Chapter 1110 - 828: Symptom Rebound and Mutation (2)

[The corners of the mouth briefly drooped, the chest rising and falling weakened, the breathing became shallower.]

Even through the phone screen, Nan Zhubin still captured Jie Nianzhou’s subtle changes.

Nan Zhubin suddenly stopped speaking and just watched Jie Nianzhou.

After two breaths, Nan Zhubin said jokingly, "Why do I feel like you’re a little embarrassed?"

Jie Nianzhou was stunned in bewilderment.

After three breaths, he tugged at the corner of his mouth, "Teacher Nan... you can even see this?"

Nan Zhubin did not answer directly.

Jie Nianzhou lowered his head and muttered to himself, "Actually, I... not only repeatedly check chat records that day. Afterward, every morning and before going to bed, I have to check once. Then every new message she sends me, I have to look at several times over. Some things with only a hundred words, I look at for ten minutes..."

Nan Zhubin deliberately showed a puzzled expression, "Why be embarrassed about this?"

"Because... I feel like this feeling is very familiar."

Jie Nianzhou pressed his lips together forcefully, "I feel... the compulsion to repeatedly check messages feels very similar to when I used to record every day."

In response to the visitor’s words, Nan Zhubin once again showed a puzzled expression, "I understand, but what’s embarrassing about this?"

He seemed to have suddenly lost the ability of empathetic understanding, tirelessly questioning.

Jie Nianzhou glanced at Nan Zhubin, even through the screen, but Nan Zhubin’s gaze seemed piercing, causing him to lower his head.

"I think... could this be a rebound of my condition? Could this also be a... [Obsessive Compulsive Disorder] symptom?"

"I... I feel especially embarrassed. You spent so much time and effort helping me, I barely got better and now—"

His speech speed increased.

"Actually, this is another reason why I wanted to cancel the consultation today. I feel like I’ve stepped back again."

"I was thinking of stopping for two weeks, following the previous consultation ideas you gave me to improve this newly appeared situation... then come back."

...

Nan Zhubin clicked his tongue mentally.

Not aimed at Jie Nianzhou, but at Bi Yanling.

The current situation is the toughest for consultants—the situation where the visitor’s [reality] becomes a drag.

Usually, consultants spend a lot of effort in the consultation room helping visitors grow, visitors themselves muster great courage, endure discomfort, and dissect themselves only to sew back together; but a certain person in reality says something, does something, or even just makes a decision, which causes all previous efforts to become futile.

Jie Nianzhou’s case is a typical [symptom rebound] and [symptom variability].

[Symptom rebound] refers to an increase in frequency or intensity of the original symptoms under external pressure or internal fluctuations.

It differs from a relapse—a relapse is a complete loss of treatment effectiveness, whereas a rebound is a fluctuation when established new behavioral patterns face stress testing, essentially old paths reactivated.

And [symptom variability] refers to changes in the manifestation form of existing symptoms, new symptoms differing from previous ones appear.

Regarding Jie Nianzhou’s situation, his compulsive behavior acts as a "fixed strategy" to cope with anxiety. Now in the face of obstacles and control in the original path, he automatically found new expressive outlets.

With this thought, Nan Zhubin internally breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, Jie Nianzhou agreed to do online consultation today, thus able to curb this newly emerging tendency.

Perhaps, it could serve as a new breakthrough.

Seeing Jie Nianzhou stop after saying this, Nan Zhubin made a gentle breathing motion.

Switching his rhythm from listening to speaking.

"Let’s start with me telling you something."

Nan Zhubin made his voice lower than usual, steadier.

"Firstly, don’t feel any embarrassment or guilt towards me, towards our consultation."

Nan Zhubin laughed, "You’ve paid the hospital for my psychological consultation services. My job is indeed to handle any changes you encounter—including the current situation."

Nan Zhubin deliberately added, "I’m thankful, even a bit grateful—you agreed to my suggestion to conduct this online consultation in this situation."

Jie Nianzhou in front of the phone screen suddenly stiffened, then slowly raised his head.

Facing Nan Zhubin’s sincere gaze, he forced a smile.

"Secondly," Nan Zhubin continued, "our situation doesn’t necessarily entail so-called ’regression.’"

Nan Zhubin gestured, "You can now look again at the behavior detection form you did last week, check your recording status each day."

Jie Nianzhou paused, then unconsciously followed Nan Zhubin’s instructions.

Nan Zhubin said, "Our [behavior detection form] not solely serves as a record, it can also be a quantified objective indicator—to gauge our current symptom intensity."

"You mentioned having new ’situations’ last week." Nan Zhubin intentionally eased the wording, "However, just regarding the recording behavior alone, do we see changes compared to the week before last?"

Jie Nianzhou shook his head.

Nan Zhubin smiled and nodded, "See, as confirmed during our initial consultation recap, your situation is stable."

"Thus for this newly emerged situation, we can perceive adding a metric gauge for your symptoms." Nan Zhubin cleverly dissects the current situation, easing Jie Nianzhou’s psychological pressure, "It’s not that your symptoms intensified."

"Currently the time spent repeatedly checking those messages isn’t much, right? Has it severely disrupted your life?"

Jie Nianzhou gently shook his head.

"Furthermore," Nan Zhubin continued, "this new situation—rereading chat records—although it appeared, its emergence differs from when you were first trapped by obsessive-compulsive disorder."

"Originally, when recording, you didn’t even know why you would record or review; but now you can clearly describe under what circumstances you revisit chat records. You have good self-awareness."

Nan Zhubin raised a hand, "That’s a huge difference—it indicates you’re not being driven by the symptoms, you’re observing them."

"This precisely shows that we have achieved adequate growth in our consultation, this is progress, not the regression you mentioned."

These aren’t words chosen to deliberately praise the situation, but genuine results from Nan Zhubin’s observations.

Jie Nianzhou’s chest visibly rose and fell, taking several deep breaths.

Then his body relaxed, "...Really?"

"Of course." Nan Zhubin swiftly followed with an affirmative [support].

Then Nan Zhubin slightly straightened his body.

"Now let’s look at your current status—from three perspectives."

He began to enter the intervention phase. First, using the psychological education framework to define the visitor’s current status, this reduces self-judgment by the visitor.

Nan Zhubin raised one finger.

"First, the symptom level. Indeed, you’ve encountered some new situations in the compulsive behavior—but that’s very normal."

Nan Zhubin said seriously, "When external environmental pressure suddenly increases, the brain tends to return to its familiar, old coping patterns. It’s not regression, it’s the body’s automated response to facing pressure."

Nan Zhubin emphasized repeatedly, "Your current situation still maintains a good level, the efforts from our previous consultations are indeed yielding results."

Jie Nianzhou nodded, slowly lifting his chest.

Nan Zhubin then raised a second finger.

"Second, the cognition level. This morning when facing your advisor’s message, indeed the thought ’not enough time, I should cancel the consultation’ emerged in your mind."

"This thought itself is your [automated judgment] under pressure, it’s not necessarily correct, nor is our focus on the so-called right or wrong."

Nan Zhubin looked into Jie Nianzhou’s eyes, "The attention point is, it reflects a characteristic of your cognitive level—when facing uncertain threats, you tend to shrink your life domain, initially cutting out perceived non-essential parts. In your view, canceling consultation shows its priority is still behind addressing advisor pressure."