Understanding Low Academic Achievement Based on Pass and Ericksonian Humanistic Therapy

Abstract

Academic underachievement is a burning problem far from being solved. This study evaluated the efficacy of a humanistic psychotherapy intervention program based on planning, attention, successive and simultaneous (PASS) inductive learning, and indirect metaphorical Ericksonian communication grounded in the neuroscientific knowledge of human behavior. The rational neuroscientific foundations are explained throughout the discussion, highlighting the interaction cognition-emotion. The sample was 600 subjects classified as low achievers, very low achievers, and behavioral-psychosomatic dysfunctional low achievers. The mean age was 13.93 (SD = 1.56; range 12-17), 29.5% women. A normal control group of 172 subjects was selected (mean age, 13.88; SD = 1.75;range 12-17; 49.4% women). ANOVA and stepwise regression analysis were performed. No PASS deficit explains the low achievers. A dysfunctional emotional reason is suggested. A lower simultaneous PASS appears related to very low achievers. A lower planning PASS and the "N" pattern appear related to behavioral-psychosomatic low achievers. The "N" pattern is a suggestive marker of emotional dysfunction. After 6 months of intervention, 55% of very low achievers, 85% of low achievers, and 80% of behavioral-psychosomatic participants did not satisfy the criterion of an underachiever. More studies are required to contribute to the accumulative understanding of scientific phenomena, and so investigate replication.