I am a physician and a psychiatrist from Iran, now practicing in America. I follow the famous Persian poet, Ferdowsi, insofar as I see the mind as a mirror of the body with suffering written all over the faces of those who bear it. Long ago, I first became interested in psychiatry due to my mother’s battle with chronic depression, and I was most inspired and impressed by the psychiatrist who treated her. To this day, I pray for him because he saved my mother’s life. I chose psychiatry as the area in which I wanted to continue to develop my most excellent expertise because I find the medical and moral complexities in this area of medicine to be incredibly challenging. Most of all, I thrive on helping people find the path to happiness in their unique circumstances, physical and moral as well as psychological. I enjoy the everyday rigors of my current position as a psychiatrist at the XXXX Hospital. Nevertheless, I am looking for a residency program that will satisfy my thirst to learn more about psychotherapy and psycho-pharmaceutical solutions, mainly concerning prevention and neuropsychiatry.
During medical school, I became incredibly excited when learning about the numerous ways that neurotransmitters play critically important roles in determining our moods, thoughts, and behaviors. Immediately after graduating from one of Iran’s finest medical schools, I chose psychiatry as the career specialty to pursue. I completed a residency in this area, where I had the privilege of administering medications that led to profound improvements in clinical symptoms. Over many years now, in my own reading and independent research, I have closely followed developments in bio-psycho-social theories and what they can teach us about the occurrence and character of mental illness.
I have long found myself especially drawn to those individuals who have suffered from trauma and violence in many forms, including domestic violence, war, and earthquakes. My professional engagement with PTSD now spans two decades, ever since my work with survivors of the Iran/Iraq war. Beginning with a clinical externship, I was professionally engaged with the Iran’s University of Medical Science in Teheran from 1996 through 2005. I am incredibly proud of the fact that my last few years as a psychiatrist in my home country were spent providing psychiatric care to low-income people through Iran’s Public Health Institute. I especially enjoyed my involvement in-home care and visiting patients in their homes, along with the organization of mental health lectures for the community, particularly school systems, and providing crisis intervention and management of a telephone hotline. I also worked in detention facilities in Teheran. I obtained a great deal of experience in forensic cases, particularly those involving juveniles, becoming exceedingly competent in issues surrounding claims of temporary insanity. I have learned over the years that what the patient needs most is a helping hand that can touch their heart.
My husband is Iranian-American which is why I am now a citizen of the United States. We moved to the USA in 2005, and I immediately began preparing for the USMLE examinations so that I might continue my career here in America. My husband was very supportive of my goals, and he supported me for several years so that I might dedicate myself full time to my medical studies. After making enormous adjustments, culturally, and linguistically, especially with English, I returned to the world of professional medicine as a volunteer observer in February of 2010 at the Adolescent & Family Growth Center in (Name of City), Virginia. Later that year, in July, I began volunteering at a walk-in clinic in (Name of City), Virginia.
I am currently a Psychiatrist at the Alabama State Hospital, where I lead a multidisciplinary treatment team. We perform psychiatric evaluations of a highly diverse range of patients from various social and cultural backgrounds. We gather collateral information from family and previous records of patients, which we then evaluate along with our database, including the results of diagnostic tests of the patient. This enables us to make highly accurate diagnoses of a broad range of emotional, mental, and behavioral disorders.
I want very much to continue to learn all that I can about state-of-the-art developments in our use of psychotropic medication as well as creative developments in psychotherapy. I ask for the opportunity to perform in a medical residency position in psychiatry, where I will be able to give my all to my patients who are suffering from mental illness. I want to continue to learn as much as I possibly can about neuroscience and child psychiatry since I have a special affection for enjoying working with children and adolescents. I feel strongly that I have much to give to your institution because of my passionate interest and extensive experience in psychiatry, particularly my skill as a patient and attentive listener. I am enormously excited about the prospect of joining your residency program and I thank you for considering my application.