Psychiatry Residency Personal statement

I was born in a rural part of India where most of my family members are farmers. I grew up with a sense of deep appreciation for Medicine. Multiple family members, especially my grandfather, encouraged me to become a medical doctor. What inspired me to become a physician was not the money or the prestige, but rather the desire to serve and a sense of humility. I vividly remember the day when I was selected for admission at Government Medical College, Amritsar, which is considered one of the best medical schools in the state of Punjab, India. I was the first one in my family to have been chosen to become a doctor. My interest in psychiatry grew, while I was in my medical school. One of my distant cousins who used to visit us was suffering from mental illness. I saw how miserable he was and witnessed firsthand the social stigma of mental illness in my country. While in my medical school, I was finally able to help him to get treatment. It was incredibly gratifying to see the transformation of a person impaired by his mental illness, who was now functional after receiving appropriate therapy. My care and compassion for the mentally ill had grown since. In medical school, I did rotations in general psychiatry clinics as well as specialist clinics including memory disorders, geriatrics and addiction medicine. While evaluating these patients, I got better understanding of concepts that I had learned from books. In addition, understanding the combination of physical, mental and social problems was both satisfying and inspiring. All these experiences further strengthened my decision to enter the field of psychiatry.
My interest into psychiatry expanded further, when I got the opportunity to work at the Community Health Center in rural village. Here I counselled and managed patients