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

Chapter 577 The Guilt-Driven Principle
The visitor nodded matter-of-factly: "I guess you could call it... the rule. Everyone should do their job, do their own thing, not bother others, and not be bothered by others. I think that's the basic work rule."

Excellent! Nan Zhuren was overjoyed.

Another highlight has emerged.

"You seem to have said something similar again." Nan Zhuren became more cautious, his words becoming slightly vague to reduce the confrontational tone of his speech.

The visitor blinked: "Really?"

Nan Zhuren nodded: "'Everyone should do their own job, do their own thing well, don't bother others, and don't be bothered by others'—you said this before."

The visitor thought for a moment, then smiled: "You were listening very attentively."

She leaned back, her mood instantly shifting from her earlier complaints about work to a relaxed state: "So... is there some underlying psychological reason for this?"

Because of the change in the visitor's mood, the atmosphere of the consultation seemed to suddenly become more relaxed and bubbly.

Nan Zhuren's interpretation, however, didn't quite fit the atmosphere: "She sounds very independent, opinionated, and responsible. But at the same time... there seems to be a hint of loneliness in her."

A positive and supportive consultation atmosphere can indeed make everyone, including the counselor, feel relaxed, but the purpose of consultation is not simply to "have a pleasant chat".

At least not in this consultation, and not at this particular stage of the consultation.

Therefore, Nan Zhuren decisively suppressed the atmosphere of the consultation again.

The visitor still had a smile on his lips, but his eyes, which had been curved in a smile, widened again.

Nan Zhuren continued, "Your strong sense of principle, your sense of responsibility, and your somewhat solitary nature are a form of self-protection that you've learned through many experiences over a long period of time, right?"

The visitor's smile faded slightly: "Why do you say that?"

Her mood sombered, but this time she was unguarded. Neither in her physical posture nor in her words.

This is a very good sign for Nan Zhuren, meaning that visitors are not resistant to, and some are even beginning to actively cater to, Nan Zhuren's in-depth exploration.

The time has come.

Nan Zhuren said, "Because people's emotional and behavioral patterns are often not formed out of thin air. They are usually the most effective survival strategies we develop to adapt to a specific environment."

“A strategy that works in a certain environment is then used. Perhaps at that time, that strategy protected you. But when it is used unchanged in your current work and relationships, it may make you feel more lonely, or even… miserable.”

Nan Zhuren looked at the visitor.

……

Nan Zhuren extended the scope of the "deep interpretation" further.

Instead of simply connecting two events from the visitor's past two weeks, we are trying to reach something further back in time.

The visitor blinked: "You think I'm in pain?"

This is the subconscious experience that Nan Zhuren previously interpreted and presented to the client.

Nan Zhuren spoke frankly: "This is what I sensed from your words. What about your own feelings?"

The visitor pursed his lips, forcing a smile: "That's just how work is, there's nothing we can do about it. But..."

She instinctively defended herself, but then her gaze became somewhat fixed.

It was as if there was something in front of her, a subconscious experience that Nan Zhuren was presenting to her.

Then her gaze lowered, and her senses returned to her own body.

"...Maybe it really isn't pleasant," the visitor said, forcing a smile. "After all, I've been complaining to you for so long. I'm genuinely angry that no one is covering for me, and I'm also really angry at how unprofessional the head nurse is. I can accept those things, but..."

The visitor let out a long sigh: "I can accept it, but I still feel uncomfortable."

After she finished speaking, she paused for a moment.

Nan Zhuren is no longer in a hurry to interpret for the client. The meaning of interpretation is to reveal the subconscious, and now the client has already faced her subconscious. She needs more time to try to feel it.

Suddenly, the visitor smiled and said, as if complaining, "But this discomfort comes and goes quickly. I had just forgotten about it, but you brought it up again."

Nan Zhuren's answer this time was very calm: "Because I saw it."

It's short, but powerful.

Nan Zhuren said, "Although you said you 'forgot,' I still saw those emotions in you."

The visitor fell silent again.

After a long pause, she managed to ask, "Did you see anything else?"

Nan Zhuren looked at the visitor's face: "I also noticed that you seem somewhat happy."

One minute they say the visitor is in pain, the next they say the visitor is somewhat happy, which seems contradictory.

But the visitor did not refute it; she was experiencing it.

Nan Zhuren continued to look at the visitor's face.

……

[His gaze averted, looking downwards, but then he would glance back at my reaction very briefly.]

The inner corner of the eyebrow rises upwards, then converges in the middle.

[Contract your body, hunch your shoulders, and shrug.]

[They're all emotions related to sadness... no, more than that, more complex...]

The purpose of this consultation, the "dynamic interpretation," was indeed to heal the client. However, while healing the client, Nan Zhuren was also able to delve deeper into the client's own information based on the attitudes the client displayed during the process.

Right now, as the visitor silently experiences her subconscious, her information is almost forming a torrent that surges towards Nan Zhuren.

The visitor remained silent, and Nan Zhuren's pupils slightly lost focus after seeing the visitor's expression.

In a state of flow, his brain begins to work frantically.

Then, Nan Zhuren unconsciously pursed the corners of his mouth.

He recognized the emotions in the visitor.

Considering Li Lingling's problems, her childhood experiences and background, and the emotions she is currently displaying...

The seemingly isolated information nodes collided and merged in Nan Zhuren's mind, some corners were filled in, and gradually it became complete and clear.

A thread has been connected.

This emotion is—guilt.

"It's less about being happy... and more about feeling relaxed," the visitor suddenly said.

The sound snapped Nan Zhuren out of her brief contemplation. Fortunately, Nan Zhuren had already completed the permutations and combinations and arrived at the answer.

Nan Zhuren began, "You felt uncomfortable at work, but at the same time you also felt relaxed?"

The visitor nodded.

Nan Zhuren deliberately asked, "Is it because you feel relieved that you've saved yourself trouble?"

The visitor shook his head.

Nan Zhuren asked again, his tone probing yet certain: "You feel relieved because you feel the pain itself, right?"

(End of this chapter)