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

Chapter 562 A Lucid Dream, Enhancing Memory

Clearly, dream interpretation is a very interesting thing for visitors.

The visitor said, "I've discussed dreams with Lao Liu before, but he's not good at it, so he couldn't give me a clear answer."

She looked excited and continued, "Just a couple of days ago, I had a dream. In the dream, there were two snakes, one white and one black."

It's very brief.

After he finished speaking, the visitor stopped and looked at Nan Zhuren.

Nan Zhuren then tilted his head forward slightly and asked, "Anything else?"

The visitor shook his head and said, "That's all, that's all I remember—is that not okay?"

Nan Zhuren shook his head and said, "It's really not good; there's too little information."

Before the visitor could show his disappointment, Nan Zhuren explained, "We may have heard similar interpretations of dreams from various places before, such as 'Zhou Gong's Dream Interpretation.' But professional dream interpretation in psychological counseling is different from these."

"It's not like a psychological test where you can know a person's underlying personality just by listening to their dream."

“Analyzing dreams requires combining the dreamer’s personal characteristics with the baseline of their recent life to analyze the dreamer’s overlooked personal state and physical fluctuations.”

Nan Zhuren explained the principles of dream interpretation.

He also had a deliberate purpose in saying this—by proactively explaining the limitations of dream interpretation, he aimed to lower the guard of the client, whose current counseling relationship was not yet stable, and weaken the sense of "voyeurism" that dream interpretation posed to them.

In this way, we try to guide the purpose of the visitor in sharing their dreams from "trying something new" to "sharing the self"—or at least "sharing a part of the self".

This allows Nan Zhuren to achieve his goal of analyzing the visitors.

Nan Zhuren said with great familiarity, "For example, your dream of 'the white snake and the black snake' has many possibilities."

"First, in classic imagery, 'snake' and 'sex' have a very direct contrasting relationship."

At this point, Nan Zhuren shrugged, and the visitor smiled in agreement.

Dream interpretation is also a classic technique of the psychoanalytic school. Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, had very radical early ideas.

In Freud's early theories, most of a person's problems—or even "all" of them—stemmed from the inability to release repressed sexual impulses in the unconscious.

In today's terms, it's a kind of oppressive display.

From this perspective, Freud's ideas can be said to have been "ahead" of the world by nearly two hundred years...

However, Freud himself later modified and supplemented this one-sided theory. As a psychology professional, it's fine to treat the phrase "all problems are just a form of repression" as a joke; taking it seriously would be unprofessional.

Moving on from that point, Nan Zhuren continued:

"Second, it's possible that you saw snakes in the lab, on TV, or in books during the day, or even just heard the word 'snake' from someone else. That could also mean you dreamed about snakes; this is a form of reality projection."

"Third, it's possible that during the time you were dreaming, you wanted to go to the zoo to see snakes or go to an exotic pet store to play with snakes. If you enter the dream with this kind of expectation, you may dream of snakes. This is called 'expectation projection'."

"Fourth, it's also possible that you saw elements of 'long stripes,' 'white,' and 'black' during the day, and felt a certain degree of anxiety and fear before falling asleep. These related elements merged into the image of two snakes in your dream, which is [abstract information recombination]."

"Fifth, or perhaps it's some deeper issue. Maybe you were attacked by a snake before? And your recent environment gave you a similar feeling, so you had a [scene recall] in your dream."

Nan Zhuren concluded: "In short, there are many possible reasons why you dreamed of these two snakes."

It is far too arbitrary to draw conclusions based on a single element heard in a dream.

Therefore, if someone says they dreamed of having horns on their head and then believe they have the appearance of a Qilin (a mythical creature) and will become emperor—don't pay any attention to them.

Unless he said it intentionally, that's a different story. You could beat him up if necessary, or report him if it gets serious.

……

After listening to the series of possibilities listed by Nan Zhuren...

Although these words did not answer the visitor's questions, the hints of disappointment and contempt that had been creeping onto the visitor's face disappeared.

“These are things that Lao Liu never told me before.” The visitor nodded slightly. “He just told me directly that he couldn’t explain it, without explaining why.”

The visitors began to realize that although Nan Zhuren was young, he was indeed quite capable.

Without realizing it, their attitude towards consulting gradually became more serious.

The consultation relationship has been improved.

Nan Zhuren nodded slightly in his heart and smiled, "Do you have any other more detailed dreams, or dreams that you are particularly concerned about?"

“Other, more detailed, more concerning dreams…” The visitor subconsciously repeated this phrase, beginning to mutter to himself.

After two breaths, the visitor looked up.

Her tone was somewhat hesitant: "I... do have a dream that I care about a lot, and I may have even had similar dreams many times."

“'I’ve had similar dreams many times,'” Nan Zhuren repeated. “When was the last time you had this dream?”

The visitor pursed his lips: "I did it several times last month, and the last time... it's been about a month since then."

Nan Zhuren created a rough timeline in his mind.

If it's a month—that is, after the medical dispute, and she had already established a close relationship with Liu Jiahang for some time.

"When you last had this dream, what happened in the days immediately preceding it? Can you still remember clearly?" Nan Zhuren asked again.

"That day must have been right after my date with Lao Liu... or maybe the next day," the visitor said directly. "We spent the night together that time."

okay.

Nan Zhuren nodded.

Then I tried to get to the point: "What was the content of the dream like?"

The visitor frowned. This dream was clearly more concerning to her than the dream of the two snakes she had mentioned at the beginning.

Therefore, her expression was very serious.

But even with such seriousness, the visitor spoke haltingly: "Hmm...hmm? If I try to think about it now, I can't remember it at all."

"I just remember there was something... uh, a hospital, a corridor, a train..."

