I majored in psychology when I was in college and took many classes in the subject, however the one that is always the most unique to me and the one that has served me the best over time was Abnormal Psychology.
It had been a class focused especially on the study of psychological disorders and psychoses and it was absolutely fascinating. Abnormal psychology not only taught me things like depression, antisocial personality disorder, and schizophrenia, but it also showed me how you can recognize possible symptoms of psychological disorders in other people.
I took the course my freshman year mainly because I needed it for my degree, and I instantly became obsessed with the class. Abnormal psychology was so interesting, in fact, that I would normally forget my studies in other courses because I had spent all my time reading and researching the material in that class.
One of the things that I found most interesting was the amount of people that were in the course who were not necessarily psychology students. Quite a few people in the class were English, education, and music majors, but they thought the class looked like fun and decided to sign it up as an elective.
I met up with one of those friends a few years ago at a local bar and grill, and we talked about the program ten years after we graduated and moved on with our lives. She was now a high school band director, however, she said that she was constantly grateful that she considered that class because it allowed her to recognize the psychological conditions that some of her students had, as well as some of her parents. her.
I think what I found so compelling about abnormal psychology was that it’s really at the core of what psychologists do. It taught me precisely why people with mental health disorders have the problems they do, whether it’s a chemical imbalance and needs medical treatment, or a personality disorder, and can be addressed with behavioral changes and therapy.
I remember talking to the course instructor about how much I enjoyed the class and how interesting it had been for me, and the man explained to me that of all the courses he taught, abnormal psychology was also his favorite. He explained that he had seen far more students have that moment of affirmation that they had chosen the correct major in that class than any other he had ever taught.
For me, the abnormal psychology class is certainly one that I still remember as the program that made me recognize that I had selected the right training program. It trained me much more on the concept of psychology than any other class, and I will still go back and study from the courses textbook from time to time.
