also possess a deep interest concerning the psychology of children.

Now, I still embody an enormous fascination for pediatrics. With Dr. Dickschat as my mentor and my weekly mentor visits, I am learning items, left and right, whether they be how to properly treat a busted lip or calm down a screaming child. However, I do possess a deep enough interest that I am starting to think about double majoring in college. Dr. Dickschat has showed me how valuable creating a proper parent-doctor-patient relationship is and how not anybody can do it because it takes a certain set of skills. I believe that if I further my interest into psychology, it may help me understand children, adults, and humans, in general.

Tying this back to my final product, the research into mental illness awareness has created some intriguing discoveries. For one thing, the problems that we, high school students, college students, even adults, deal with is obviously not the extent of problems that with which children may deal. One of the elementary school counselors I talked to made that clear to me many times. She said that it takes a special kind of person to really comprehend what a child may be going through and to realize that it is sometimes not a phase. Another counselor explained that trauma is dominant throughout many younger kids because of their vulnerability and their traits, which makes them easy to take advantage of. Thus, she said that a child has to be comfortable with who they are around because they never really feel completely safe after a traumatic event occurs.

To put all of this in a brief statement, I discovered how interesting I am in adolescent and pre-adolescent psychology, alongside pediatrics. Moreover, they both go hand in hand when one considers how important it is for a pediatrician to create a safe and comforting environment in order for him/her to properly do his/her job.