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

Chapter 321 [Reconstructing Meaning]

Regardless of the school or technique.

Exposing the problem and making the visitor aware of their problem are the first steps.

In the existentialist school of thought, even more is required on this premise—after the problem is exposed, the client is also required to pay attention to "the feeling in the present moment" and "the reasons behind the feeling in the present moment".

This is the first stage – [Phenomenological Exploration]!
Teacher Zhao has been completely convinced by Nan Zhuren, and progress is going very quickly at this stage.

"If you hadn't pointed it out, Teacher Nan, I probably wouldn't have realized it was a problem, and I wouldn't have realized that I was defending against [defense].

Teacher Zhao pondered for a moment: "As we just discussed, my several defensive actions all stemmed from feelings of frustration, and these frustrations... were all related to my work."

"Why do you feel frustrated at work?" Nan Zhuren pressed.

"...because on the one hand, I feel that it is very difficult to fulfill my duties, and students and superiors are all creating obstacles for my work."

Teacher Zhao was referring to two incidents: "a male student confessing his love" and "school leaders assigning miscellaneous tasks that took up time."

"On the other hand, I feel that counseling students who are about to take the college entrance exam will actually interfere with their academic performance... Such counseling is unnecessary, and it seems that I, as a psychology teacher, have become a job without a job..."

Nan Zhuren nodded slightly.

We can now move on to the second phase.

Existentialism offers a variety of techniques, and the techniques that can be chosen can vary depending on the client's situation. Counselors can select different techniques within a broad existential framework to create different stages of a complete intervention.

In response to Teacher Zhao's situation, Nan Zhuren chose to conduct a "meaning reconstruction" at this stage.

Nan Zhuren thought for a moment and said, "You just mentioned several times that you feel it is meaningless to 'provide counseling to students now'; even if you do provide counseling, you feel that the quality of counseling to students now is not as good as before."

"……Correct."

Nan Zhuren frowned, making a puzzled, ambiguous expression.

He said, "Focusing on 'consultation quality' is a matter for 'consultants' to consider."

"But, Teacher Zhao, you are now a 'psychological teacher,' not a 'counselor.'"

Teacher Zhao blinked, her mind going blank for a moment.

Then, involuntarily, he opened his mouth.

……

Different professions define "meaning" differently.

Doctors see saving lives and treating patients as meaningful, firefighters see firefighting and disaster prevention as meaningful, and soldiers see protecting their country as meaningful.

And what about the teacher?
Whatever it may be, it's clear that Teacher Zhao is getting a little stuck on the details when it comes to defining meaning.

"It's understandable that therapists feel frustrated when they hear things like 'poor quality counseling' or 'not providing enough help to the client during counseling.'"

Nan Zhuren said, "But, Teacher Zhao, you're already a 'psychology teacher' now. Compared to a 'psychological counselor'... you've changed careers!"

“Your primary identity right now is even more so that of a ‘teacher’, and only secondarily a ‘psychologist’.”

“And your job is ‘mental health education,’ not ‘psychological counseling’!” Teacher Zhao’s mouth dropped open even wider.

Nan Zhuren's words struck a nerve in her long-standing cognitive blind spot.

His implication was that even though you've changed careers, you're still using your old professional standards to judge yourself now.

Seeing Teacher Zhao's reaction, Nan Zhuren chuckled inwardly—this kind of "meaning reconstruction" between different professions was relatively simple at the moment. Even within the same profession, different positions and different periods allowed him to construct different "meanings"!
"Teacher Zhao, you mentioned before that your undergraduate major was Applied Psychology, specializing in counseling, right?"

Teacher Zhao nodded.

Nan Zhuren said, "So you've always trained yourself to be a psychological counselor, and you've always held yourself to the standards of a psychological counselor. This might explain why your mindset hasn't suddenly shifted as a psychology teacher—"

“You still regard ‘psychological counseling’ as an ‘important method’ or even the ‘only method’ for exercising your professional abilities.”

“But… that’s not the case.” Nan Zhuren shook his head gently. “You’re blaming yourself for ‘not being able to do a good job in consultation’ and attacking yourself, just like an orthopedic surgeon regretting not being able to build a bridge for a patient’s heart, or a policeman being resentful that he couldn’t put out a fire in a shopping mall.”

"Of course, I'm not saying that's bad—it just shows that you have a higher sense of responsibility and professional ethics than the average person."

Nan Zhuren shrugged: "But... this is a bit of an overreaction, you know what I mean."

Teacher Zhao was silent for a moment, then slowly said, "Teacher Nan... are you trying to excuse me?"

You know what, this does have a bit of an "excuses" feel to it.

But that's not all that Nan Zhuren wants to do.

After removing the original "self-blame", you need to fill the empty space with "sense of accomplishment" to occupy the position, otherwise, you don't know when, that space will be occupied by "self-blame" again.

Faced with Teacher Zhao's question, Nan Zhuren slowly shook his head: "No...you don't need so-called 'excuses'. 'Excuses' is a term used for people who have made mistakes, but you are the opposite; you have always done very well."

Teacher Zhao hesitated, seemingly wanting to refute.

But deep down, she also had a slight expectation that Nan Zhuren would say something complimentary.

"You said that during class, you let students study on their own or sleep, as long as they don't disturb other students, they can do whatever they want, right?"

Teacher Zhao blinked.

His expression seemed to say—ah, is that all I wanted to say?

“You might think, ‘This isn’t real psychological work. I studied psychological counseling techniques for four years, not so that students could sleep in class,’” Nan Zhuren interjected.

Teacher Zhao choked for a moment, realizing she had been predicted.

"But if we look beyond the surface of 'letting students sleep during class' to examine the deeper meaning, is it a psychological intervention measure that you 'actively chose' with the aim of 'relieving students' learning pressure'?"

Nan Zhuren shrugged: "After all, if you look at it from the surface, psychological counseling is nothing more than 'finding a place to talk to the student'."

“Psychological counseling takes weeks or months and only intervenes in one student at a time. But your class allows an entire class of students to rest and relieve stress in their own way. Isn’t that better for you than doing 10 or 20 counseling sessions?”

Nan Zhuren's eyes revealed his seriousness: "This is the true meaning of being a 'psychological counselor'."

(End of this chapter)