Absolute Beginner, Would like to know where to start

Basically my involvement with psychology is due to two primary reasons,
1. I want to be able to 'repair' broken people, as I want to protect the ones close to me.
2. All my life I have been bad with People, not that they hate me or I'm not accepted, I do have friends but I feel like no one can understand me, I feel I always have to convert and attenuate my thoughts for people to be able to understand them, and the deeper significance and meaning is greatly reduced.

So yeah, my preferred way of going about this would be by reading books rather than really talking to people and deriving conclusions.

My main Goal right now is to Analyse, Profile and Understand a person, psychologically , in order to understand him/her better and eventually be able to improve his/her state.

I would like some suggestions on reading material to start off with.
Keep in mind, I am a student and can offer only 60-90 minutes a day, and i only want to learn these two areas of psychology, other stuff is unimportant to me. For now , I would like to pursue only understanding people. I will focus on communication skills later.

Hope my desire for precision is not mistaken for arrogance.

I think the best way to start analysing people is to analyse yourself, become aware of why you do the things you do, and aware of your thinking processes, and then you are more able to be aware of others.

A good friend of mine has been going on interviews for the last 5 years to get onto a clinical doctorate for psychology, and has finally been accepted and has now started her course, and she realised now why, because she was too therotical, gave text book answers to the questions, she realised this year, in order to get onto the course, she need to delve more deeply into her own reactions and reasons, to be more self aware, and that got her accepted. So I believe that this is key. The psychologists I have met are very self aware, and I feel that this comes first.

Is it a psychologist or a psychiatrist you wish to be? Analyzing and profiling I think is more in the realm of psychiatry where is psychologists deal more with therapy.

yep 7 years university at minimum for both

I just want to point out that it is very common for those who have gone through hardship or are troubled to want to help people with the same. For example many people who volunteer for crisis lines have been in crisis themselves, or those who have grown up with health problems wish to become doctors. Wanting to help is a very good attribute, I just want you to ask yourself who are you really wishing to help? others or maybe to a degree yourself?

I think more important than arming yourself with knowledge is arming yourself with experience. Volunteer, volunteer, volunteer.

And, there is nothing better than going direct to the source. Ask a practicing psychologist how best to approach a career. Contact a guidance counsellor at the university you wish to attend and find out the pre-requisites. I am guessing they will include various volunteer activities.

Do not use Psychology to control people, use Psychology only to understand yourself. Then you can understand others.

I do not wish to control people, I only want to understand them and help them repair themselves.

I dont know the difference between psychiatry and psychology, but I want to be able to repair people or maybe even understand their problems, so whatever helps me do that.

I also want to understand how people react in situations, their motivations behind their actions.

I have been extremely bad at reading people since I was a child, but now in my adulthood I really want to try.

I would like to volunteer and do so whenever possible but, Im extremely busy with studies and can only devote time to psychology as an hobby.

Hi Skewed!

I think this whole thing is commendable.

I still stand behind my recommendation of volunteering. Even with a crisis network. While you don't have the experience to man a phone there is a lot you can do behind the scenes and it would expose you to helping people who are troubled and give you an opportunity to see how they are helped. Practise people watching and guess what they do or what their lives are. Yes, this can be considered offensive by some but it will go along way to practicing how to read people as well as emphaisize not getting personally involved. Maybe volunteer at a Food Bank, a shelter, or Community Mental Health Clinic. That too would expose you to people with a wide variety of problems and situations.

Can we ask just what it is you are already studying? Is this some sort of social science that is complementary to phsychology?

First understand and heal yourself, then you will be able to understand and help others. It really works, so try it.

Engineering, not at all related to psychology, but its very difficult and the syllabus is demanding, I cannot devote too much time to psychology

wow Skewed, quite a bit different - especially as the engineering is really missing the people quotient. However, both take a serious application of time and effort. This kind of dedication necessary to the engineering should help you on the other journey.

I have been given another few thoughts on how to maybe work towards your desired end.

My counsellor suggested I participate in two programs. One is a peer support. It basically inolves taking turns going out and moderating support groups in the community. The other is again peer support but involves becoming certified as a counsellor.

Do either of these things sound like they could be helpful? I'm sure a peer support program at least would exist where you are.