Who would study psychology unless they had some issues?!
Chapter 248 - 246: Can we publish an article and hang it up?

Chapter 248: Chapter 246: Can we publish an article and hang it up?

"I can also use this case to propose a possibility—the depression caused by a pleasing personality is more likely to turn into [smiling depression]!"

...

Not everyone, not even every psychology student or consultant has studied [Satya]’s theories.

It may only be researchers focused on Developmental Psychology or consultants specializing in family therapy who can immediately recall it.

But as soon as Nan Zhubin mentioned "pleasing personality," even the students present who were not psychology majors understood what he was talking about.

This was the effect Nan Zhubin wanted.

Nan Zhubin continued to explain his hypothesis:

"Depression itself is characterized by [a sense of inadequacy]. Depressed patients exhibit strong defensive postures to others’ concern, which can increase the risk of suicide in severe cases."

"And a pleasing personality goes a step further on such [a sense of inadequacy]: general depression is merely defensive, ’unresponsive’ to external stimuli; while depressed patients with a pleasing personality react to stimuli, but the responses are ’post-disguise reactions.’"

"They will—" Nan Zhubin’s expression was serious, yet with a strong contrast, he pulled his mouth corners with both hands, "’smile’."

The action was somewhat comical, even a bit cute.

But no one laughed.

Because afterward, when Nan Zhubin put down his hands, the pulled smile immediately disappeared. The red marks left behind on his cheeks, accentuated by muscle tension, made his expression appear even more solemn than before the "smile."

"Next, I will analyze my client, whose personality traits were not identified or considered during consultation therapy, leading to the continuous formation of negative effects."

"And each point that could have been recognized, yet continued to be overlooked, ultimately leading the consultation to steadily slip into an abyss of deterioration."

Nan Zhubin’s voice grew slightly lower, and the sorrowful emotion once again permeated through his articulate expression.

He switched slides, with the title [Family].

"At the initial diagnosis of depression, in response to parental inquiries and evaluations, the client ’smiled.’ She perceived her parents’ tendency to ’not interfere with academics’ and catered to it, pleasing them."

"Thus, within a week of diagnosis, my client actively cooperated by returning to school, removing herself from the guardians’ watchful eyes." Nan Zhubin softly said, "This action exposed her to an environment capable of bringing more negative stimuli."

Switched slides again, with the title [Study and Life].

"After returning to school, in face of classmates, roommates, and counselors’ concern, my client continued to ’smile.’ She fully accepted all forms of ’help,’ including those that heightened discomfort for depression patients."

"And because of her ’smile,’ she sent the wrong message to the people around her, leading them to believe ’what I’m doing makes her happy, my behavior is correct,’ causing them to continually repeat these mistakes, further aggravating her discomfort and worsening the situation."

"Simultaneously..." Nan Zhubin said softly, "Such expressions and reactions, significantly different from typical depression, contravenes common understanding, also leading those around her to harbor suspicions."

"For instance—"

Nan Zhubin gently pointed with a laser pen, and the screen suddenly went black.

Immediately, line after line of white text gradually emerged from the black background through the PPT animation effect.

[Doesn’t look like depression, could it be faked?]

[How could someone who often laughs have depression?]

[Could it be for attention?]

[Looks so good, probably doesn’t need much concern, right?]

[...]

Everyone on site fell silent because of this.

Among the students listening to the report below, a few quietly lowered their heads.

Nan Zhubin didn’t know them, couldn’t even see them clearly.

He only vaguely saw movements of wiping tears.

In such an atmosphere, Nan Zhubin continued softly, "This pleasing type of smile to others may instead lead to misunderstanding, causing more harm."

"And among these points of deterioration, the most severe is—"

Switched slides for the last time, revealing the title: [Consultation Process].

"During medication intervention, it becomes easier to cause ’medication misuse.’"

"And in cases already involving ’medication misuse,’ it’s even easier for medication to become uncontrollable."

The expressions of the professors in the front row turned stern.

The principal, sweating along with the dean of the Psychology College, also began to cultivate a faint sense of anger.

The target of their anger was—Lin Lulin.

"Medication misuse inherently touches the patient’s limit of bearability, possibly even surpassing it slightly. And the ’smile’ of [smiling depression] clients leads medication-abusing therapists to wrongly estimate the clients’ endurance limits, administering medication indiscriminately, causing harm far beyond the clients’ own thresholds."

"And when therapists decide to let clients try discontinuing medication, this ’smile’ also causes misjudgments, overestimating clients’ recovery conditions, leading to premature medication withdrawal, thus causing intolerable withdrawal reactions and increasing risks associated with them."

If Nan Zhubin was restrained when he showed the medication list earlier.

Now, it was nearly an explicit direction.

When mentioning the four words "medication misuse," he also unreservedly added emphasis.

But the language used by Nan Zhubin was not condemnation, not venting, not accusing.

It was almost cold, academic report-style language.

This form of speech, combined with the linguistic statement, would evoke an interesting phenomenon—

Among the front-row professors.

Bai Qinghua suddenly turned his head and lightly chuckled towards the dean of the Psychology College, "This young man currently has no guiding mentor, right?"

"I see the language used in his report is already very mature. The case itself is also quite interesting. With a bit of revision, it could be attempted for submission, right?"

"Such a rare case, published on the web, should attract many readers and citations, right?"

Upon saying this, the professors in the front row all raised their eyebrows a bit.

To know, compared to foundational psychology disciplines studying neuropsychology, perception, cognition, social cognition, etc., the field of psychological consultation has always been relatively hard to publish in within the broader category of psychology.

Very, very difficult.

Hearing Bai Qinghua’s words.

The dean of the Psychology College, being involved, felt almost drained of sweat.

Thus, stopped sweating altogether.

At this moment, the chairman next to him urged again, "Professor Lin, still not found?"