Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T05:26:04.273Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Clinical Observations on the Relationship of Academic Difficulty to Psychiatric Illness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Anthony Ryle*
Affiliation:
University of Sussex Health Service, Falmer, Brighton, Sussex

Extract

The relationship between psychiatric disorder and academic difficulty is clearly a complex one, for some severely disturbed students perform adequately, while clinically mildly disturbed individuals may fail completely. Emotional and psychiatric factors which could be associated with academic difficulty might include both the general factor of severity of disorder, and more specific factors related to the individual's personality motivation and attitude towards achievement and to his tutors. The nature of the demands, pressures and supports presented by the institution or by individual tutors is also likely to be of importance. In a previous psychometric study of all cases of academic and psychiatric difficulty from one year's intake at Sussex University (Ryle and Lunghi, 1968) it was shown that psychiatrically disturbed students in academic difficulty differed significantly from controls on the Nufferno Stress gain measure (Furneaux, 1965) whereas psychiatric patients who were coping academically scored in the same range as the controls. This difference was maintained when psychotic patients were removed from the academic difficulty group. No other psychometric scores distinguished between these two groups. The aim of the present paper is to make a preliminary attempt at defining what clinical features are associated with academic difficulty in a population of psychiatrically disturbed students. The sample studied consists of 38 male and 52 female psychiatric patients personally cared for by the author in a University Health Service encouraging direct consultation and tutor referral of students with personality or academic difficulties. Of these, 28 men and 37 women were the subjects of the previous study referred to above, the additional cases consisting of undergraduates of earlier intakes, and of 8 postgraduate students who had been personally assessed by the author over a two-year period.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1968 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Furneaux, W. D. (1965). Manual of Nufferno Speed Tests. Univ. of London Press.Google Scholar
Kreitman, N. (1961). “The reliability of psychiatric diagnoses.” J. ment. Sci., 107, 876886.Google Scholar
Kreitman, N., Sainsbury, P., Morrissey, J., Towers, J., and Scrivener, J. (1961). “The reliability of psychiatric assessment: an analysis.” J. ment. Sci., 107, 887908.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Malleson, N. (1962). “The influence of emotional factors on achievement in university education.” Bartholomew Lecture, University College of North Staffordshire, Keele.Google Scholar
Ryle, A., and Lunghi, M. (1968). “A psychometric study of academic difficulty and psychiatric illness in students.” Brit. J. Psychiat., 114, 5762.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.