Am I teacher or psychologist? At this time of year, it’s both

Justin Thomas

• Last Updated: November 17. 2009 8:47PM UAE / November 17. 2009 4:47PM GMT

Just like genius and insanity, the line between education and psychotherapy can be a thin one; and there is no period in the academic year when this is more apparent than exam time.

The run-up to exams is fraught with anxiety, and the period after them can be a time of depression and despair. Pre-exam anxiety and post-exam blues fit well with classical psychotherapeutic thinking about emotional problems; anxiety is viewed as worry about possible losses in the future, while depression is seen as rumination about actual losses in the past. The idea of loss is not restricted to physical losses, such as keys, phones or friends, but includes loss in terms of how people view themselves: “I was a perfect A student, now I’m an imperfect B.”

It’s hard not to notice the spike in anxiety at Zayed University around exam time; energy-drink consumption goes through the roof, and far more students than usual show the symptoms of sleeplessness. Even the students who are usually “too cool for school” begin to fish nervously for hints and ideas on what to expect: “Will Freud be on the exam?” and “Do I need to revise page 18?”.

Exam day is typically characterised by mass attendance, no one is absent, there are even students in the class I don’t remember seeing before, and everyone arrives before the teacher. The desks are piled high with last-minute revision material and there is an atmosphere of unspeakable disquiet. My favourite moment is when the door closes behind me, and in perfect harmony each student’s face registers an apprehensive appreciation that the moment … has arrived.

This happens the world over; the vast majority of students experience mild levels of pre-exam anxiety, and for most it is not a major issue. For some, it even provides an edge, as they convert anxious concerns into well planned study regimes. But there is a small number of students for whom anxious worry becomes a problem; it impedes concentration, interferes with sleep and causes physical complaints such as headaches, muscle tension and stomach upsets, all of which take their toll on academic performance.

Students prone to such excessive worry often start with overly positive, even magical, beliefs about the nature of worry. Psychologists call this metacognition; the process of thinking about thinking. Worriers tell themselves: “If I don’t worry, bad things will happen”, or: “The more I worry the better I am likely to do.”

But when worry becomes pervasive, distressing and hard to control, positive beliefs are replaced by negative views such as: “Worry is uncontrollable”, or “Worry is sending me mad”. These can lead to worrying about worrying, and vain attempts to try to stop it. Paradoxically, however, trying to stop worrying just makes worry more likely. For example, try not to think about a pink elephant for a minute or two; most people’s attempts at thought suppression tend to backfire.

Those who worry excessively also tend to be intolerant of uncertainty, and the outcome of an exam is always uncertain: what questions will he ask, will he appreciate my answers? Worriers will go to great lengths to try to minimise their uncertainties; over-preparing, procrastinating, reassurance-seeking, obsessively checking, rechecking and re-answering questions.

Despite the worriers’ best efforts, uncertainty can never be totally eliminated and the window for worry is always slightly ajar. Of course, the surest way to minimise exam uncertainty is to cheat. So cheating may also be viewed as a dysfunctional uncertainty-minimisation strategy, something clinical psychologists call safety behaviour.

I believe educators should be able to help students to overcome such problems; or better still, prevent them from succumbing to excessive unhelpful worry in the first place.

The role of the teacher is changing, and the internet and other emerging information technologies are speeding the process. A student of mine recently wrote in an essay: “Google is my adviser and Wikipedia my professor.” She was drawing attention to the end of the all-knowing professor as sole information conduit.

The new educator, of course, still needs to know the field, but the ability to help students to better manage emotions, maintain motivation levels and avoid thinking errors are increasingly important. That line between education and psychotherapy is getting thinner.

Dr Justin Thomas is a psychologist and assistant professor in the Department of Natural Science and Public Health at Zayed University