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

Chapter 575 [Interpretation of Dynamics]

[This month's goals have been achieved]

You have one [Psychological Skills Training] session pending.

Inside the Dream Psychological Counseling Room, Nan Zhuren looked at the glowing subtitles on the computer screen and rubbed his palms.

Due to the nature of her work as a nurse, Li Lingling's consultation schedule is not so regular.

Although her direct supervisor, Dr. Hu, also intended to urge her to participate in psychological counseling, due to various objective reasons, the hospital's working hours could not be regularized.

After all, it's a hospital, and you never know when an emergency requiring overtime might arise.

As a result, Li Lingling missed a scheduled consultation.

It has been two weeks since Li Lingling last consulted with a doctor.

According to Li Lingling herself, as relayed from Mo Kai, the consultation last week coincided with a busy period for her, and there were also issues with scheduling conflicts with colleagues, so it had to be canceled.

In this situation, even if Dr. Hu wanted to show favoritism, it wouldn't be very convenient.

Of course, this reason might be some kind of excuse Li Lingling made under the influence of her borderline personality disorder. However, out of a principle of genuine trust in the client, Nan Zhuren took it as the truth.

Fortunately, this week's consultations proceeded as planned. Once Nan Zhuren leaves the dream-based psychological counseling room, he will begin Li Lingling's consultation for the week.

Nan Zhuren breathed a sigh of relief, looked at the glowing computer screen in front of him, and reached out his finger to claim his recent earnings.

You have received [psychological skills training]

[Energy limit +1]

Nan Zhuren's eyes lit up; finally, something good had appeared.

Legend has it that all successful people possess the essential skill of being "full of energy".

The current [Maximum Energy +1] seems to allow Nan Zhuren to have this prototype.

"Looks like I'll have to work really hard this month," Nan Zhuren sighed.

After sighing, Nan Zhuren shook his head with some regret.

So far this month, I've only completed one of my monthly goals.

However, there are objective reasons for all of these.

Before this month, although Nan Zhuren had a lot more free time after finishing her postgraduate entrance exam, she was also assigned to a research group to start working on formal research projects, which consumed a lot of her time.

However, Nan Zhuren did not reject this idea. Bai Qinghua did indeed provide him with a higher platform and more opportunities for consultation.

Therefore, he should naturally give back while profiting. Or rather, he should fulfill his responsibility as Bai Qinghua's disciple.

It is one's duty to worry about one's supervisor's research group.

Objectively speaking, Bai Qinghua wasn't a bad mentor to mediocre students; the project assigned to Nan Zhuren was indeed of the highest quality. Even for a renowned consultant or a professor at a regular university, participating in the compilation and revision of a guidance manual is a highly coveted opportunity.

This is the first point.

Secondly, as the year draws to a close, the number of visitors decreases significantly, either due to holidays or the need to boost performance at the end of the year.

There aren't enough to go around in the company.

Even if Bai Qinghua favors Nan Zhuren, he cannot openly give Nan Zhuren a large number of consultations when others have little work to do.

Anything involving money is never a small matter.

Of course, this problem will be solved soon—after all, the company's other consultants will be on holiday soon too.

Nan Zhuren was already planning to discuss with Bai Qinghua during the holiday that he would stay in the company alone to maintain its operation and have exclusive access to consulting resources while everyone else went home for the holidays.

"I wonder what kind of expression the teacher will have then..."

Nan Zhuren chuckled softly.

He then walked to the bookshelf next to him and took out the transcript of his last consultation with Li Lingling.

Then I sat down at the computer, and a blue light flashed, revealing a consultation video from my first-person perspective.

Then Li Lingling's face appeared on the screen.

【"How old are you?"

"You're still a child, and you're already a counselor?"

Li Lingling's reaction during her first consultation was now right before Nan Zhuren's eyes.

As Nan Zhuren looked down and compared the video recording with the verbatim transcript, she exclaimed from the bottom of her heart, "Upgrading to the [Intermediate] level of the [Memory Palace] is incredibly useful for counseling!"

