Who would study psychology unless they had some issues?!-Chapter 385 - 378 Healing from Harm

Teacher Xiao Zhao’s current attitude is the best example of "why consultants cannot conduct psychological consultation for family members, friends, and others who have dual relationships."

But this is an unavoidable matter.

Nan Zhubin didn’t say much, just hinted, hoping that Teacher Xiao Zhao would pay more attention in the future.

Bringing the topic back: "Let’s continue discussing Zhang Zihao’s issue."

"First, I want to clarify one point—Zhang Zihao’s behavior does indeed easily provoke disgust, but he is also the real victim in this incident, and the root of all harm is Wang Rui."

"Whether he was forced by Wang Rui to transform from passive to active; or because having Wang Rui as an opportunity, his nature of bullying others was stimulated."

"We must wholeheartedly intervene with him. It’s just that different intervention plans will be given based on the underlying logic of his problems."

"On this point, Teacher Xiao Zhao, when you were doing case studies during your undergraduate years, you should have encountered situations where you ’rejected personally on moral grounds, but needed to accommodate professionally,’ right?"

Teacher Xiao Zhao nodded.

After Nan Zhubin’s reminder, she also began to see things more clearly.

Nan Zhubin suddenly sighed: "Today’s [Group Counseling] actually had two unexpected incidents."

Teacher Xiao Zhao looked over in confusion.

"Although these two incidents had positive impacts on the group counseling," explained Nan Zhubin, "they did disrupt my plans to a certain extent, forcing me to adjust the group counseling process."

But I thought your group counseling went quite smoothly.

Teacher Xiao Zhao thought—although indeed, there were some parts she didn’t understand, Nan Zhubin didn’t show any signs of the unexpected throughout the group counseling.

Always advancing the process with composure.

Teacher Xiao Zhao even thought it was a "perfect group counseling."

"The first unexpected thing was that Lin Junkai voluntarily mentioned the criminal consequences of Wang Rui."

Nan Zhubin said: "Originally, I intended to wait until the [Stanford Prison Experiment] and [Emotion Spectrum] allowed the students to grow sufficiently, then use this news as a [cognitive shock] to finally reinforce their growth."

"Of course, hearing it from Lin Junkai might have a better impact than if it came from me—so it’s not a bad thing, at most, it’s just one small element that got removed last minute."

In all psychological interventions, including group counseling, minor unexpected incidents often happen, and mental health practitioners need to learn to adapt on the fly based on the situation.

Take Nan Zhubin, for instance; he often discovers unanticipated breakthroughs during psychological consultation; at such times, he decisively abandons the original consultation plan, aiming directly at that breakthrough and pushing forward.

"Another unexpected thing was that I originally had a [role-playing] session planned."

Nan Zhubin nodded: "It was initially scheduled for the end of the group counseling after Zhang Zihao and other students in need of cognitive correction were completely involved in the group atmosphere."

"I intended for them to play the [prisoner], and then have Lin Junkai, or possibly you, act as the [prison guard]."

...

[Role-playing] originated in the 1930s from [Psychodrama Therapy], which was developed after psychiatrist Jacob Moreno observed that children spontaneously reenacted life situations during free play and achieved therapeutic effects. Thus, he researched further and developed the therapeutic method of "dramatizing the reenactment of psychological conflicts."

The core mechanism of this therapeutic method in terms of cognition is to create a [decentralized] perspective through role-playing—like having a bully play the victim’s role to break the self-serving bias through empathy and perspective-taking.

"But then it unexpectedly turned out that the other students grew somewhat too quickly."

Nan Zhubin sighed, whether in helplessness or something else: "They didn’t even need [role-playing] to allow Zhang Zihao to experience perspective-taking, to the point where he nearly broke down. So in the end, I canceled the [role-playing] session."

Nan Zhubin is very sensitive to the students’ gaze.

To say they "bullied" Zhang Zihao with their eyes would be an exaggeration.

But after self-reflection and growth, they must have clearly established their respective stances.

In such circumstances, Zhang Zihao and the other two, who were distinct in stance, naturally felt a sense of isolation in terms of atmosphere.

Of course, Zhang Zihao’s breakdown later also involved some of his own issues.

After hearing what Nan Zhubin said, Teacher Xiao Zhao had more questions.

"So should Zhang Zihao now also, in a sense, be considered to have... suffered to a certain extent? Should we promptly intervene and provide protection?"

Saying this, Teacher Xiao Zhao wasn’t suddenly feeling sympathy and affection for Zhang Zihao.

She was purely asking from the perspective of psychological consultation intervention.

Nan Zhubin chuckled softly and shook his head.

"Teacher Xiao Zhao, in your opinion, how should Zhang Zihao’s [cognitive distortion] be corrected?"

Teacher Xiao Zhao blinked, thinking. You’re asking me back when I’m here for guidance?

Fortunately, Nan Zhubin quickly answered his own question.

"In normal psychological consultation, we fully respect the client’s wishes. We only inform them of the choices at hand, the consequences of each, and let them decide on their own."

"But when working with underage clients, we must provide a certain level of value-oriented guidance—this is also according to the ethical guidelines for consultants, which you’ve surely memorized."

Teacher Xiao Zhao nodded.

"As for Zhang Zihao—though he is objectively a ’victim,’ he also objectively inflicted real harm on his classmates."

"Therefore, he needs to understand the consequences of his actions and even take some responsibility to a certain extent."

"The harm from the gaze of other students? This is the mildest form of harm. I’m even glad he is sensitive enough to feel hurt just from glances."

"And my fairness requirements for the group counseling process are already a form of protection for him."

Nan Zhubin stated calmly.

He looked at Teacher Xiao Zhao: "Teacher Zhao should know that many consultants have different styles, right?"

Teacher Xiao Zhao nodded, knowing. However, just having left school, her [Behaviorism Faction] style of consultation still adhered to the standard "complete empathy," "[Humanism] orientation."

"Many consultants prefer using [confrontation] and even [scolding] in consultation. And with Zhang Zihao’s background, as long as the consultant opposite isn’t a pure [Humanist], he’s bound to get scolded."

"Given his issues, even if he isn’t attacked by the consultant, he will surely self-attack and self-harm during the healing process."

"Because ’experiencing the feeling of being hurt’ is a crucial part of his cognitive correction process."

Often, psychological intervention and healing don’t make people feel comfortable.

At least in Zhang Zihao’s case, he can’t be comfortable during the intervention, though perhaps he can after its completion.

That’s also why, after noticing the change in group dynamics, Nan Zhubin didn’t intervene immediately.

In group counseling, group members inherently have the potential to heal each other.

And

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