The visitor made a very earnest expression, but after a long while shook his head: "I...can't remember."

Based on the information the visitor has recalled so far, not to mention the details of the dream, even most of the elements of the dream cannot be pieced together.

This obviously makes it impossible to interpret dreams.

But this is actually normal. After a person wakes up, their memory of the dream quickly becomes blurred, and often they only have a vague "feeling," just like the visitor said, "I've had many similar dreams."

Even though I've forgotten the content of the dream, I can still tell that it's "similar" to dreams I've forgotten before.

Nan Zhuren's counseling instincts told him that this dream would be crucial, and he didn't want to miss this key point just because the client's memory was hazy.

He glanced at the wall clock. Without taking up time for the next consultation, they only had about half an hour left for their consultation today.

Not long, but not short either.

That's enough to make a rather bold attempt.

Nan Zhuren said in a tentative yet guiding tone, "Perhaps we can do a simple psychological relaxation exercise, which might help you recall?"

The visitor showed interest upon hearing this. Based on Nan Zhuren's previous analyses of the two snake dreams, she was now more willing to cooperate with Nan Zhuren's other professional skills.

The visitor asked, "How do I do it?"

Nan Zhuren pointed to the two-seater sofa where the visitor was sitting: "First, lie down and find a comfortable position."

The visitor chose a two-seater sofa when they arrived.

Upon hearing "lie down," the visitor raised an eyebrow.

However, I did as instructed.

Nan Zhuren nodded, adjusting his tone to make his voice sound low and deep.

He then said, "Okay, now, close your eyes and tense your body. You can adjust your hands, feet, and torso to get your muscles in the most relaxed position."

"Now, I want you to follow my rhythm and start taking deep breaths."

"Inhale longer and more gently; exhale faster and more forcefully."

"Inhale—, exhale, inhale—, exhale, inhale—"

"Very good. Now exhale more gently and slowly, but still maintain a faster pace than your inhalation."

"Inhale—, exhale… inhale—, exhale…"

Nan Zhuren observed the visitor's condition.

"Now, let your attention follow my guidance and feel the changes in your body."

"First, the arms..."

For both clients and therapists undergoing their first consultation, using relaxation techniques directly at this stage is quite risky.

Even if Nan Zhuren unconsciously added "emotional soothing" to his voice, it wouldn't make a difference.

Given the current consultation relationship, it might take at least ten minutes just to get the other person completely relaxed.

If you want to achieve the level of "helping to recall dream details" that Nan Zhuren mentioned, you may not be able to succeed until the end of the consultation.

but--

Nan Zhuren glanced at the wall clock. In the limited time available, laying the groundwork was probably enough.

"Okay, now, pay attention to your ears."

Nan Zhuren suddenly said, "I will count to three, and then you will hear a snap of your fingers; after the snap, you can try to recall your dream."

"3-2-1-"

Nan Zhuren's middle finger pressed against his thumb.

"--Snapped."

The visitor suddenly caught his breath.

Then it became long.

……

hiss - huh -

hiss - huh -

Nan Zhuren quietly watched the visitor, observing the relaxed shoulders and legs, and the trembling eyelids beneath the tightly closed eyes.

Like a real sleeper dreaming.

Nan Zhuren nodded slightly in his heart; the hypnotherapy he had initiated this time was clearly successful.

By engaging in prior dialogue to gain the visitor's consent and cooperation, and then providing relaxation training and emotional reassurance as a foundation, the visitor can be encouraged to cooperate.

The only problem is the time constraint and the not-yet-close enough counseling relationship.

However, once the skill is activated, the subsequent minor issues are no longer a problem.

According to Nan Zhuren's estimation, the visitor's current state is not yet a state of "deep hypnosis," but only "shallow hypnosis."

If you want to explore something deeper, you might need another ten minutes or even half an hour of guided conversation.

But, as far as recalling the dream is concerned, it is enough.

"Li Lingling, can you hear me?" Nan Zhuren whispered.

The visitor's eyelids twitched.

"Can……"

Although she appeared to be asleep, she was still able to communicate with Nan Zhuren.

Hypnosis is not sleep. Clinical researchers have specifically explored this phenomenon and found that in a hypnotic state, the activity of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for logical analysis, decreases, while the activity of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for emotion and introspection, increases.

This means that the visitor will enter a special "neural dissociation" state, making them more receptive to instructions and suggestions.

At the same time, the activity of the default mode network brain regions, including the posterior cingulate cortex, precuneus, medial prefrontal cortex, inferior parietal lobule, and bilateral temporal cortex, is also enhanced in the visitor's brain.

This part of the brain is suppressed when performing challenging cognitive tasks during normal times, but it becomes active during rest, performing tasks of recall and thinking.

This can explain the two behaviors of the client in a hypnotic state from the perspective of neural mechanisms:

First, under hypnosis, the client's attention will not be scattered, but will instead become more focused.

Second, under hypnosis, the client can recall many things that were previously forgotten.

These are all things that Nan Zhuren needs right now.

Nan Zhuren took a deep breath, making his tone even more steady.

"Okay, about that dream you wanted to share with me before, do you remember anything now?"

“…Yes,” the visitor said. “That dream now feels like…a movie…playing in front of me again.”

Nan Zhuren slightly curled the corners of her lips and gently guided, "Okay, let's try to pull the play button back to where it started."

The counselor adjusted their wording according to the client's description.

"Let's start playing this movie from the beginning. Tell me what you see, okay?"

"it is good……"

Nan Zhuren glanced at the visitor's face and body, memorizing his current state: "Now, let's begin playing."

In the quiet consultation room, a "click" seemed to echo.

The visitor's eyelids began to twitch violently.

"Uh...I saw it..."

(End of this chapter)