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

Chapter 620 Another Method of Collecting "Data"
The ward door reopened.

The nurses were initially surprised by the presence of Team Leader Li, because in theory, younger volunteers could handle routine tasks like checking the supplies list.

But just as Team Leader Li said, he came to visit the sick person on the side.

While the nurses were checking the supplies list, Team Leader Li chatted quietly with the rescue team members who had gradually stopped vomiting.

About five minutes later.

"Teachers, please come in."

Chonghui and Shi Qianqian took the lead, followed closely by the two teachers from the black circle.

The nurse looked at the two teachers with black circles with a wary gaze, then sized up Chonghui and Shi Qianqian.

The nurse said, "I heard you're the senior brothers and sisters of that very talented teacher, Zhu Ren?"

Chonghui and Shi Qian nodded slightly.

I don't think there's anything wrong with describing him as "a very talented teacher."

"Go ahead and do whatever tests you have. But if it's still the same as before..."

The nurse frowned as she looked at the two teachers with black circles around their eyes, the meaning in her eyes was self-evident.

Feeling the undisguised gaze and the undisguised malice in the words, Teacher Heiquan was able to re-enter the ward, but her face turned bright red.

“We won’t speak, we’ll just take notes,” he quickly said.

As long as I can receive the data, I'll be a little shameless; that's a basic quality of a master's student.

He also wanted to see how Chonghui and Shi Qianqian's methods differed from theirs.

Chonghui and Shi Qianqian exchanged a glance, not surprised by the shamelessness of the two people behind them.

However, instead of confronting each other head-on and driving the other away, they seized the opportunity and quickly got to work.

Shi Qianqian opened the folder she was carrying, while Chonghui grabbed a chair and sat down in front of the rescue team members.

……

It's unclear what state this rescue team member was in when Teacher Heiquan first entered, but at this moment, he displayed a strong sense of "defense" towards Chonghui.

It's not just psychological, but also physiological.

Chonghui sighed inwardly.

Judging from the commotion just now, this rescue team member was very cooperative with the data processing work, thanks to the solid foundation laid by Nan Zhuren yesterday.

He and Shi Qianqian chose this place as their first stop today with this in mind, wanting to start the intervention work in the disaster area with an easy and beautiful victory.

Usually, my junior colleague takes over and handles the consultations that others mess up. This time, it's my turn.

However, Chonghui is not afraid of this situation.

The junior's achievements were ruined by others, and as the senior, he should now set things right.

"Hello." Chonghui deliberately glanced at the file in front of him. "Comrade Chen?"

The rescue team member surnamed Chen nodded and looked at Chonghui: "Teacher, what is your surname?"

"My surname is Chong."

“Teacher Chong.” Chen pressed his chest, and as if to change his attention, looked at Chong Hui and smiled, “Teacher Chong is in great shape. I didn’t expect him to be a psychology teacher.”

Chonghui didn't correct Chen's form of address, but continued the conversation with a smile: "I usually like to exercise, but I can't compare to you guys in terms of professionalism. I'm also planning that if things don't go well here, I'll go back and volunteer to help move supplies, so that I can do my part."

Upon hearing this, Chen twitched the corner of his mouth and lowered his hand from his chest.

Chonghui deliberately avoided the topic of psychological counseling at first, and instead established a counseling relationship as if they were in a counseling room.

Behind him, the two members of Professor Ji's group whispered to each other: "Why does this senior brother seem to be heading in the direction of an interview?"

The interview method is one of the main research methods in psychology. It is a method in which researchers collect psychological and behavioral data by having purposeful and direct conversations with respondents. It is essentially a form of social interaction, and can take the form of either a highly flexible "unstructured interview" or a highly standardized "structured interview".

The method that Teacher Heiquan and his colleagues just used is another major research method in psychology: the questionnaire method. This method involves collecting large-scale data by having respondents fill out a written questionnaire consisting of a series of questions. The process is highly standardized.

In comparison, the interview method is more interactive, more flexible, and allows for a more in-depth investigation; the questionnaire method is more standardized and more efficient.

