Who would study psychology unless they had some issues?!-Chapter 661 - 595: Gradually Returning to Reality

When an individual’s sense of self-worth collapses, helping them connect to "positive resources" such as their professional abilities or past successful experiences can effectively counteract pervasive feelings of helplessness and self-denial.

After waiting for a while, Nan Zhubin spoke again.

His voice remained calm: "When I was on my way here, I heard from your colleagues about what’s been happening around you lately."

Li Lingling’s gaze shifted back from the window.

"I heard you had an argument with a patient," Nan Zhubin said succinctly, detached from the storyline, "Your superior had a talk with you about it, and then you began working tirelessly until you collapsed from exhaustion."

At this point, Nan Zhubin gestured with his hands towards Li Lingling’s current state.

"You think that argument, or the situation related to it, was a ’failure’. So you punished your ’failure’ with overwork beyond your limits."

He made a helpless smile, then paused for a moment.

Li Lingling lowered her head, pressing her lips together.

"...Yes." She forced out a word after a long pause.

Though brief, it was effective.

Li Lingling finally opened up. Her voice was dry and weak but had a basic coherence.

"At the time... a patient was carried over by firefighters, I helped lift the stretcher, but I wasn’t strong enough, there were bumps... the patient felt uncomfortable."

"Then, when I was giving him an injection, I panicked and missed twice before getting it right... the patient felt uncomfortable, and I thought it was my fault with the injection."

"Later, I was sent to see a little girl... her mother was a pregnant woman I had helped before; I did a reasonably good job that time..."

Upon saying this, Li Lingling choked up: "But... the patient I missed twice with the needle, her wife later shouted outside... I lost control, and then scared the little girl and her mother..."

The visitor said a lot.

But these were not the main point, Nan Zhubin just needed the visitor to bring richness to the story’s background.

Nan Zhubin asked: "Are these what you consider ’failures’?"

"...Yes." The visitor nodded.

Nan Zhubin said: "What does that feeling of ’failure’ feel like in the body?"

The specifics of the event are not important for the current conversation.

At this moment, the conversation should not dwell on the right or wrong of events but guide the visitor to become aware of and describe the accompanying physical experience of emotions.

This is to materialize the abstract feelings and bring the visitor’s awareness back to bodily sensations. This is both an evaluation and a continued anchoring.

Upon hearing Nan Zhubin’s question, Li Lingling’s lips moved slightly.

Then she lowered her eyes, her eyelashes gently fluttering from time to time. It seemed like a memory but also a sensation.

After a while, Li Lingling softly uttered almost inaudibly: "... Cold... very cold..."

Excellent.

Nan Zhubin seized on the key point and delved deeper: "Cold. Where is the sensation most pronounced?"

Li Lingling remained silent for a longer period than before, then said, "... hands... and... in the stomach... like ice..." 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Nan Zhubin nodded: "Mm, hands and stomach, like being soaked in water... no, more like being frozen."

First, a repetition.

Nan Zhubin continued: "Aside from the cold, are there other sensations? Like weight, or shape?"

This is a technique of specifying and exploring metaphors, guiding the visitor to detailed descriptions of bodily sensations, using specific descriptors like "weight" and "shape" to express feelings that are hard to articulate.

Li Lingling’s breath became rapid, the blanket covering her rising and falling.

She said: "There is... very heavy... like being pressed by a stone, I feel immobilized."

Nan Zhubin nodded: "A cold, heavy stone pressing on the stomach, making you feel unable to move."

Once more, he repeated Li Lingling’s descriptions, allowing her to feel her experiences were accurately received and understood.

Li Lingling softly closed her eyes, as if in acquiescence or fatigue.

The conversation had entered the critical part of the consultation.

"Is the stone still there now?" Nan Zhubin asked.

"...Yes." Li Lingling replied.

"How does it feel now compared to when it first appeared? Is it lighter or heavier, or unchanged?" Nan Zhubin asked again.

Li Lingling paused two breaths, then said: "Maybe lighter... but maybe not much change, I’m not sure."

Nan Zhubin nodded: "Good."

He lowered his voice, speaking lightly and slowly: "For now, we don’t need to remove that stone."

"I just invite you, once more, to feel the support of the pillow against your back—"

Nan Zhubin reached out to touch Li Lingling’s pillow.

"And the warmth of the blanket—"

Nan Zhubin pointed to the blanket covering Li Lingling.

"Allow these sensations—the cold stone and the warm support—to coexist."

Instantly eradicating negative feelings is impossible to achieve.

Nan Zhubin’s aim is to guide her to realize that safe, supportive feelings can coexist with painful ones, thus expanding her emotional resilience window.

Li Lingling closed her eyes on command, and her breathing seemed a bit deeper.

After a while, she answered, "...I can."

Nan Zhubin nodded internally, acknowledging Li Lingling’s high level of cooperation in the consultation.

He continued: "Great. Next, while maintaining the sensations of the ’cold stone’ and the ’warm support,’ let’s try to recall—"

His tone became even lower and steadier: "—In your memory, as a nurse, have your hands ever felt... steady and precise during an operation?"

Nan Zhubin encouraged: "It doesn’t have to be a big event, any moment will do."

The topic now shifted to Li Lingling’s professional competence and successful experiences, initiating key resource-oriented questions to activate positive body memories and identity recognition.

Li Lingling was momentarily dazed, a hint of confusion in her eyes.

Then... slowly, a glimmer appeared.

She lowered her head, looking at the hands that had once held needles, now resting powerlessly on the blanket.

Li Lingling’s voice remained hoarse, but there was a slight fluctuation: "Yes..."

"When I first came in, I gave an injection to a child... he was very scared. I, I talked to him while giving the shot... he didn’t cry."

Nan Zhubin nodded emphatically with exaggerated force.

The fluctuation in his tone remained unchanged: "Was it something that happened when you first became a nurse? It indeed is a very memorable experience."

Nan Zhubin said: "You talked to him while giving the shot, and he didn’t cry—at that moment, how did your hands feel?"

Nan Zhubin’s eyes were tightly fixed on Li Lingling’s response.

He saw a slight contraction on the blanket, a change that occurs only when hands clench or rub.

Very good.

Then he heard Li Lingling say: "At that time... my hands were steady. Because I practiced many times, I wasn’t nervous at all... I knew it would be successful."

Nan Zhubin tenaciously continued repeating: "Very steady, and you knew it would succeed."

He suddenly asked: "Can you still feel that ’steady’ sensation now?"

Li Lingling was startled, her fingers under the blanket stopped moving.

Nan Zhubin said: "Can you feel it? Even just a little bit—it might be at your fingertips or in your palm."

In this conversation, using the technique of "invoking past successful experiences to counter current failures" is common in everyday dialogues as a way to comfort friends.

But when applied in consultation, its natural usage is more deliberate.

Besides the gradual rhythm of conversation, the consultant also guides the visitor to specify and amplify the positive physical sensations, using it as an internal power source.

Li Lingling’s palm on the blanket moved again.