Who would study psychology unless they had some issues?!

"In future encounters with such situations, it’s better to prioritize your own safety." Director He advised.

No matter what Nan Zhubin thought in his heart, in this setting, facing advice from a superior who was also an elder, he nodded agreeably on the surface.

"Alright, you’ve been doing consultations during this period, you must have handled quite a number of patients." After some simple pleasantries, Director He got to the main point.

"Are there any issues with the consultations?" Director He asked directly.

"No." Nan Zhubin replied succinctly.

"..." Director He was silent for two seconds.

Looking at the young face in front of her, she felt that the other party wasn’t as articulate.

When a leader within the system asks about difficulties in your work, you say there are none—who are you trying to make uneasy?

"Uh, hmm, you have considerable consultation experience, generally speaking, you should be able to handle typical patients well, right?"

"Well, maybe there aren’t major problems, but have you not encountered minor issues either?"

For some reason, Director He felt as though she was now guiding the patient.

"Minor issues?" Nan Zhubin slightly furrowed his brow, falling into contemplation.

One breath, two breaths, three breaths...

"Ahem, how many long-term cases are you following currently?" Director He couldn’t help but ask.

Having long-term exchanges with the psychological therapists under her, Director He also developed a semi-structured conversation process. As Nan Zhubin remained silent, she couldn’t help but begin guiding according to her process.

"Three." Nan Zhubin said, "Two are on short-term adaptation issues, one is on long-term Obsessive Compulsive Disorder."

"Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, hmm, not a simple issue." Director He naturally grasped this keyword, "Let’s talk about this patient, what’s their name, I’ll pull up their records."

Nan Zhubin gave Jie Nianzhou’s name, naturally without having to keep it confidential from Director He.

The sound of the keyboard followed, and Jie Nianzhou’s file quickly appeared on the computer screen. Director He’s brow slightly furrowed, then relaxed.

Director He asked, "How many consultations have you done with this patient?"

"Twice, just finished the second one this morning."

Director He quickly browsed through Jie Nianzhou’s consultation report, which was a simple one filled out by Nan Zhubin after each consultation and submitted.

Then she looked up and asked, "What do you think the intervention focus for this patient is?"

For Director He, this question was adaptable to many situations.

"The intervention focus for the patient," no matter how the subordinate therapist answers it, Director He can always provide broader and deeper insights based on her decades more of medical experience. This is founded on her professional ability.

At worst, there are differences in direction caused by differences in schools of thought.

In any case, however things stand, Director He can provide a bit of guidance.

Director He looked at Nan Zhubin, waiting for him to think.

But Nan Zhubin answered quickly, seemingly already very familiar with this case.

Nan Zhubin didn’t immediately answer. His gaze fell on the white wall opposite as if organizing his thoughts, two or three breaths later, he spoke.

"This visitor’s symptoms are very typical—repeated aggressive Obsessive Thoughts, and recording and review behaviors generated to alleviate anxiety."

"His illness hasn’t lasted long, less than a year, and he has good insight, knowing his behavior is unreasonable, with a strong motivation to seek help."

"Adding these factors together, looking only at the symptomatic level, his prognosis should be quite good."

Director He listened while nodding slightly in her mind.

"But behind his symptoms, there are deeper issues."

Nan Zhubin continued, "Based on the information gathered during these two consultations, it appears he has long been in an environment within his original family where ’emotional expression is not accepted’. His father’s method of handling things is a sort of dictatorial denial and punishment, while his mother’s response is excessive anxiety and reverse dependence."

"This formed in him an emotional suppression type of Internalization. He learned growing up that negative emotional expression not only fails to receive comfort but instead causes his parents anxiety or anger, and calming his parents’ emotions became his task."

"Over time, he developed an irrational belief similar to ’his own feelings are unimportant, but he cannot let his feelings affect others’. This belief was continually reinforced throughout his later life—especially in the mentor relationship, he also remained in a position of ’giving more, receiving less, and not daring to express’."

"So on the surface his obsessive symptoms are ’fear of harming others’, but from a deeper perspective—"

Nan Zhubin composed his wording: "What he truly fears is being judged as ’wrong’. He needs to repeatedly confirm through recordings and reviews that he hasn’t done anything wrong, because in his experience, being judged as wrong is scarier than any actual harm."

Director He’s brow slightly moved.

Nan Zhubin continued: "For the visitor’s current situation, I want to divide his intervention into three stages."

"The first stage has already started—the focus is Behavior Structuring."

Director He’s thinking instinctively followed Nan Zhubin’s path.

"Specifically, I set a fixed time for him—8:20 every morning to start recording, instead of being driven impulsively by anxiety as before. The goal is not to eliminate the recording behavior, but to transform the ’recording’ act from a passive, anxiety-driven state into an actively decided, regular planned behavior by him."

"After completing this step, I plan to try Cognitive Reconstruction in the second stage."

"This stage mainly focuses on his core irrational beliefs—for example, ’my own feelings are unimportant’ and ’I must be responsible for others’ feelings’."

"This stage will use Socratic questioning and cognitive re-evaluation to let him see the irrationality of these beliefs himself."

Nan Zhubin paused.

Then continued: "After Cognitive Reconstruction is completed, I plan to proceed to the third stage—Exposure and Response Prevention."

"This stage aims to gradually extend the wait time before recording once he has a sense of control over the recording, allowing him to experience the fact that ’not acting immediately doesn’t lead to disaster’."

"Based on his level of acceptance, starting from five minutes, gradually increasing to half an hour, one hour, with the ultimate goal being to let him feel safe without recording at all during the day."

After saying this lengthy portion, Nan Zhubin took a deep breath.

Though it seems like a lot when presented in text, it actually doesn’t take long to express.

Director He absorbed it quickly.

She seemed to want to pick something from it for guidance.

But, words failed to be uttered, and uttering also seemed to fail.

In the end, she simply said: "What school of thought do you belong to?"

"For this case, I plan to focus on Cognitive Behavior. After all, his overt behavioral symptoms are quite prominent, using Cognitive Behavior ensures better short-term state improvement while accommodating long-term efficacy."

"Of course, since the visitor has issues related to his original family, I might also incorporate dynamic parts; if there are unfinished events, narrative might be involved too."

"But all this is too early to say, specifically we need to first observe his performance in the first stage."

Nan Zhubin spoke frankly, then asked: "Teacher He, what school of thought do you belong to?"

"...I haven’t been consulting on the front line for a long time, my current work mainly involves outpatient services and training."

"...For training, it’s primarily CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy)." Director He said.

Nan Zhubin nodded: "Then what do you think of my intervention plan?"

"..." Director He blinked.

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