Who would study psychology unless they had some issues?!-Chapter 94 - 93 Drawing

Li Minglu’s smile was not a stiff, polite smile that only pulls at the corners of his mouth, but a very natural one that engaged the entire face, including the eyebrows and eyes.

Quite natural.

However, despite his efforts to mimic as many features of a "smile" as possible, there were still some shortcomings in certain details.

For example, deep within the eyes.

If it weren’t for Nan Zhubin’s skill in Micro-expression Analysis, he might have been fooled.

Could it be that it was because of this kind of "smile performance ability" that he was allowed the referral and even managed to deceive Jiang University’s professional team to transfer to Yan Nuo’s nascent consultation center?

Nan Zhubin frowned slightly in his heart, but kept a gentle smile on his face: "My name is Nan Zhubin, you can call me Mr. Nan."

The visitor was also smiling: "Hello Mr. Nan, my name is Li Minglu."

It seemed to be a contest between masters of expression management.

...

Using a smile to conceal real issues is also a kind of defense.

Considering this visitor’s situation, it might even be an extremely strong defense.

Now I just hope this kind of defense is only in his daily life, and not in the consultation. Otherwise, Nan Zhubin might have to spend several sessions tackling this issue.

Nan Zhubin straightened his expression and continued with the opening aimed at relaxing the visitor’s spirit.

"I’m sorry for taking up so much time earlier to complete those scales."

"...I understand." Li Minglu smiled, as if he was the one comforting Nan Zhubin.

"When I did consultations before, I also spent a lot of time on these things. I can understand their role... I also know that after coming to you, Mr. Nan, these are necessary."

After speaking, Li Minglu hesitated for a moment: "Mr. Nan, you look very young. May I ask your age?"

"I’m 24 this year."

Nan Zhubin observed the other person’s expression.

Longing? Envy?

"...You became a psychological consultant at 24, that’s wonderful..." Li Minglu said.

Nan Zhubin smiled and moved on to the consultation topic.

First, the consultation plan.

"Today is our first consultation, so I’ll need to understand you from multiple perspectives. In addition to your past feelings about yourself, I also need to learn about your general interactions with previous psychologists and psychological consultants, okay?"

Unlike previous sessions where he led the conversation, this time Nan Zhubin explained the process very thoroughly.

On one hand, this visitor had seriously undergone long-term drug treatment and consultation interventions and was quite familiar with the consultation process; at times like these, leaving things mysterious or hidden could backfire and damage the consultation relationship.

At the same time, when dealing with depression, Nan Zhubin wanted to increase the visitor’s sense of participation and even control in the consultation as much as possible.

This is also part of the consultation.

Li Minglu maintained a smile, inadvertently pursing his lips: "...Okay."

"The material says that you proactively sought a hospital diagnosis and treatment the first time. Can you tell me what feelings led you to do that?"

"...Okay."

Li Minglu fell silent.

Of course, Li Minglu had always been very silent.

But his previous silence was masked.

At this moment, the smile on his face slowly faded, revealing a numbness quite familiar to Nan Zhubin, like a statue.

Only the occasional tremor of his eyes indicated he seemed to be lost in memory and thought.

If the previous Li Minglu was a piece of quiet wood, standing unobtrusively in the corner; now, this piece of wood seemed to begin slowly seeping black liquid, even starting to stain the surrounding environment, instead drawing attention.

This state actually made Nan Zhubin feel relieved inside.

The defense has been lowered.

His defensive state was aimed at life, not at consultation, so much effort can be saved later.

It makes sense, anyhow, a visitor proactively seeking help wouldn’t be over-defensive in the consultation.

Li Minglu thought while slowly speaking:

"...The first time I saw a doctor was probably a year and a half ago."

"...I’m a painter, my painting style... is rather gloomy, and this style seems very popular, so I’ve always painted that."

"At first, I only felt uncomfortable at night, very uncomfortable. I thought it was nothing, because it’s common in my line of work, sometimes needing some negative feelings to stimulate inspiration." freewёbnoνel.com

"But after a long period, one day I suddenly felt extremely uncomfortable. I suddenly threw down my paintbrush, curled up in a corner, shivering, shaking and then rolling, rolling and mixing with all kinds of paint."

Li Minglu pursed his lips: "I felt out of control at that time."

Depressive episode? Also sounds a bit like a panic attack.

"It was also during that time, I couldn’t sleep, couldn’t eat, couldn’t concentrate while painting, and got tired after barely doing anything."

Sleep disorders, appetite changes, reduced energy, thinking ability... decline?

Nan Zhubin said nothing, simply compared Li Minglu’s statements to the symptoms of depression, diagnosing his episode severity.

According to the ICD-10 (International Classification of Diseases) standards, at least four additional symptoms meet the criteria, and the duration was long... not sure how many core symptoms there are.

"After that episode, I lost interest in painting too..."

When Li Minglu spoke, his eyes kept fixed on one point, he was narrating and sorrowful.

"I only like to paint, and have always liked to paint. But after that, when I picked up the paintbrush, my mind was blank, I couldn’t find joy in painting anymore."

"But I have to paint, because it’s my job, so I forced myself to use some very routine methods to outline those lines, it’s really tedious, just to complete the work..."

At this point, Li Minglu paused in silence.

Nan Zhubin, having empathized and trying to understand the other’s train of thought, prompted gently: "But you don’t like painting this way?"

"No, I don’t like it."

Li Minglu nodded.

Nodding was the first movement he made during this long narration.

"So later, every time I touched the brush, my whole body stiffened, and my mind went blank."

Losing enjoyment in life — the most crucial core symptom.

"I knew something was wrong, so I went to seek a psychologist."

Nan Zhubin glanced down: "Did you go to the Jiangdu University Affiliated Hospital’s psychiatric department?"

"Yes."

The sourc𝗲 of this content is free(w)𝒆bnov(𝒆)l