Who would study psychology if they didn't have some kind of problem?

Chapter 205 The Most Common Psychological Problems

After listening to Nan Zhuren's explanation, the teacher in charge of the center blinked.

"Important? How important?"

Nan Zhuren didn't say much, but just looked at his appointment registration form.

[18:00-19:00, Visitor: Cheng Hui, Counselor: Nan Zhuren, Counseling Room No. 1.]

Cheng Hui.

Chen Jie's classmate is coming.

……

Nan Zhuren sat on a single sofa in the consultation room, adjusting her breathing.

His face was serious, and his mood at this moment was second only to when he faced Wang Anhe and confronted Lin Lilin.

It's not that the current problems are particularly difficult.

It just requires him to treat it with his utmost care.

I just had a good sleep and regained some energy, so—

[Emotional readjustment]

The slightly agitated emotions subsided.

"Boom boom boom——"

Upon hearing the knock on the door, Nan Zhuren immediately rubbed his face and skillfully put on a professional psychological counselor's smile.

"Please come in."

click-

A girl came in.

Nan Zhuren quickly sized up the other person to form his first impression of the consultant.

With tanned skin, large eyes, and a low nose bridge, her facial features combined to give her an above-average appearance for her age—but they are harmonious and clean-cut.

He is very tall; even in flat shoes, Nan Zhuren is estimated to be over 1.75 meters tall.

She was wearing a thick down jacket, so it was impossible to tell her exact figure, except that she was slightly hunched over—it was unclear whether it was because she was too tall or because of her introverted personality.

A typical counselor can only discern the above at a glance; the rest can only be obtained during the consultation.

Fortunately, Nan Zhuren has micro-expression analysis.

At the same time, Nan Zhuren had used this ability to analyze many people in depth in the past and created many micro-expression templates.

Now, Nan Zhuren can roughly judge the problems of visitors by comparing them with these templates.

At this moment, the visitor named "Cheng Hui" exuded an aura that most closely resembled the template—

Li Minglu.

Nan Zhuren's brows furrowed slightly.

It's very similar, but to a slightly lesser degree.

If you're lucky, it might not even reach the level of a "mental illness," but remain in the category of a "psychological problem."

Simply put, it's "depression," not "depression syndrome."

……

In fact, looking at the data over time, among the issues that Nan Zhuren has received from clients, apart from emotional problems, the proportion of problems related to depression is the highest.

If we consider that emotional problems can also lead to depression, then depression is the most common of all problems.

This situation is prevalent in society as a whole. Most mental illnesses can lead to depression; and most psychiatric illnesses are accompanied by depression.

For mental health professionals, clients with depression are the most frequent visitors they encounter; depression is also the most common topic of conversation for the general public.

Because of the development of social networks, depression, which has a high degree of prevalence, has gone through a process similar to "problems from one's family of origin": "not understanding → somewhat understanding → misinterpretation → not wanting to understand anymore → getting annoyed when seeing it."

This has led to a tendency towards stigmatization and even demonization.

However, mental health professionals still dare not let their guard down, because the problems that cause "depression" are diverse, and the manifestations are varied, requiring specialized intervention methods.

This is a situation that absolutely cannot be addressed using path dependency.

...Nan Zhuren took a slight breath.

"Please take a seat."

Nan Zhuren waved to the visitor, gesturing for him to sit on the sofa.

"Cheng Hui, is that right?"

"Yes." The visitor seemed a little nervous.

Lean back in your chair, cross your arms, and bow your head.

There was no eye contact.

Not surprisingly.

"'Chinese Language and Literature' major."

As is customary, start the conversation with basic information and show appropriate positive attention to establish an initial consultation relationship.

"If I remember correctly, this major is one of the most competitive majors at Jiangnan University. Getting into it is a real achievement."

This praise came from Nan Zhuren's heart.

The visitor twitched the corner of his mouth, exchanged a somewhat embarrassed glance with Nan Zhuren, and then looked away.

However, there were fewer visible physical defensive movements.

The arms I was holding weren't as tight anymore.

The initial consultation relationship was successfully established.

And, most importantly—

She doesn't know me.

As Chen Jie's classmate, Nan Zhuren was initially worried that Cheng Hui might develop an innate aversion towards him because of Chen Jie's situation.

Even if Cheng Hui didn't know about Nan Zhuren's existence before, the video of Nan Zhuren and Chen Ting fighting against Wang An had already caused quite a stir.

If Cheng Hui had watched that video and knew a little about gossip, she would have been able to understand most of Nan Zhuren's background story—at least most of the story related to Jiangda University.

It appears that there is no such risk.

Nan Zhuren breathed a slight sigh of relief.

In that case, we can proceed with the normal consultation process.

After the basic exchange was completed, Nan Zhuren, seeing that Cheng Hui had no intention of speaking first, began to guide the conversation:

"Did you come here today because you need the teacher's help to answer some questions?"

The visitor pursed his lips: "I... feel terrible."

The description is too general.

However, most students who actively seek psychological counseling already have a clear understanding of their situation.

With Nan Zhuren as the starting point, the subsequent narrative flowed much more smoothly.

"My main problem is... I always have insomnia. I usually go to bed around midnight, or maybe around 11 pm if I'm tired. But once I lie down, I keep thinking and can't fall asleep. Sometimes I even think about things until 3 or 4 am..."

"Then, I've been having a lot of trouble concentrating lately. In class, I can barely hear anything; when I'm doing homework, my mind wanders every ten minutes or so..."

"That's right. My learning efficiency is very low right now, and my life feels like a mess. It's become a vicious cycle."

The first paragraph ends here.

It's somewhat broad and lacks detail. But at least it provides enough anchor points to explore further.

[Message: Insomnia, difficulty concentrating.]

Nan Zhuren discovered that there might be a common point between these two things.

He followed up on the visitor's words to verify his conjecture: "You just said that you have insomnia because you are thinking about things. When you can't concentrate in class or doing homework, are you also thinking about things?"

Summarize the information in the visitor's narrative, and then make reasonable inferences to uncover information that the visitor has not yet revealed.

If you say the right thing, it will make the visitor feel that "this teacher is amazing" and "he understands me".

This will further deepen the consultation relationship.

(End of this chapter)