For psychological experiments requiring hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of samples, the questionnaire method is a more commonly used approach. This is because it offers high standardization, resulting in more consistent data and facilitating subsequent analysis and modeling.

Of course, for more rigorous theoretical research, it is necessary to pursue more rigorous methods in a laboratory environment.

However, given the current environment—

Shi Qianqian's ears twitched as she overheard the conversation between the two teachers in the black circle.

She couldn't help but turn around and glare at him: [If you're trying to piggyback on my data, then shut up!]

There's not much need for so many recorders at the scene now, so the purpose of these two people stubbornly staying is self-evident.

……

On the other side, after a brief exchange of pleasantries, Chonghui got down to business.

“The teacher I talked to yesterday is my junior colleague, as you already know,” Chonghui said. “Now I’ll be in charge of this part of the work.”

He first explained why he had come, which also served as a prelude to his description of the other person's condition, reducing the sense of being spied on by Chen, who was secretly exposing his secrets.

As Chonghui spoke, he opened Chen's file, which contained the descriptions that Nan Zhuren had added yesterday. Chonghui had already memorized all of it before he came.

“Based on what my junior brother recorded yesterday, I know you just went through a… not-so-good situation,” Chonghui said. “Anyone would have a hard time with that kind of situation.”

When discussing topics, it's inevitable to touch upon traumatic scenarios.

Chonghui tried to use relatively neutral descriptions, while adding a touch of empathy to prevent a repeat of the disastrous outcome seen with the cunning teacher earlier.

“I would like to add some details based on Teacher Nan’s points.” After a brief moment of empathy, Chonghui quickly got to the point, “For example—after coming back from there, what was the first thing you noticed about yourself, or what feeling in your heart that was different from usual? Any subtle feeling counts.”

After thinking for a moment, Chen swallowed involuntarily.

But he quickly recovered, at least his physical reaction wasn't so severe that he needed to press his hand against his chest to suppress it.

"It's just... I always feel like there's a strange smell around my nose, sometimes it's there and sometimes it's not, especially when it's quiet. I know it might be psychological, but... I just can't help smelling it."

The moment the team member surnamed Chen finished speaking, Shi Qianqian, pen in hand, began scribbling rapidly across the forms in her folder. Her notes went far beyond the simple "unpleasant odor" described by the visitor; they were far more detailed:

Invasive sensory experience: olfaction (illusion/fluctuation).

Triggering scenario: Quiet/solitude.

Self-awareness: partially present ("knowing it's a psychological effect"), but weak sense of control ("can't help but smell it").

Accompanying emotion: Not explicitly stated, but presumably distress/anxiety.

Shi Qianqian used shorthand, but the pen strokes were almost silent, so they wouldn't interfere with Chonghui's conversation.

The black-circle teacher's companion was also taking notes, but noticeably slower. This made the black-circle teacher crane her neck to peek in Shi Qianqian's direction.

—I can't understand it. It's like a doctor's prescription, something only I can understand.

Shi Qianqian didn't even glance at the outstretched neck.

……

Chonghui noticed that Shi Qianqian had started taking notes and nodded slightly in his heart.

Then he looked at Chen, his eyes beginning to fill with the empathy he needed: "Hmm, I understand. That feeling of knowing something is unreal yet still being 'harassed' by it is indeed very annoying and exhausting."

"Besides that, is there anything physically tight or uncomfortable?"

In addition to empathy, Chonghui also used emotional reflection to further build the relationship, while guiding Chen's description to become more specific.

"My stomach... feels a bit blocked, and I don't really want to eat." Chen paused for a moment, then pointed to his upper abdomen. "Also, when I lie down at night, some images flash through my mind... it's... it's about the pit..."

He didn't finish his sentence, but his meaning was clear.

Shi Qianqian's record followed immediately:
Subjective physical sensations: stomach discomfort/loss of appetite.

Accompanied by intrusive memories—visual (flashbacks). Triggered at night/during rest.

Emotional reaction: Speculated to be fear/disgust (requires further confirmation).

"When those smells and images appear, what do you usually do? Do you try not to think about them like you are now, or do you do something else?" Chonghui continued to ask.

