Helping Patients with Schoolwork

In my clinic, I mainly see university students.  I believe it is important, and therapeutic, to invite students to bring their schoolwork to their psychiatry appointments, so that we can sometimes look at it together and discuss it.

Last year, I mentioned this practice to a reviewer, and I suspect it was considered an inappropriate use of time in a medical appointment, and a waste of resources -- a psychiatrist "helping with homework."

I would like to make a case for why "helping with homework" is useful, and part of a good therapy relationship:

Understanding

In order to help with a mental health issue, it is good to understand what your client, patient, or friend is doing with their time.   University students often spend thousands of hours studying, writing, and thinking about academic subjects.  Sometimes this work is experienced as a joy of life, a passion, or as a source of meaning.  For others, the work can be experienced as a burden, a chore, or as meaningless "jumping through hoops."   In many cases, a student's academic work is a reflection of health status (both mental and physical),  For many students, academic performance affects self-esteem:  low grades can cause a person to feel like a failure.  Perfectionism in schoolwork can cause almost any grade to feel like a sign of failure or inadequacy.

In order to understand another person's emotional life, it is very important to learn about how he or she is spending time.   Is the schoolwork a meaningful life pleasure?  Is it only a chore, a burden, or a stress?

It deepens understanding of this issue to explore it in more than a superficial way.  I believe it is valuable for understanding and rapport to encourage patients to show their notebooks, textbooks, and assignments, to talk about them a little bit.  Often this leads to a much better understanding of a whole range of other issues, including mood, attention, motivation, anxiety symptoms, learning disabilities (often never previously recognized), relationship problems, and existential uncertainty about direction in life.

Shared Interest

Many students I have seen have been passionately engrossed in their studies for many years, including at a graduate level.  But sometimes, they have almost no social conversation about their studies, with a person who shows interest.  The academic study becomes an insular, lonely experience, rather than a source of potential social interest.  Sometimes this lack of social sharing is due to an entrenched habit...the therapy setting can be a place to change this.    Not only does such a conversation boost rapport, it is also a practice for the patient to be able to converse with other people about their work, for the benefit of their social life.

Also I believe it is psychologically beneficial for a patient or client to have an experience of sharing their own expertise, and learned scholarship, rather than only being on the "receiving end" of such expertise.  It is a humble and respectful position for the therapist to take, which can only improve a therapeutic alliance.

Diagnosis

All mental health issues affect cognitive functioning and academic performance.  A direct discussion about academic matters is relevant to the assessment of overall mental health.  Sometimes cognitive and academic function is good, but a person's feelings about this functioning is very negative.  In this case, looking together at academic work leads to a very direct focus on an active set of symptoms.

What do Notes Look Like? 

The manner in which a person might keep notes, or organize essays, or surf the internet doing research, gives us better understanding of psychological health.    Are notes tidy, meticulous, or disorganized?  Do the notes fluctuate a lot from one week to the next?  Are the notes clear for someone else to read and understand?  Are there gaps where notes are missed entirely?  Is writing fluent once started, but just difficult to start?  Is there evidence of tremor or other neurological symptoms manifest in handwriting?

Cognitive Testing

If cognitive testing is to be done, it is most useful to refer to subject matter that the person is actually interested in, and experienced with.  A mathematician or engineer might not show any decrement on a simple arithmetic test (such as "serial sevens") despite having significant cognitive problems.  It would be more appropriate to ask them to solve a complicated mathematical problem having to do with their current work.    A literature student might not show any decrement on a simple verbal test (such as memorizing words, or reading a sentence) but might have difficulty describing the themes or dynamics of a current novel on the curriculum.    Another benefit to "testing" this way is that it can highlight unusual strengths and talents, which can then be a subject of positive feedback and encouragement.

Practical Therapy

Cognitive therapy is a type of "academic" process:  it requires note-taking, reflection, analysis, and homework.  Many students might not have time for diligent cognitive therapy.  But they do have time for their schoolwork!   Cognitive therapy can take place while doing schoolwork!  It could be rewarding in a therapy session for a patient to have a successful experience of completing an academic task, while having a chance to reflect on the emotional changes or barriers happening at the same time.   A creatively constructed regime of cognitive therapy could involve combining it with academic study.

