Who would study psychology unless they had some issues?!
Chapter 315 - 313: Mental Health Education in High School

Chapter 315: Chapter 313: Mental Health Education in High School

Confessed by a male student?

"Ah (fourth tone with a prolonged ending)..." Nan Zhubin reacted very cooperatively.

"Yes." Teacher Xiao Zhao shook her head.

"Actually, the student’s situation isn’t that complicated — there’s no communication with his family, he’s been focused on studying for a long time without interacting with female classmates, making it hard to release many of his inner thoughts."

Teacher Xiao Zhao recalled, unable to restrain herself from holding her forehead with her hand.

"I noticed his problem, so I talked to him twice. Unexpectedly, during the third time, he told me I was very considerate, also pretty, and said he liked me..."

Nan Zhubin provided his observation: "It seems your reaction is still strong when you recall it now."

"Because it was so scary!" Teacher Xiao Zhao exclaimed excitedly.

Her entire face wrinkled: "I had only been in the job for less than two months back then, and when I heard that student’s confession, my head almost exploded—I had just barely passed the exam to get in!"

Nan Zhubin nodded, sighed, then clicked his tongue, making an exaggerated expression of surprise upon hearing something shocking.

Teacher Xiao Zhao was also led to sigh: "Mr. Nan, you probably remember my attire when you first met me, right? After that boy confessed to me, I went back and pulled out my ugliest clothes, even asked my mom for a few pieces, and since then I hardly ever wore makeup again..."

Nan Zhubin recalled meeting the female teacher for the first time; indeed, it was quite haphazard.

Nan Zhubin suddenly asked, "Do you feel like you’ve properly digested this incident? Was it a traumatic event for you?"

Teacher Xiao Zhao was stunned: "Perhaps I haven’t fully digested it, but calling it a traumatic event might be overstatement."

She spoke more quickly: "It was just a young boy during adolescence, who, due to a lack of support over time, transferred his repressed emotions onto me after talking a bit—it’s just transference, which is fairly common in counseling, and it’s not like I haven’t encountered it before. It’s just that since I’d just started my job and the sensitivity of the teaching profession made it hard to explain things clearly, I got a bit panicked..."

Teacher Xiao Zhao’s voice suddenly started to soften, diminishing until it disappeared.

She looked at Nan Zhubin, pondered for a while, and then hesitantly spoke, "It seems like I’m unconsciously explaining to you, which is a form of defense..."

"Why do you want to explain?" Nan Zhubin asked.

"...I want to prove that it wasn’t a ’traumatic event’ for me." Teacher Xiao Zhao took a deep breath, "I’m a psychology teacher, and it’s not like I haven’t encountered transference before. A high school boy’s confession shouldn’t affect me..."

"Did it have an effect on you?" Nan Zhubin pressed on.

"...There definitely was an effect, like my usual way of dressing."

"Does it affect your counseling? For example, does it change your initial attitude towards male students at school?"

...

Upon hearing this question, Teacher Xiao Zhao opened her mouth to say something but instinctively took a breath, stopping herself.

After blinking three times, she finally let out a low voice: "I just instinctively wanted to deny it, which...is also a form of defense."

Nan Zhubin remained silent, allowing the young psychology teacher more time to think.

"In fact... this incident did affect my subsequent counseling with students." Teacher Xiao Zhao’s brows drooped, "Afterwards, I felt somewhat defensive towards boys. I stopped actively asking about their situations, and even when boys came to me for counseling, my first reaction was to put up a defensive wall..."

Nan Zhubin described Teacher Xiao Zhao’s state from another angle, providing an in-depth description: "Now you realize this point and think it’s not good?"

"Yes, it’s not good." Teacher Xiao Zhao affirmed Nan Zhubin’s words, "Because it affects the quality of my counseling with students."

Nan Zhubin understood, summarizing: "You want to provide ’high-quality’ counseling to every student, or those who seek your help, right?"

Teacher Xiao Zhao nodded, seeing it as a matter of course.

"What do you think ’high-quality’ counseling looks like?"

This question stumped Teacher Xiao Zhao’s thought process.

She furrowed her brows deeply, making a great effort to think.

After a long time, seemingly unable to find suitable adjectives, she simply said: "At least... it can’t be worse than those internship cases I did during my undergraduate studies."

Nan Zhubin reacted quickly, delving into Teacher Xiao Zhao’s words more deeply, making a reinterpretation.

"You’re saying that the counseling you provide now isn’t as good in terms of quality as the internship cases during your undergraduate studies?"

"..."

This time, Teacher Xiao Zhao remained silent for quite a while.

Then, she suddenly laughed: "I just felt like I was defending again. I originally wanted to say ’about the same’ or ’the current counseling is mostly not as good as during my undergraduate studies.’"

"But..." Teacher Xiao Zhao took a deep breath, "In fact, all the counseling I do now, in terms of quality, is not as good as it was during my undergraduate years."

Nan Zhubin asked, "How do you feel about that?"

"...Frustrated and ashamed."

"You think you should be doing better now than before?"

"Yes."

"Why is that?"

"Because there are more clients now, and I’ve accumulated more counseling hours."

Nan Zhubin nodded knowingly once again.

He tried another direction: "What do you think interferes with you providing high-quality counseling?"

Teacher Xiao Zhao thought for a moment: "On one hand, it’s because there are too many other things..."

She instinctively frowned: "I am a psychology teacher, my main job is teaching mental health classes and counseling students, but now my classes are constantly being taken over, and it’s rare to have even a few students come for counseling in a week; on the contrary, I have a lot of other things, like teaching competitions, Arbor Day activities, gala rehearsals, educational base tours, etc..."

Nan Zhubin patiently listened to her enumerate one by one.

"Most importantly..." Teacher Xiao Zhao pursed her lips, hesitated for a moment, seemingly considering her next words to be inappropriate.

But she still said it: "I don’t know if I should continue counseling students."

Important things are always said at the end.

Of course, the previous things also need to be suitably repeated, Nan Zhubin said: "It sounds like you’ve been assigned a lot of miscellaneous tasks unrelated to your main job."

"However, these miscellaneous tasks shouldn’t make you doubt whether you should continue counseling students, right?"

"No." Teacher Xiao Zhao indeed shook her head, she slightly curled her lips as if she felt Nan Zhubin’s words were an acknowledgment of her.

"The thought of not wanting to continue counseling students is because—"

"—they have to take the college entrance exam."