……

dong dong dong-

The sound of knuckles tapping on the table.

"Senior brother, senior brother."

A soft call rang in her ears, and Nan Zhuren's eyelids snapped open.

The first thing I saw was Mo Kai's face.

"Senior, the client will be arriving in half an hour," the junior counselor reminded him.

Nan Zhuren nodded, patted his face, and then downed the iced Americano that Mo Kai had brought in one gulp.

Refreshing.

"Thank you," Nan Zhuren said politely.

Mo Kai smiled and said that Nan Zhuren was too kind.

Nan Zhuren had instructed Mo Kai to wake her up half an hour early, so that she wouldn't get too engrossed in watching the video in the dream therapy room.

After briefly reviewing the thoughts he had gleaned from his dream, Nan Zhuren picked up his consultation record sheet and began outlining his plan for consulting with Li Lingling that day.

Time flies when you're highly focused.

"Senior brother, the visitors have arrived," Mo Kai quickly came over to remind them.

Nan Zhuren nodded and walked towards the consultation room.

During the wait, his pupils slightly lost focus for a moment as his brain began to think rapidly.

Based on Li Lingling's own behavior, dream analysis, and information gathered from the hospital, it can be basically diagnosed as [borderline personality disorder]. Of course, her situation falls into the relatively good category.

[Based on the key information provided by Dr. Hu, and considering Li Lingling's background as a disaster survivor, the main cause of her problem can be basically determined...]

Recalling their conversation at the hospital not long ago, Nan Zhuren sighed inwardly.

However, he quickly rallied. To have gathered this much background information about the client in just the second consultation—for a psychotherapist, Nan Zhuren's current state can be described in one sentence: He's never fought such a fruitful battle before.

Nan Zhuren calmed down.

at the same time.

dong dong dong-

There was a knock on the door.

Nan Zhuren's gaze returned to focus, snapping out of his contemplative state: "Go."

……

Compared to the previous visitor's indifferent attitude regarding whether the consultation could continue, this visitor showed much more reaction.

This is good news. Regardless of whether the visitor's reaction is good or bad, it means that a therapeutic relationship has indeed been established between the visitor and the therapist.

However, a two-week interval is indeed a bit long.

During the long intervals between sessions, the counselor's inability to maintain contact with the client outside of work due to the nature of their profession can cause clients with borderline personality disorder to experience a strong sense of abandonment.

This sense of abandonment can drive intense anxiety, which, combined with the client's characteristics of significant mood swings and disorganized self-identity, manifests in the following ways:

1. Anger erupts after idealization fades. The client may think, "I thought you would be different from others, but you don't care at all." or "I've had a terrible time lately, and you haven't done anything." and then vent their emotions on the therapist.

Second, over-dependence. The interval between appointments makes clients feel that the connection with the therapist has been severed, creating a huge sense of insecurity. This leads them to be eager to share with the therapist during their second meeting, craving a lot of attention and time.

3. Withdrawal and alienation. After opening up during the first consultation, the client may feel intense shame and fear, and develop the idea that they are afraid of being seen through or swallowed up.

Nan Zhuren observed the visitor's reaction to assess her current condition.

He prepared several contingency plans in advance, intending to adjust them based on the visitor's subsequent reactions.

After the visitor sat down, he began to wrap his arms around himself and rub his sleeves with his fingers.

Her breathing was shallow, her body leaned forward unconsciously, and her gaze would sometimes look at Nan Zhuren and sometimes look away.

Not a word.

at the same time--

[Eyebrows that are raised and converged, with a noticeable upward lift on the inner edges—the "sad eyebrows" look.]

The corners of the mouth turn up, but the muscles around the eyes are not engaged, and the smile is very brief.

Seeing this reaction, Nan Zhuren knew what was going on.

It belongs to a composite state of the second and third situations, and it should be more inclined towards the second situation.

Seeing that the visitor did not intend to speak, Nan Zhuren took the initiative to begin:
"It's been a long time. The last consultation was two weeks ago."