Behaviour Therapy for performance anxiety

Many students have anxiety about sharing their work, being called on by a professor, speaking out loud in class, presenting in front of others, etc.  The therapy session is a chance to directly practice these things, in a supported setting.  It is a simple CBT exercise!

Therapy for Procrastination

Procrastination is one of the most common problems faced by almost all students.  This is often much worse when there are other mental health issues going on.  The increased stress, and decreased grades, caused by procrastination, often cause further worsening of mental health symptoms.  Procrastination is sometimes even a critical part of a deteriorating cascade of events, leading to leaving school unsuccessfully.    The core necessity in treating procrastination is to do the procrastinated thing as soon as possible!  In a therapy session, if this subject comes up, I believe it is optimally therapeutic for the patient to have an opportunity to do the procrastinated activity right in the session, immediately!   It is an incredibly simple way for a therapy hour to be directly helpful.  Otherwise, sometimes visiting a therapist can be yet another way to procrastinate work, and feel even worse!   If a patient of mine does agree to do some procrastinated schoolwork during a session, it is my goal to help the patient enjoy the activity, feel supported and encouraged, and to have an experience of success.

Study Techniques

Many students work or study inefficiently, which is an underlying cause of worse academic stress, then leading to worse mental health.  Discussion and practice of better studying techniques is directly relevant to mental health therapy.  I like to discuss various memory and time-management techniques with patients, and try them out right in the session.  These ideas are applicable to other life activities, including CBT exercises.

Reading and Oration

It has been remarkably common to find students who have trouble reading.  Often they have other cognitive strengths, which have allowed them to manage with this reading difficulty all their lives, while still doing well in school.  But in advanced academics, a reading difficulty can greatly slow down the rate at which a student can study.  Reading textbooks becomes a gruelling chore.   Reading out loud, or giving presentations, can become a source of dread.

The most effective therapies for reading difficulties are very similar to therapies for mental health issues:  it involves practice, in a safe setting, with tasks that are easy enough to be enjoyable and easily mastered, but challenging enough to foster growth.    Reading out loud is very literally an exercise to strengthen one's voice.  Such voice-strengthening is a metaphorical cornerstone of all progress in psychotherapy.  Practicing this literally, in a psychotherapy session, is simple, relevant, enjoyable, diagnostically informative, and therapeutically useful, often in a very immediate way.

Study as Mood Therapy

I believe that studying and other intellectual work can be intrinsically therapeutic for mood.  It can be a meditative and meaningful experience, and a healthy coping technique or psychological defense.  But some students have study practices which are far from meditative.  The therapy session can be a chance to help people regain a sense of meaning and meditative joy in study, to recapture "flow."

Oliver Sacks

I am reminded of the famous neurologist, Oliver Sacks.  He spent time really learning to know his patients well, and in doing so became not only a great therapist and physician, but also a wise and insightful scholar about the ways of the mind.   Part of his technique was to always engage deeply with his patient's work and study interests.   In doing so, often he would discover phenomena that would never have otherwise been noticed or attended to.   I would hope to be a clinician more like him.

Other Work (not just study)

I think it is important to discuss other areas of work, with patients, and to be willing to look together at the work very directly at times, if desired.  I like to see examples of some of the work my patients do, and I think this relates to health in a similar way.

Benefit for the therapist

If a therapist takes sincere interest in a patient's work, study,  and other activities, it is also beneficial for the therapist.  What a delight it is to vicariously be part of an educational journey!   The therapist's health will therefore also be better.  This, in turn, will improve care within the system as a whole.  And this goodness will "bounce back" to the clients or patients, and continue a cycle of interpersonal positivity.

