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

Chapter 479 Pretending it didn't happen is impossible.
The visitor spoke in a flat tone, with one hand resting on his forehead.

"I've always thought I'm pretty good at managing my emotions. I usually have high standards for myself, and my friends all say I'm a pretty... well, calm person..."

"But that day, I started screaming in the police station, I lost control, I screamed completely out of control, and I scared a lot of people..."

"When I came out, it was the middle of the night. There was no one on the street, but there were a few cars here and there."

His voice became erratic: "At that time, I thought, why don't I lie down in the middle of the road and take a nap? If everything is fine when I wake up, I can go back to school and continue my life and face everything; if something happens... well, then I won't have to wake up."

……

The visitor's recollection of past experiences ends here.

For Nan Zhuren, many things are just beginning.

In his eyes, by the end of the visitor's narrative, his eyes had reddened slightly and his voice had begun to choke.

It's as if something is about to be released.

However, after saying "That's perfect, no need to wake up," the visitor's gaze glazed over slightly.

Then, as if by conditioned reflex, as soon as she looked up, the tears in her eyes disappeared completely; when she looked at Nan Zhuren again, even the redness around her eyes gradually returned to normal.

He kept everything bottled up inside.

This is a big problem.

Unfortunately, I don't have time to solve this problem today, or even for almost a month now.

This is part of the consulting’s medium-term goals, and even its long-term goals.

However, although we can't completely solve this problem today, we can make a small start and then gradually work through several consultations as opportunities arise.

Nan Zhuren glanced at the clock and began to exert extreme control over time.

Nan Zhuren asked, "Can you describe how you feel right now?"

The visitor licked his lips, then picked up the water glass on the table and took a sip; perhaps feeling it wasn't enough, he drank half the glass in one go.

He then took a couple of breaths and said, "I think this should never have happened, and my response was naive and stupid. I used to laugh at many people who were scammed online, but I never expected to cause such a big problem myself."

"However... I still want to deal with it, which is why I came to you, teacher."

The visitor raised his hand from his forehead and spread it out in a gesture of demonstration: "After all, problems always need to be solved."

"Moreover, there are many people who are worse off than me. Many people have not only been swindled out of all their money, but have also been burdened with debt. It can be said that half of their lives have been ruined."

As the visitor spoke, his speech quickened and became more fluent.

"Moreover, the video that was spread was a composite, not a real exposé of me doing something promiscuous; besides, I'm a man, so the harm from this kind of thing is less."

"After my friend found out about this, he came over to comfort me and said it was no big deal; if it happened to him, he might even hope that he would have such a video shown to everyone, so that everyone could see his, uh... ability, haha."

"so……"

The visitor took a deep breath, exhaled forcefully, and forced a smile:
"I feel like I'm lucky amidst misfortune; I'm barely okay."

……

That kid didn't get a single thing right.

You are really pushing yourself, and it's not good at all.

Nan Zhuren responded to the visitor's smile with a slight twitch of her lips.

Then she said softly, "That's not what I was asking."

“Zhihao, I’m not asking for your ‘thoughts’ about this matter, but rather your ‘feelings’ about yourself.”

This time, Nan Zhuren didn't offer much explanation. He simply stared into the visitor's eyes and repeated his question: "How do you feel?"

silence.

The visitor lowered his head and avoided Nan Zhuren's gaze.

After waiting for five breaths without the visitor speaking, Nan Zhuren slowly said, "From these two consultations and our time together at the court that day, my impression of you is that you are a man with a strong sense of justice and high standards for yourself."

Let's start with some support. "Moreover, you are very 'restrained' with yourself, which is a rare quality."

In reality, it's a severe case of avoidance style; here, Nan Zhuren is selectively engaging in positive attention.

"But... this matter is destructive, devastating, a disaster."

—When saying this, Nan Zhuren emphasized the words "destruction," "annihilation," and "disaster."

When facing visitors, Nan Zhuren usually softens his words.

But just like we used the concept of "confrontation" during the initial consultation, sometimes we need to do the opposite when dealing with a client like Nan Zhihao.

“You have very high standards for yourself, so when the ‘synthesized video’ is released, it will bring you the same kind of harm as when the ‘real video’ was spread. This is something you shouldn’t have to endure.”

“You are a man. Although this kind of thing may not cause a loss of ‘innocence’ for a man, it is a huge blow to ‘dignity’.”

“If it happened to me, I would find it unbearable.” Nan Zhuren gave a self-disclosure: “Just thinking about it is enough to make me tremble.”

……

The visitor had started to tremble.

While Nan Zhuren was speaking, he repeatedly turned his neck and shifted his gaze.

In the end, he clenched his fist and put it in front of his mouth, and his whole arm began to tremble slightly.

He started clearing his throat and stretching his neck repeatedly.

Finally, I couldn't take it anymore—

He pulled a tissue from the box in front of him and covered his eyes.

"..."

After a long while, Nan Zhuren finally heard the visitor say slowly, "Teacher, I... am very scared."

"Even now, I'm still scared when I think about it."

“I’m scared…that night, scared…of what I’ve been through, and scared…of everyone around me now.”

"But I want to pretend I don't care. I want to make it seem like this didn't hurt me, didn't have any impact on me, or at least... not a big one."

"I don't want to be stuck in this for too long; I want to move on."

Nan Zhuren gently shook his head.

His voice was steady and gentle: "The idea is right. But—this is the final step."

"When a leg is injured, it needs to be disinfected, stitched up, and rested before it can start running again after it has fully healed."

“You skipped all the intermediate stages and started trying to run right away, even if you were limping—I can understand that, as I said before, you are a person who has high expectations of yourself.”

"But this is not good for you."

The visitor pressed down the tissue covering his eyes, then removed it, revealing a pair of reddened eyes that could no longer be contained: "Teacher, can you help me?"

Nan Zhuren smiled: "Of course, that's exactly the purpose of our psychological counseling."

“We are currently going through such a process.”

Nan Zhuren glanced at the wall clock.

It's almost time.

"I'm sorry, our consultation for today is almost over."

Nan Zhuren said, "Before we meet again, you can practice the [grounding technique] a few more times to improve your current living conditions."

"Then, I'm going to give you a little homework assignment—"

As he spoke, Nan Zhuren took out a piece of paper.

(End of this chapter)