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

Chapter 428 The Mystery Hidden Behind the "Question"
Bai Qinghua neither nodded nor shook his head, remaining noncommittal to Nan Zhuren's statement, but continued to ask, "How exactly did you use [Confrontation]? What is your basis for adopting this consulting style?"

Behind this question lies the desire to be selected by the school.

In Jiangdu, Bai Qinghua only saw Nan Zhuren's ability to analyze micro-expressions.

It was that fleeting glimpse that gave him the urge to take Nan Zhuren as his subordinate;

After getting to know Nan Zhuren's level of professional ethics during their subsequent interactions, Bai Qinghua's impulse was put into action.

However, Bai Qinghua did not actually know much about Nan Zhuren's psychological counseling skills.

This is Bai Qinghua's first time supervising Nan Zhuren Consulting.

Although Weng Pingting relayed a lot about Nan Zhuren's past work experience, the information will become less accurate and less reliable as it is transmitted.

This time, Bai Qinghua also wanted to hear Nan Zhuren's report on the consultation in person.

Hearing this, Shi Qianqian suppressed her emotions and couldn't help but ask her senior brother Chonghui, "What school of martial arts does our junior brother belong to?"

“【Cognitive-behavioral】, with a touch of 【humanistic】,” Chonghui replied.

"But why does it sound like 'schizophrenia' to me?"

"...I find that strange too."

Chonghui also showed a curious look at this moment.

He was the person who knew Nan Zhuren best among everyone present.

Therefore, Chonghui knew that Nan Zhuren came from the cognitive-behavioral school; and that Nan Zhuren's daily attitude towards visitors also had a strong humanistic influence.

However, the attitude that Nan Zhuren has shown in this consultation is full of the flavor of the psychoanalytic school.

While modern standard procedures for psychological counseling include principles such as "client-centeredness," these are manifestations of the "people-oriented" philosophy extracted from humanistic thought through the development of the times.

In fact, psychological counseling had existed for almost a century before the emergence of the humanistic school of thought.

Psychological counseling back then was completely different from what it is today.

The psychoanalytic school founded by Freud was the earliest systematic school of psychological counseling.

This school of thought is characterized by its study of the human subconscious, and it was originally applied not to "psychological counseling" but to "psychotherapy".

The initial target of this school of thought was—mentally ill patients.

Therefore, there are many confrontations during the intervention process, and the form is more radical and even crude than the current consultation.

Although in its subsequent development, the psychoanalytic school made some adjustments to adapt to the environment of psychological counseling, and further developed into the psychodynamic school, which places greater emphasis on empathy and support.

However, its underlying color remains unchanged.

……

Chonghui was particularly curious about why Nan Zhuren used this style to intervene with visitors.

Nan Zhuren recalled, "Before I understood the client's problems, I had already begun to try to analyze the client's personality traits."

"At the beginning, the client was stood up by the counselor. Even though the counselor left a 'compensation plan' and the staff kept apologizing, the client stayed in the company and argued with the staff. The client insisted on having the consultation today, which almost led to a more violent conflict."

"This behavior can actually be understood as a kind of 'customer' who is unreasonable and unforgiving, or a kind of 'repressed person' who uses the issue to vent their negative emotions."

"But I have a more optimistic guess—"

Nan Zhuren said softly, "Is it possible that this client is so eager for counseling that he 'can't wait a moment longer and has to get counseling'?"

Bai Qinghua nodded slightly. This idea was indeed optimistic, but also risky. Shi Qianqian and Chong Hui also nodded in agreement. Nan Zhuren's logic was sound; it was just that most people were hesitant to verify this conjecture.

If something goes wrong, it could turn into a consulting mishap.

"I went to observe the visitors with this conjecture in mind."

"When he first entered the consultation room, he didn't sit down, but stood by the window alone—I can interpret this as a kind of 'egocentrism' and 'low sense of rules.' The client ignored my consultation room rules and attempted to challenge my counseling authority to take the initiative."

"But at the same time, this could also be a form of maintaining distance and defensive independence!"

After the last two proper nouns of Nan Zhuren appeared.

Chonghui and Shi Qianqian both reacted quickly thanks to their solid theoretical foundations, and followed Nan Zhuren's logic, seemingly guessing what Nan Zhuren would say next.

"This conjecture was later verified."

Nan Zhuren slowly said, "Although the visitor was wearing a mask, I could still discern a lot from the micro-expressions on the upper half of his face."

“As I spoke, his gaze would shift back and forth between the window and me, and he would exhibit slight pupil tremors, upward turning of the inner corners of his eyebrows, and slight upward pushing of his lower eyelids. This was a repressed, sorrowful longing.”

“When I was confronting him and trying to take the lead, his lower eyelids tightened and his upper eyelids lowered, which was an angry alarm that his autonomy was threatened.”

"When I finally convinced him to sit on the sofa, his pupils dilated to their peak size in a short period of time, accompanied by 'jaw oscillation' and 'deepening of the supraclavicular fossa,' which was an emotional conflict between pleasure and fear..."

Nan Zhuren listed them one by one, as if reciting a familiar story.

……

Wait, wait...

Shi Qianqian stopped thinking.

She had been following Nan Zhuren's logic, but at this moment she involuntarily withdrew from the mental state.

She could still barely keep up with the previous guesses and verifications.

But what is this junior brother in front of me saying?
What pupil changes? What about the inner corner of the eyebrow? What about the upper and lower eyelids? And what about the jawline, collarbone, etc...?

Being in Bai Qinghua's research group, Shi Qianqian was not unaware of what these things meant.

But she didn't understand how these things could be discerned.

Did you bring a camera into the consultation room and then stop and slow down the timeline at any time to review the client's psychological changes?
Her scientific mind had been awakened, and no matter how handsome her face or how attractive her temperament, it couldn't stop Shi Qianqian from raising questions at this moment.

but--

Shi Qianqian subconsciously glanced at her senior brother and teacher, but the two of them seemed completely normal, listening intently. They even nodded slightly from time to time, showing expressions that seemed to say, "Oh, I see. I understand."

A sense of disparity arises when, during class, all the other students except myself can keep up with the teacher's pace.

Could it be... that I've fallen behind?

Nan Zhuren was unaware of the inner thoughts of her senior sister whom she was meeting for the first time.

Following the analysis above, he drew a conclusion.

"The client's behavior before and at the beginning of the consultation was indeed very distressing, but behind these behaviors and actions, I saw a very important personality trait."

"That is—[Avoidant attachment style]!"

(End of this chapter)