Biases in Psychotherapy Research

Biases in Research 


Pharmaceutical Research

We are much more familiar these days with biases in pharmaceutical research studies.  A clinical study of a medication treatment is more likely to show an exaggerated beneficial effect, if the study is sponsored by the manufacturer.  This doesn't mean industry-sponsored research is "bad," and it doesn't mean that pharmaceutical products are "bad," but it does mean that we have to look with a careful, skeptical eye at research results--not just at impressive tables or graphs, but also at the sources of funding for the study, and the authors' past relationships with the manufacturers.  There could indeed be overt "badness" if there are examples of flagrant profiteering on the part of people involved.  But the more salient issue, in my opinion, is simply the need to question the authority of results from such studies.

Alternative Medicine

This same critical eye is very much needed for looking at research evidence regarding alternative treatments.  There are very strong sales tactics used to market supplements, herbal remedies, and other treatments, and the standards of evidence presented are often much lower than those from pharmaceutical studies.  For example, simple testimonial accounts are much more common in alternative medication marketing, as are impressive-sounding but clinically irrelevant scientific or pseudo-scientific claims.

Psychotherapy Too! 

We may assume that studies of psychotherapy would be relatively free of these biases.  After all, there is no big company that is profiting from psychotherapy!

But we must maintain a critical eye even for studies of psychotherapy.  Here are some reasons:

1) A positive study of a psychotherapy technique may not bring obvious financial profit to anyone, but it is likely to increase the prestige of the authors.  A big part of the "currency" in a Ph.D. researcher's career relates to impressive publications.  A study showing a significant treatment effect of a psychotherapy technique is likely to add to the fame and career advancement of the authors.   This career advancement is analogous to direct financial gain.

2) Many psychotherapy researchers have spent many years of study devoted to their therapy technique.  Imagine if you had spent 10 years studying a particular thing, and that you had strong feelings about it.  You could imagine that you might have a bias in favour of the technique that you had studied all those years.  You would really want to show that it works!  If a study showed that it didn't work so well, it might lead you to question the value of all those years of your career!  In Cialdini's terms, this bias would have to do with "consistency."   If someone has been consistently committed to a particular thing for a long time, they are biased to maintain support of that thing, beyond what would otherwise be reasonable.   Furthermore, if you had worked all those years studying one particular technique, your social and professional community of peers would be more likely to share similar opinions.  You might have frequently attended conferences devoted to your area of specialty.  You might have even taught students the technique, who appreciated your help and mentorship.  This would lead to Cialdini's "social pressure" effect -- since the people around you support your idea, you will be more likely to hold onto the idea yourself, beyond what would otherwise be reasonable.

3) There is more and more direct financial gain related to therapy techniques.  We see a lot of books, self-help guides, paid seminars and workshops, etc.  Charismatic marketing, including through publishing of research studies, is likely to increase the financial profit of those involved.

4) In the psychotherapy research community, CBT is the most common modality.  CBT is intrinsically easier to research, since it is more easily standardized, the techniques themselves involve a lot of measurement, and the style tends to be more precisely time-limited.  CBT is more "scientific" and therefore attracts researchers whose background is more strongly analytical and scientific.  There is nothing intrinsically wrong with this , but it leads to more bias in the research.  Therapy styles other than CBT are studied less frequently.  Therefore there will be fewer positive studies of other styles.  This gives the impression that CBT is best.  It is not because comparative studies have actually shown it is best.   New versions or variations of CBT (with different fancy-sounding names) are also frequently marketed, and often show good results in research, but once again this does not really prove that the techniques are best.  The research study becomes an advertising tool for those who have designed the technique.

Conclusion

I do not mean to sound too cynical here...I think that CBT, as well as all other therapy techniques, are interesting, important, and helpful.  We should all learn about them, and make use of some of their principles.  But I do not think that any one style is necessarily "best."  We should not allow biases in research, including simple marketing effects, to cause a large change in our judgment with respect to helping people.

I feel that the more important foundation in trying to help people is spending the time getting to know them, and hearing from the person you are with (whether it be a client, a patient, a family member, or a friend) what type of help they would actually like.

Also, different individual therapists have different personalities, interests, experiences, weaknesses, and skills.  I think it is unhealthy for a community of therapists or healers to be pushed into offering a very narrow range of techniques or therapeutic strategies. Instead, I think that the individual talents and strengths of each therapist should be honoured, and there should be room in any health care system to allow for this.