The Special Pupil Remakes The Special Teacher

Abstract

Most of the teachers admit they have a favorable, dear, special, challenging pupil. To study from your pupil, to feel a mutual transformation, is the pick of education. See a movie about relationship between a teacher and her special pupil who caused her a change in viewing herself not only as a teacher but as a human been. My research "Special patient among art therapists in Israel" deals with the therapists' counter transference toward their special patients. Therapists of the special patients tend to be more emotional, open and non-conformist. What about teacher- pupil relationship? The current research examines the phenomenon of the "Special Patient" as perceived by art therapists in the twenty first century. There are very few studies on the subject of the special patient in psychotherapy, as those of the special pupil. The evidence showed that the art therapists' special patient seems to be a patient whose characteristics, life story resemble those of the therapist. Thus therapy of the special patient tends to be more intense than usual, giving birth to the emergence of a close patient-therapist relationship. The special pupil forces the teachers to deeply probe their educational philosophy and their personal-professional self. The main contribution of this research is the development of a model SECRET which may summarise the special pupil phenomena. This new perception of the special pupil phenomena may contribute to reaching a better understanding of pupil-teacher relationship, the mutual teaching, as well the teacher's intra-personal world.

Keywords: Special pupilteacherrelationshipeducational philosophy

Introduction

Although the term special patient was first mentioned about twenty years after Freud's death, in 1939, by Main in 1957, a backward glance seems to hint at the possibility that Freud might have had special patients. For example, in his patient descriptions, Freud reveals that he was very real and personal with them, to such an extent that some of his followers made efforts to conceal this significant information (Govrin, 2004) In the article "Advice to Physicians about Psychoanalytic Care" (1912, pp. 92 – 99 in Freud, 2005), he advises the psychoanalyst to regard the patient from an 'emotional distance', to remain a mystery to the patients, showing nothing but what is shown to him. Govrin shows there were cracks in the traditional psychoanalytical approach even by Freud himself. For example despite these pronouncements, Freud was prepared to deviate from the therapeutic boundaries; he served food to some patients and formed personal relations with others. Patients described Freud as a therapist who behaved with a great deal of freedom. Rather than just listening and interpreting, he sometimes joked with patients with one even reporting that Freud sang songs to him (John Dorsey, an American psychiatrist and neurologist treated by Freud). True love is giving not only receiving.

Neutrality versus flexibly is the main issue of human relationship. The therapeutic contradictions of Freud's era begin to lead us to the gap in knowledge. The question arises of how is it possible to maintain a relationship, which is personal and professional, intimate and subject to rules, open in content and time limited. Like psychotherapy education has been changed during the last decade.

The theories discussed in the research about the special patient pertain to the therapeutic relationship and expose the flexibility that is so typical of recent approaches to therapy, the therapists' openness and their relationships with their patients. Despite this flexibility of educational and therapeutic theories, the special patient/pupil phenomenon has not been researched and hardly appears in the literature.

The fact that the special pupil phenomenon is missing from the literature may arise from a number of reasons: hesitation about exposing the teacher's feelings, fear of the teacher's work being politically incorrect; fear of discriminating versus other pupils. More than any other pupil, the special pupil accelerates all aspects of relationship. (In France a research about the favorite of a teacher" Le shushu de professeur" is taking place lately.)

The Symbolism of S.E.C.R.E.T

It appears from the findings that in the therapist-special patient the relationship, the hidden is greater than the obvious. Interestingly enough, the meaning of the acronym SECRET suits some of the findings.

From the findings, the literature, my experience, and this research, most of the therapists have SECRET patients/pupils. The above reasons create special relationships. The more the teachers share with supervisors their feelings about the SECRET pupil phenomenon the more it will help the teachers enrich the relationship for the well-being of the special pupil.

Contemporary theories discuss the therapeutic relationship, starting from the therapeutic experience through Attachment Theory (Bowlby, 1980), the Self- Theory (Wolf, 1988), and the therapist who treats at eye-level and willing to learn from the patient (Casement, 1999. In Art therapy, (Betensky 1977, 1978) Dalley (1984) the artwork adds to the therapeutic relationship a nonverbal and unconscious discourse. Although the therapists have more knowledge, they are not above their patients. This leads to mutuality in the therapeutic relationship.

Conclusion

The main terms concerning the special pupil phenomenon are: attunement, mutual teaching and mutual transformation.

Attunement is what the teacher feels when the pupil strums on one of his/her cords. When the empathy the teacher feels for his patient is deep, real educations starts.

Mutual Teaching - Modern approaches emphasize the teacher's role in the process. In good teaching the teacher treats the pupil and him/herself.

Mutual transformation - Alchemy becomes a pertinent metaphor when we consider the relationship of teacher student. Jung emphasis on the dialectical process and on the issue of mutual transformation can be illustrated from alchemy.

References

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