Nan Zhuren slightly widened the curve of her smile to make it appear warm and approachable, and summarized the last consultation: "When we were here last time, we summarized the problems you encountered in your past consultations, and then discussed the dreams that you felt were important. Afterwards, we used simple relaxation hypnosis techniques to help you recall a dream."

“I’m glad you came a second time, which shows that my consultation was indeed helpful to you.”

This is a summary of the last consultation, and it also marks the beginning of a shared recollection.

While maintaining a normal professional distance, it also conveys the message to the visitor: I remember you, our conversation is continuous, and you are important to me.

This can directly combat the visitor's "abandonment anxiety".

Sure enough, as soon as Nan Zhuren said those words, the visitor's expression relaxed, and his wandering gaze began to fix on Nan Zhuren's location.

Nan Zhuren then posed an open-ended question, attempting to deepen the client's involvement in the consultation while assessing their life: "After you went home, did you still think about the content of our last consultation?"

The visitor pursed his lips: "...Your analysis of the dream is indeed quite interesting. But the ideas behind it are nothing special."

Yes, one [defense].

Nan Zhuren continued, "Alright, if you don't have any other thoughts about our consultation, have anything special happened in these two weeks—well, two weeks is quite a long time after all—that made you feel anything special?"

The topic shifted to the visitor's life.

In the second consultation, Nan Zhuren's plan was to further deepen the counseling relationship while shifting the topic to the client's daily life.

Hypnosis and dream interpretation are indeed effective methods for healing the problems of clients. However, overuse can be harmful.

On the contrary, it's not good; this interval needs to be controlled.

From another perspective, the adjustment of this consultation plan is also about absorbing the gains from previous hypnotic dream interpretation and making full use of these gains.

Nan Zhuren now knows a lot of information about his visitors, but this information wasn't provided by the visitors themselves. Nan Zhuren hopes to get the visitors to share it with him voluntarily.

In this process, Nan Zhuren is able to review this information again from the perspective of the client, while further deepening the counseling relationship.

……

After asking the question, Nan Zhuren looked at the visitor with a warm gaze.

The visitor's body was a little stiff. He shifted his position and said, "Nothing special...nothing special feeling...I don't think so."

She spoke monotonously before explaining, "That's just how a nurse's job is, it's always the same. There's a lot to do, it's tiring, and you always feel like you've done a lot. But if you look back, there's basically nothing special, it's all the same, nothing worth talking about."

Another defensive move, but Nan Zhuren chuckled inwardly.

This passage proves Nan Zhuren's previous judgment about the client's reaction to "abandonment anxiety".

Although she was on the defensive, she seemed reluctant to cooperate with Nan Zhuren's consultation.

However, he couldn't help but share his life and reveal information in his words.

The counselor always has a way of getting deeper into the topic. Nan Zhuren said, "You said 'the same old thing,' 'the same old thing.'"

He nodded slightly, making an expression that showed he understood but was also puzzled: "I noticed you used those two words. So, is this 'the same old thing,' this 'monotonous' kind of 'the same old thing,' or is it a kind of 'the same old thing,' or 'monotonous' kind of 'monotonous' with undercurrents?"

The visitors seemed surprised that Nan Zhuren could seize this angle. She chuckled and shook her head.

My body relaxed a little: "A hospital is definitely not a place where everything is calm... so let's just say there are undercurrents. But... I'm used to it, that's how a nurse's job is."

Upon hearing this, Nan Zhuren followed up immediately: "It sounds like this 'undercurrent' is normal for you? To the point that you've become accustomed to everyday things that would normally evoke some negative emotions?"

The visitor nodded.

Nan Zhuren frowned slightly: "This habit sounds more like 'numbness'."

From facial expressions to verbal communication, there is a great deal of empathy.

The visitor pursed his lips, seemingly experiencing some negative feelings about work again during the consultation.

But the corners of her pursed lips curled up briefly, as if she was pleased that Nan Zhuren was able to describe her feelings.

This is Nan Zhuren's main counseling strategy for the client today—[Dynamic Interpretation].

(End of this chapter)