Chapter 1139 - 844: A New Model

Jie Nianzhou appeared here today after having communicated with Nan Zhubin in advance.

From the perspective of psychological consultation intervention, having a visitor who is undergoing Obsessive Compulsive Disorder consultation appear in this setting can be seen as a session of behavioral exposure therapy.

Furthermore, it is an exposure scenario that is very precious and difficult to construct under normal circumstances.

Within the usual consultation framework, behavioral exposure refers to the visitor proactively entering a situation that triggers anxiety, remaining in that situation for a sufficient amount of time without engaging in the original safety behaviors until the anxiety level naturally decreases.

In today’s scenario, Jie Nianzhou’s act of walking into this conference room constituted an exposure that he was not aware he was already executing.

His decision to attend, this decision itself did not require repeated verification, did not need multiple confirmations, unlike his previous work, recordings, and other activities that needed checking to confirm "I am doing the right thing," "I have made no mistakes."

He only needed to make a decision.

In his past life, Jie Nianzhou also experienced a certain degree of self-growth, which allowed him to make some decisions, big and small.

However, deciding to expose himself, compared to those previous decisions, is in a class all by itself.

This step is considered a concentration and a milestone of all the consultations Jie Nianzhou has had with Nan Zhubin.

During the meeting, when Jie Nianzhou felt the impulse to "stand up," he went through a series of psychological changes—

—In the cognitive-behavioral model of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, the intrusive impulse itself does not constitute a problem; rather, the problem lies in the visitor’s response patterns to the impulse: when the impulse arises, the visitor feels compelled to act on it to alleviate anxiety; otherwise, the anxiety will continue to rise until the behavior is executed.

According to Jie Nianzhou’s previous statement, he witnessed Bi Yanling’s reaction after the recording, personally experiencing repeated impulses to "stand up," with his body indeed generating signals close to taking action.

But after approaching multiple times, he chose to remain in his seat.

From the result, this exposure seemed not so thorough. Jie Nianzhou himself was troubled by this outcome, left early, and executed a behavior akin to "escape."

He even waited here for Nan Zhubin, seemingly wanting an impromptu consultation, at least a deep talk, to gain some supportive healing.

...

Nan Zhubin blinked, looking at Jie Nianzhou, pondering quickly.

If Jie Nianzhou had really been able to stand up earlier, aside from the minor matter of rendering Bi Yanling more defenseless, it indeed would have greatly benefited Jie Nianzhou’s own healing.

In cognitive-behavioral therapy for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, the core principle of exposure therapy is for the visitor’s anxiety to naturally subside rather than be alleviated through executing safety behaviors.

And in Jie Nianzhou’s obsessive symptoms, the most core fear is his fear of making mistakes, fear of hurting others, and fear of being deemed "guilty."

His acts of providing recordings, attending to watch, and whether to publicly admit to these activities all have a clear structure: he needs to decide whether to transform his role in the event.

From anonymous to public, from provider to participant.

If Jie Nianzhou stands up, the scene he finds himself in would face an out-of-control Bi Yanling as well as public attention—both would simultaneously trigger his fears of "making mistakes" and "being deemed guilty."

The intensity of such an exposure scenario cannot be compared to simply "sitting below witnessing everything."

If Jie Nianzhou could linger long enough in this type of situation, even if only to finish a sentence or fully express his meaning, without relying on any avoidance behavior, his anxiety level would experience a complete rise and natural fall process.

This experience itself is therapeutic because it would make Jie Nianzhou realize this fact—that even if he publicly admits he is the provider of the recording, even if Bi Yanling reacts to him, even if he is watched by everyone, he will not be destroyed or deemed as "guilty" because of it.

This would play a reconstructive role in his cognitive structure.

If Jie Nianzhou manages to do it, his act of standing up would itself constitute a successful experience of exposure, a kind of experience that could be extended to other scenarios in his life, reducing the automatically triggered anxiety reaction when confronting similar situations.

That is as a reference.

This experience could be embedded in Jie Nianzhou’s cognitive structure. Subsequently, when he faces the intrusive thought of "Did I make a mistake?" again, he could invoke this action to counter it: I once made a clear, public, irreversible decision, and I do not need to repeatedly check to confirm its correctness.

Having said that—but!

...

Nan Zhubin looked at Jie Nianzhou in front of him: "Actually, the current situation might not necessarily be a bad thing."

Jie Nianzhou was momentarily taken aback, feeling that Nan Zhubin was comforting him.

But Nan Zhubin was not. As a consultant, in facing the visitor, it’s necessary to provide Support and Positive Attention at all times, but the underlying logic of these techniques is for the consultant to maintain Absolute Sincerity.

As a psychological consultant, Nan Zhubin genuinely felt that not standing up on the spot was a good thing for Jie Nianzhou.

Nan Zhubin nodded, emphasizing again: "I even think it’s a good thing."