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Sep 23, 2011
Undergraduate / father's mental illness (influential person) [5]
Hi epooqeo1,
I agree with EF_Kevin that you should change the focus of your essay and stress how your father's illness influenced you. I also agree that you should avoid intimate details that might embarrass your father or your family.
That said, my mother raised me by herself with a mental illness, and I can understand why you would want to write about how this experience has impacted you.
My first suggestion would be to consider writing about your mother instead of your father. From your brief mention of her in the essay, it seems she set an example that you would like to follow. That example is significant.
My second suggestion would be to brainstorm about specific occasions in which your views, character, or goals changed, solidified, became clearer, etc. Choose the experience that demonstrates most or all of the qualities you are trying to convey, write only about that one, and focus on you and not the influential person.
Lastly, you might want to avoid mentioning mental illness altogether and avoid the stigma that often results from such a revelation by saying, "a disability," or something similar.
I hope I have helped. Good luck on your essay.
Hi epooqeo1,
I agree with EF_Kevin that you should change the focus of your essay and stress how your father's illness influenced you. I also agree that you should avoid intimate details that might embarrass your father or your family.
That said, my mother raised me by herself with a mental illness, and I can understand why you would want to write about how this experience has impacted you.
My first suggestion would be to consider writing about your mother instead of your father. From your brief mention of her in the essay, it seems she set an example that you would like to follow. That example is significant.
My second suggestion would be to brainstorm about specific occasions in which your views, character, or goals changed, solidified, became clearer, etc. Choose the experience that demonstrates most or all of the qualities you are trying to convey, write only about that one, and focus on you and not the influential person.
Lastly, you might want to avoid mentioning mental illness altogether and avoid the stigma that often results from such a revelation by saying, "a disability," or something similar.
I hope I have helped. Good luck on your essay.
