Who would study psychology unless they had some issues?!

This is a characteristic inherent to the cognitive processing system itself—the suppression behavior activates the monitoring process, and the efficient operation of the monitoring process precisely increases the accessibility of the target thought, forming a vicious cycle of "suppression—rebound—stronger suppression—more intense rebound".

Within the framework of [cognitive-behavioral therapy], the core strategy to break this vicious cycle is to abandon active suppression and adopt acceptance and exposure intervention techniques—that is, to allow thoughts to exist but not to react, or to weaken the reaction.

...

Watching Jie Nianzhou as his expression began to gradually change the second he heard me mention [Thought Suppression Paradox].

Nan Zhubin smiled and said, "Is there now a white bear appearing in your head?"

Jie Nianzhou nodded.

"...Yes."

"Then before you entered the consultation room earlier, even during our consultation, have you thought of this white bear?"

"Definitely not."

"Then if I ask you not to think about this white bear now, can you do it?"

Jie Nianzhou shook his head.

He then realized Nan Zhubin’s intention.

"This is quite similar to how I usually use recordings for writing a diary, right?"

Nan Zhubin nodded: "The theoretical basis is the same. The instruction ’don’t think of the white bear’ itself creates the polar bear. When you desperately tell yourself ’do not record’, ’do not review’—essentially, it’s also creating more of a recording and reviewing impulse."

Jie Nianzhou nodded.

But simply knowing this principle isn’t very useful.

It’s like instructing depression patients to "be more optimistic"—just knowing the goal is not enough; a consultant needs to help visitors break the journey to this goal into several stages, while providing specific practical methods for each stage.

Nan Zhubin said: "What we need to do is not eliminate these thoughts. What we need to do is make these thoughts become less important."

Jie Nianzhou took a deep breath: "Then how do you make it less important?"

This is naturally what Nan Zhubin was going to discuss next.

"By taking action." Nan Zhubin said, "But the action is not to forcibly resist—because we’ve tried that, and it didn’t work. So we need to step back—"

Nan Zhubin tapped his temple: "We need to carry these thoughts with us as we do things, gradually adapt to them, coexist with them, and ultimately reduce their impact on you."

Jie Nianzhou first nodded, then paused: "Specifically... what should I do?"

Nan Zhubin smiled and said: "Let’s take it step by step."

Nan Zhubin thought for a moment: "When do you usually get out of bed now?"

"Seven thirty, sometimes eight o’clock. If I don’t go out, I probably won’t record."

Nan Zhubin asked again: "Then when do you usually start recording, doing your diary?"

"Well... It’s hard to say. Sometimes I go out only after turning on the recording switch; sometimes I struggle a bit, but not for long..."

Nan Zhubin nodded: "Good, let’s use eight o’clock as a baseline, assuming you go out at eight twenty."

Nan Zhubin raised a finger: "Starting today, set an alarm for eight twenty, so you can start your daily recorded diary at eight twenty every day, okay?"

Jie Nianzhou was stunned: "Start recording at eight twenty?"

Nan Zhubin nodded: "Yes, and it’s every day. Even if you don’t go out, you still need to start recording at eight twenty. Even if you sleep in, follow this alarm, hit the record button, and then go back to sleep."

Jie Nianzhou was stunned again.

Nan Zhubin explained: "This is a phased, step-by-step goal. And it’s a goal you might achieve at this stage."

Nan Zhubin made a reminiscing gesture.

"You always wanted to get it all done at once, hoping not to record, but it never worked because that goal was too big, something you couldn’t achieve all at once, or even control—this ’loss of control’ is very bad."

"Now, we are not striving to eliminate recording, nor are we deliberately shortening recording time, but rather to control your recording behavior."

"Or—let you control yourself."

This is [behavior structuring] technology commonly used in [cognitive-behavioral therapy], aiming to establish a sense of ’control’ over a behavior when it cannot be immediately eliminated, effectively weakening the anxiety drive behind the behavior.

Jie Nianzhou’s recording behavior is currently driven by ’impulse’—he feels anxiety, then feels compelled to record, and the behavior occurs beyond his will to control. This pattern makes him experience ’loss of control’ each time he records, and the feeling of loss of control is a significant source of anxiety.

By setting a fixed time point, we turn the behavior of ’recording’ from an impulsive, passive act into a planned action actively decided by the visitor. The behavior itself doesn’t change, but its ownership does—now the visitor ’chooses’ to record, instead of being ’forced’ to record.

At the same time, for Jie Nianzhou, who has repeatedly resisted the impulse to record, introducing ’controllable behavior’ can also enhance his sense of self-efficacy, injecting strength into subsequent interventions and laying a foundation.

"Press the record button, then go do what you need to do. Afternoon, evening, everything stays the same." Nan Zhubin gestured pressing something, "Just make the act of ’starting to record’ more regular, rather than being controlled by your inner thoughts."

After a pause, he added: "Of course, if you really feel that recording at a fixed time is worse than now, you can tell me anytime. But for now, let’s at least try it—try it for a week."

Jie Nianzhou was silent for a while.

Then the expression on his face gradually relaxed.

For a visitor troubled by a symptom for a long time, getting a specific measure that he never thought of, yet seems effective—even if only seemingly effective—is nothing short of a ray of light in a dark world.

"You’re right." Jie Nianzhou said, "I’ve always just thought about not recording, or reducing recording time, but never thought about... ’controlling’ a fixed time to record."

Jie Nianzhou made an effort to pronounce the word "control" with special emphasis.

"So we can try first." Nan Zhubin said.

Then Nan Zhubin pulled out a blank A4 paper from his folder.

His pupils slightly unfocused, with [Flow State] overlapping [Memory Palace], the marker pen in his hand began to move on its own.

He soon finished drawing a table on the A4 paper.

Actually, it’s quite simple.

The table had several listed items: [Date], [Start Time], [End Time], [Total Duration], [Others]

"This is a behavior monitoring chart, recording your daily recording situation."

The first four items are easy to understand, Nan Zhubin focused on the last one.

"This [Others], primarily records situations where you don’t record as planned. Write the corresponding reason."

"You can take a photo, go home and make several copies of such a table as homework, one for each day. Bring them next time for consultation, and we’ll discuss your self-control situation together."

The usage principle of the behavior monitoring table originated from [self-monitoring] in [cognitive-behavioral therapy]. It is one of the most basic and widely verified techniques in behavior therapy and cognitive therapy.

The theoretical reason of [self-monitoring] can be traced back to behaviorism psychology. Skinner’s [operant conditioning] theory points out: Behavior, if continuously observed and recorded, will itself change.

Put into practice, it can be understood as its role lies in: transforming vague, pervasive pain into specific, measurable data.

Jie Nianzhou looked down at the table, took out his phone, pressed the photo button, and recorded the table.

"Okay, I’ll try for a week."

Nan Zhubin nodded and looked at the clock on the wall.

"Then we’ll stop here today." Nan Zhubin said, "Same time next week?"

Jie Nianzhou opened his mouth, closed it again, and nodded after a while: "Okay, same time."

He looked up at Nan Zhubin: "I’ll also try to control the time of my consultations."

Nan Zhubin laughed: "Good."

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