As corny as it sounds, I want to Transform the Future. I've been surrounded my entire life by people with depression and a couple other mental disorders. I myself even have clinical depression. I've had family members attempt suicide, friends, and even myself. But I'm stronger because of that. I know now how precious life is and I want to help pave a way for people to see the beauty as well.
Optimus Prime once said that "There is a fine line between being a hero and being a memory." Well, my mantra in life has morphed into "I will be a memory to allow another to become a hero." I want to help anyone and everyone. I want to make the world a better place. As typical and hippie-ish as that sounds, it's true.
So I plan on attending college and getting my Ph. D in psychology and becoming a therapist. Most people are like, "well, why not just become a psychiatrist? They do more work than therapists." Well, having had first-hand experience with psychiatrists, I have made a decision. I don't want to be someone that just sits and gets paid to prescribe someone with medicine. I want to help that person see their full potential and help themselves in alternative ways, ways that don't require medicine. And while yes, some people have chemical imbalances and need the medicine to regulate them, not all people need just a script to go to a pharmacy with. Some people need genuine help.
And that's where I want to come in. Medicine to help mental disorders almost robbed me of my mother, three separate times. I want people to know that they don't have to depend on it.
Honestly, all I want to do is help. Help in any possible way that I can.
**the briefer of my goals**
I would like to settle down with a nice, protective man. I'm looking for my Adam Baldwin lol. I don't really like kids, nor do I wish to have any. But I wouldn't mind getting married. My entire life I had always been anti-marriage... But now, I'm totally okay with it.
We're a lot alike. I've been through depression as well and I've also had a lot of friends (and even my father when I was a child) go through it and be suicidal. My mom was a psych nurse too so I kind of grew up around that whole environment, so I guess it's no surprise psychology's one of my passions.
I'm planning on getting a PhD in psychology too because I want to mainly research autism (I'm autistic) and be able to assess children and adolescents for it. In the U.S. the assessments are so expensive and I hope to be able to give them at a reduced cost when I finally start practicing. I plan to go the MD/PhD route though and then do my residency in child neurology.
My brother's doing the same thing (he's a senior neuroscience major) and he's planning on getting a PhD in Neuroscience and doing his residency in psychiatry. He's also planning on not prescribing medications. I know it sounds crazy, but it's definitely possible to be a more "therapy-centered" psychiatrist. It's your choice as to whether or not you prescribe medications; you can prove the stereotype (that everyone in the industry is all about making money by writing prescriptions) about psychiatry wrong. So that's definitely an option if you're interested.
Like you, I'd originally chosen PhD only (or was debating whether I'd become a psychiatrist or neurologist - ideally I wanted a career that would let me work with abnormal psych but also neuroscience and autism), but I've decided on the MD/PhD route simply because I love medicine (I was the kid that was watching surgery documentaries - things like hemispherectomies and separations of conjoined twins - starting around age nine) and can't give up the idea of seeing patients and being able to prescribe medications (though psychologists can prescribe medications in two states). It may not be your passion or your love though, so in that case, maybe MD is not the route for you. I think that's how you should make your decision... don't base it on whether the typical psychiatrist prescribes medications or not, because things change. The lines between psychologists (especially neuropsychologists), psychiatrists, and neurologists are increasingly becoming more blurry. (A psychiatry rotation actually tends to be part of a neurology residency - and vice versa - and neurologists and psychiatrists often treat many of the same diseases and disorders.)
You could also go the PsyD route (which I personally wasn't interested in) or you could just get a Masters if you simply want to be a therapist and not an actual psychologist (yeah, there's a difference between the two). I'd say the main reason for getting a PhD would be if you want to do research like I do or are interested in teaching. PsyD programs are generally shorter than PhD programs. And of course, therapists can see clients and make a difference too and it'll also take less time - and is cheaper - compared to a PsyD or PhD program.
