Let Patients Help
The German psychologist, Angie Masal, used a new method few years ago to treat war victims who suffer from psychological disorders and shocks. Her experience with the Afghan refugees in Germany made her realize that patients themselves can participate in the treatment process of other patients with the supervision of a doctor.
By: Jumana Khaleel
Angie based her theory on the saying ‘don’t knock it until you’ve tried it’ because when we have an emotional or psychological issue it is only the people who were in our shoes would understand our situation. Moreover, she built her theory on the idea that in helping others, you help yourself.
The Japanese education system has been raising questions on the secrets behind its excellence and uniqueness for a long time. The reason behind its excellence is that the teacher’s role in a classroom is so limited and the students are the ones who teach each other what they have learned.
I, myself, have been taught in my first year in Kyoto University by a second year student. And when I was in my second year I started teaching first year students as well. This method taught me the importance of playing the role of a teacher to fully understand what we have learned.
The advantages of this method are the following:
- Builds self-trust
- Improves sense of responsibility
- Keeps students focused and encourages them to participate
- Improves students’ ability to recall information
These two examples illustrate how words like ‘teacher’, ‘patient’, ‘smart ‘, ‘stupid’ and others are no longer used in our world. As the case in Japanese schools; they stopped using the words ‘teacher’ and ‘students’ because every single person is both a teacher and a student all at once.
