What methods are effective in identifying and eliminating severe math anxiety, this most terrible and unfortunate part of modern mathematics education? This question is not about ordinary math anxiety but about a severe version of the condition that manifests itself in such symptoms as panic attacks, physical symptoms, or inability to function.
Asked
Active
Viewed 1,298 times
27
-
8I've seen it many times, and very often in math grad students in reaction to issues farthest from their specialties... often providing the motivation for their choice of specialty, to stay as far away as possible from the traumatizing topics. "Abstract algebra trauma", "measure-theory trauma", etc. I have no solution. Usually traceable to especially draconian instructor of the course... – paul garrett Mar 03 '16 at 22:54
-
7@paulgarrett I definitely had measure theory trauma, and I "hated analysis". Then a required analysis course taught me the beauty of distribution theory, and I am now an analyst. So it is certainly possible to recover from such trauma. – Steven Gubkin Mar 04 '16 at 01:23
-
4Related: http://matheducators.stackexchange.com/questions/194/how-can-we-help-students-who-are-very-anxious-about-math – Daniel R. Collins Mar 04 '16 at 03:14
-
5We shouldn't trivialize PTSD by applying the term to things that aren't PTSD. – Mar 04 '16 at 23:04
-
2@JohnMeuser: Why not just edit the question rather than deleting it? E.g., the title could say "severe math anxiety" rather than "math PTSD," and the question itself could make the analogy with PTSD without saying that it really is PTSD. – Mar 05 '16 at 01:43
-
1I edited the title and question as I suggested above. I don't think you have to beat yourself up over this. It's an interesting and valuable question IMO. – Mar 05 '16 at 02:18
-
I agree, a very valuable question. – Steven Gubkin Mar 05 '16 at 14:12
-
2I did some light edits, and then someone else cut out almost all of the question. I did some further edits, inserting some new text so that we wouldn't lose the intent of the question, which was to ask about severe math anxiety, not just ordinary math anxiety. – Mar 05 '16 at 21:48
-
I think it is fair to call severe math anxiety like that described a form of trauma. – Sue VanHattum Mar 06 '16 at 01:53
-
1@SueVanHattum: PTSD is a serious mental health problem that's listed as a specific condition in the DSM-III. It's the kind of thing that happens when people have been through war, torture, rape, a serious car accident, or brutal abuse. When people used to talk about "shell shock" or "battle fatigue," those are cases that would today probably be diagnosed as PTSD. – Mar 06 '16 at 04:10
-
I know that @Ben_Crowell. That's why I used the word trauma instead. I just read an excellent book, Small Wonders: Healing Childhood Trauma with EMDR, that includes all sorts of smaller traumas (including repeated lice infestations and ... test anxiety). We hold all sorts of traumas, large and small, in our bodies. – Sue VanHattum Mar 06 '16 at 04:22
2 Answers
27
In regards to "math anxiety", the 1990 paper by Ray Hembree helped me out a lot. It's a large meta-study of about 150 papers and a total of 25,000 students. Summary of the results, as I wrote on my blog previously:
Whole-group interventions are not effective (curricular changes, classroom pedagogy structure, in-class psychological treatments). The only thing that was effective is out-of-classroom, one-on-one treatments (behavioral systematic desensitization; cognitive restructuring); these have a marked effect at both lowering anxiety and boosting actual math-test performance.
The lesson that I personally take from this is that addressing math anxiety is largely out of the hands of the classroom teacher. Unless the student has access, or the institution provides access, to one-on-one behavioral desensitization therapy, no group-level interventions are found to be effective. When discussing the subject with students one-on-one outside of class, my number one priority is just to get them to physically relax at the moment, and I've become more prone to recommend that they arrange a meeting to see a college counselor.
Hembree, Ray. "The nature, effects, and relief of mathematics anxiety." Journal for research in mathematics education (1990): 33-46.
Daniel R. Collins
- 25,342
- 70
- 121
6
A while back I posted the related question How can we help students who are very anxious about math?, so that I could offer up a few answers of my own.
My suggestions include a few good books: My students have had some success in decreasing their anxiety with books like Mind Over Math (Kogelman, Warren), Overcoming Math Anxiety (Tobias), and Managing the Mean Math Blues (Ooten).
And a soundtrack I created: I also wanted something that directly addressed their test anxiety in math, and (after much research on math anxiety and the principles of creating guided visualizations) I developed a 14-minute guided visualization, which I titled Math Relax. It is available online for free. Not every student finds it helpful, but some students have felt that it changed their outlook dramatically.
Whether math anxiety is moderate or extreme, it comes from past experiences that we replay in our subconscious (or conscious). Guided visualizations help us to rewrite that script.
Sue VanHattum
- 20,344
- 2
- 42
- 99
-
7This looks kind of like of like a link only answer. Could you explain what the guided visualization is, and how/why it might help anxious students? – Frames Catherine White Mar 04 '16 at 11:02
-
3
-
It does now, mostly, I am still not too sure what a guided visualisation is though; and how it relates to a sound track. – Frames Catherine White Mar 06 '16 at 03:00
-
5A guided visualization is a meditative thing. You listen to someone (hence, soundtrack) saying things. If you've ever been to a yoga class, they generally end with a guided visualization. The best way to get a sense of what it is might be to go listen to the thing I linked. – Sue VanHattum Mar 06 '16 at 04:24