If you have any questions about psychology or are interested in reading my blog (which I've recently started) about it, let me know! And if your school offers a neuroscience major or minor or even just classes, I'd definitely urge you to take them! (Psychology is my primary major but I'm triple majoring so I'm also studying neuroscience. Lots of people - including my brother - tend to say not to do both majors because it's redundant, but I completely disagree. I think they compliment each other nicely.)
And while I agree that medication isn't best for everyone or that it may not be what's solely best for them, the fact is that anyone with mood disorders like MDD or BD do in fact have a chemical imbalance of the neurotransmitters in the brain. There's a neurotransmitter imbalance in schizophrenic patients as well as with other disorders, including anxiety ones (OCD, GAD, phobias, etc..) and even ADHD, so while medication alone may not always the best therapy, it generally should be considered. Most disorders you can think of that are listed in the DSM likely have some type of neurotransmitter imbalance involvement. Psychotherapy is nice but by the time people end up finding a psychologist or psychiatrist, their problems are often at the point where therapy alone does not work. That's when a combination of low dose medication and therapy could be a great treatment plan, which is something you could perhaps consider doing in your career (often psychologists will work with their clients' psychiatrists so it's a multidisciplinary team effort). Obviously there's a risk with these medications (some studies have proven that there is a slight increase of the chance of youth committing suicide after taking them), but research is being done into that because so far, the benefits of medication still outweigh the risks. For example, most people have heard of SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) but have you heard of SNRIs (serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors)? They're a new(er) class of drugs. While SSRIs only deal with the reuptake of serotonin, SNRIs inhibit both serotonin and norepinephrine. The idea is to have a new class of medications that is more effective but also has less side effects. So far, SNRIs don't seem to be any more effective than SSRIs, but there's always hope, right?
But all rambling aside (sorry lol but I told you I like neuroscience), my point is that medication most definitely is helpful. While no one form of psychotherapy alone tends to be more effective, a combination of therapies (including medication) can be. It's the most common form of therapy for a reason, so don't think just because most psychologists can't prescribe medications that they're not directly involved with patients who are on medications or that they don't generally advocate medication. (Many psychologists will end up referring a patient to a psychiatrist for mediciations if deemed necessary - I know that's what mine did for me.) I will say however, that from what you've described, humanistic therapy might be something you'll want to look into more. It really emphasizes self-actualization, which basically just means reaching one's full potential.
Good luck in your studies
. Psychology's an amazing major (of course I'm biased) so don't listen to people who claim it's "easy" or you can't "do anything with it." (I'm actually going to talk about those topics on my blog.) It'll really depend on your school's program. Mine personally has both psychology and neuroscience majors in the psychology department so our program is pretty rigorous. And then there's the option of joining the psychology honors program where we have to defend a thesis (we're required to do research) as seniors. (Being published is a great thing to put on an application for PhD, MD/PhD, and MD admissions because most undergraduates don't get to do it.)
If you don't mind talking about it though, I'd be interested in hearing your mother's story. Some people definitely can have adverse reactions to them, so I'd love to try to figure out maybe why she had such an experience. Generally psychiatrists and psychologists don't want patients to depend on medication unless they have a chronic condition like BD or schziophrenia (at least in my experience); from early on, we all knew (me, my mother, my psychologist, and my psychiatrist) that medication was a temporary thing for me. We knew I was on it just to help my serotonin levels. I was only on them a little over a year and I haven't had any issues since. You should know that your mother's experience isn't typical and that if you're experiencing MDD right now, you really should consider a low dose of medication. There are many different choices and classes of medications that you and/or your psychiatrist can choose from. I did have a bad reaction to my first medication - zoloft (perhaps that's what your mother experienced) so we switched to lexapro and I didn't have any problems from there on out. I've been off them since about 2012.
We have their names picked out Zack and Kelsey haha. Raise them right, have a nice house, my dream car is a Tesla LOL but my dream mom car is probably like a Ford Escape or something. And really I would just like to live without worrying about living paycheck to paycheck. I don't need a lot of luxury but I would like comfort. Another thing I would love to do is travel to California, Ireland, France, Spain, Mexico, Alaska, and just all over. 
