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

Chapter 510 Histrionic Personality

However, although as a "lecture teacher," one should be lenient with "students" appropriately.

As a psychological counselor, there are some fundamental principles that need to be clarified.

This question addresses the round-faced boy's previous statement that "no one had psychological problems in the past, and now most people's psychological problems are faked."

Nan Zhuren mentally considered the wording, intending to use this answer as the final paragraph to conclude today's lecture.

He watched the round-faced boy fidget with his hands, sometimes touching his trouser seams, sometimes bracing himself on the table, and sometimes crossing his arms. Using the gentlest possible tone, he conveyed his serious opinion while simultaneously offering the boy a way out:
"It's probably because you're still in school, so you don't meet many people; even if you do, you might not have a deep understanding of them through conversations. Therefore, you have some misjudgment about the professional issues related to 'psychological problems'."

Nan Zhuren said, "I can't say how common 'mental problems' are, but there are indeed a considerable number of individuals in society with mental health issues, and these mental health issues are affecting individuals and the lives of those around them in many ways."

"As for your statement that 'people in the past did not have psychological problems'—although we cannot go back in time to conduct investigations now, we can still find many related clues through some written records. It's just that these psychological problems were not understood, analyzed, named, or taken seriously at that time."

If we look back at history according to the standard of "socialization", we can find a huge number of psychological problems and even mental illnesses.

This section specifically mentions the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.

However, this topic should be touched upon briefly. A whole series of popular science lectures could be developed from this single topic, but that's not the focus of Nan Zhuren's lecture today.

After Nan Zhuren finished speaking.

The round-faced boy seemed to have seen the way Nan Zhuren was offering and knew that it was time for the question-and-answer session to end.

He chuckled awkwardly, seemingly trying to salvage his image before leaving: "Ah... well. Maybe it's true, as you said, that I myself am fine, and the circle of people around me is relatively clean, so I didn't see things very clearly..."

As he spoke, he tried to sit down.

But a teacher with a dark expression stood up.

This teacher was someone who was temporarily pulled in to be the host today. I saw him wave his hand and say, "We college students should study ourselves before we study problems, and have a thorough understanding of ourselves."

The round-faced boy froze, unsure whether to go up or down.

After finishing her speech, the host teacher didn't even glance in their direction again: "Thank you for the question, thank you Professor Nan for the excellent answer, and thank you to all the court staff who have taken time out of their busy schedules to come to our school today and provide this information on personal and property safety for our students—"

As the teacher spoke, she led the applause, and the students responded enthusiastically.

The classroom was instantly filled with applause.

Judge Chen and his team had a feeling that today's lecture had received the best feedback of the entire series.

In the corner of the classroom, a man completely bundled up stared at the cold air from the air conditioner and let out a long sigh. He glanced at the round-faced boy's seat, then at Nan Zhuren, lost in thought.

……

Sitting on the minibus on the way back, Nan Zhuren could sense that the atmosphere today was different from usual.

The expressions on the faces of the people in the carriage were somewhat conflicted.

Several people wore expressions of relief, seemingly rejoicing that this long series of lectures had finally come to an end;

Several people looked somewhat regretful, perhaps because their rare time to relax was over and they had to return to their hectic court work. Their expressions were full of reluctance.
A few people looked at me strangely, but the specific reason is unknown.

Xia Tian sat next to Nan Zhuren, staring at the unchanging phone screen for a long time.

After a while, she seemed to get angrier the more she thought about it, and finally puffed out her cheeks and complained, "That last student today was really something, I don't know what he was thinking!" Nan Zhuren smiled and shook his head, instead comforting the girl, "It's okay, he's actually a good thing for me."

Using this as an opportunity to start a conversation, Xia Tian immediately put her phone aside and asked with curious, bright eyes, "Teacher Nan, what do you think is wrong with that student?"

This isn't a rigorous academic discussion; it's more like casual conversation.

Nan Zhuren thought for a moment and said, "In lectures, the final questioner is often not there to answer questions. Some people want to use it to build relationships, while others want to use this rare platform to showcase themselves—I can only say that this guy is too ambitious and too undisguised."

"As for what the problem is, I don't know him very well. Judging from his behavior today..." Nan Zhuren thought for a moment, "he has a bit of a histrionic personality disorder vibe."

……

There is no professional term for "histrionic personality" in psychology; it is a simplified, colloquial form of communication that has emerged in the internet age.

The closest professional term to this is "histrionic personality disorder," which falls under the category of "abnormal psychology."

Histrionic personality disorder is characterized by exaggerated emotional expression and an excessive pursuit of attention from others. It begins no later than early adulthood and can occur in various contexts.

If DSM-5 is used as the diagnostic criteria, the main characteristics are as follows:
1. Feeling uncomfortable when you are not the center of attention for others;

Second, engaging in inappropriate flirtatious behavior when interacting with others (so sometimes the opposite sex may not be interested in you, but simply like doing this).
Third, the expression of emotions changes rapidly but superficially;
Fourth, they habitually use their physical appearance to attract others' attention.

Fifth, the language style is exaggerated, but the content lacks detail;
6. Susceptible to suggestion;
7. Self-dramatization or theatricality in daily life, or exaggerated emotional expression;
8. Believing that one's relationship with others is closer than it actually is.

……

Very few people are so pathological as to meet all of the above criteria.

However, there are still occasional people who meet some of the diagnostic criteria, but not all of them.

From this perspective, although the simplified description of "histrionic personality" is not very professional, it can still be quite efficient in summarizing a person in daily communication.

Even Nan Zhuren didn't reject it during the conversation.

Without violating professional ethics, it's too paternalistic to scrutinize every word of someone else's conversation with such strict professional standards.

Work is work, and life is life.

That round-faced boy, for example, has a strong histrionic personality disorder vibe.

Xia Tian looked thoughtful: "Teacher Nan, why do you think someone would become like this?"

Nan Zhuren thought for a moment: "Maybe it's because of low self-esteem and a desire to prove oneself? Or maybe it's because you don't have many friends and have accumulated too much of a desire to express yourself? Some people even think it might be related to gender. But..."

After a pause, Nan Zhuren shrugged and said indifferently, "It's not important."

Why bother probing so closely when they're not your visitors?

Summer nodded.

Then, the atmosphere froze slightly.

Then Xia Tian sighed, "Professor Nan, today is the last lecture..."

(End of this chapter)