"I... I tried to hold my breath and think about other things, but the more I tried not to think about it, the clearer it seemed to become..." Chen's tone was somewhat frustrated.

Shi Qianqian wrote: [The coping strategies are cognitive avoidance and physiological inhibition (breath-holding), but the self-assessment is that the effects are not good.]

“I understand, that feeling is indeed very uncomfortable, like being entangled,” Chonghui continued with empathy.

He then introduced a simple "normalization technique": "Did you know? Our brain has a very important self-protective function, like a super sensitive alarm."

As he spoke, Chonghui tapped his temple: "When it encounters an extremely strong stimulus with a danger signal, like the kind you experienced before—such as a particularly strong or unpleasant smell or a highly impactful image—it may raise the alarm level to the highest level and temporarily 'get stuck' in this state."

Chonghui shrugged: "So, even though the actual danger has passed, your alarm is still going off, making you keep 'smelling' the smell and 'seeing' the images. It's not that there's something wrong with you, but rather that your brain is reminding you in a rather extreme way that it has experienced something very terrible."

After listening to Chonghui's account, Chen remained silent for a moment.

The nurse standing nearby also fell silent for a moment.

After a long pause, Chen, seemingly understanding but not quite, said, "Is...is that so?"

“Of course,” Chonghui quickly added, “This is a physical and mental reaction that science can explain. What we need to do next is work together to find a way to slowly reset this ‘stuck’ alarm.”

Then, Chonghui raised his smile slightly and lowered his voice a little: "Now, if you'd like, we can try to shift our attention away a little from those uncomfortable feelings in our nose and head."

"Let's try to change what we're feeling next. Try doing this with me: Feel your feet, wearing shoes, stepping on the ground. Is it hard or soft? Can you feel the tread pattern on the soles?"

A simple sensory grounding technique.

It's too simple.

But Chonghui's purpose was not healing.

As instructed, Chen tried it, and after a while, his brows relaxed slightly: "The ground... is a bit hard, but it's solid."

Shi Qianqian's brush kept moving: [Observation: The subject can execute sensory grounding commands, attention briefly shifts, and facial muscle tension slightly decreases.]

……

“Very good,” Chonghui encouraged. “Now, try to slowly and deeply inhale through your nose, don’t think about the taste, just feel the sensation of your chest and stomach expanding as you inhale the air… Then, very slowly exhale through your mouth, imagining you are blowing on a cup of hot tea to cool it down, blowing away that stuffy feeling…”

hiss - huh -

The other party did as instructed.

Seeing that Chen did not vomit after taking a deep breath, Chonghui nodded in approval.

Then, Chonghui casually continued, "When you were on site, were you the first to feel this discomfort? Or did you see or hear your teammates react first?"

"No, the first one was Lao Zhang, then Xiao Wang, then the others... I was the last one, and now I'm the one with the mildest symptoms," Chen recalled.

This was an answer that Nan Zhuren had already given, but Chonghui asked it again.

His focus was not on the "degree of odor" but on the "order of vomiting"; this indirect reporting could minimize the other person's traumatic experience.

Shi Qianqian recorded it in real time.

[Symptom trigger: Witnessing a teammate fall into a pit and the subsequent reaction (vomiting, verbal report).]

Transmission pattern: A chain reaction triggered by visual/verbal cues.

It was at this time that Chonghui gradually delved into the most crucial part.

"During that process, was there any moment, scene, or smell that left a particularly strong and deep impression on you?" Chonghui asked.

"It was...it was the smell that was hanging on Lao Zhang's body when he was pulled up...and the smell that was coming up from the pit...an indescribable mixture of smells..." Chen's voice trembled again.

Record: [Specific high-arousal triggering stimuli identified: visual (residue on teammates), olfactory (mixed putrid odor). High intensity.]

Chonghui asked the last question: "Okay, if we rate it on a scale of 1 to 7, with 1 being the weakest and 7 being the strongest—what score would you give the smell you felt back then, and what score would you give it now?"

Team member Chen paused, swallowed hard, and frowned, but still managed to give the answer.

Behind him, the teacher with the black circle stared wide-eyed.

(End of this chapter)