Chapter 960: Chapter 752: The Final Step of Counseling

"The love of partners..."

Chen Lizhou murmured these four words, his fingertips unconsciously picking at the sofa armrest.

Nan Zhubin maintained a slightly forward-leaning posture. Upon reaching this point, he once again allowed Chen Lizhou time for contemplation.

This is the necessary "leave blank" in Psychological Consultation.

After Chen Lizhou has absorbed the new cognition of "Triangular Theory of Love" and "the love of partners," he requires some time to digest, settle down, and integrate these theories with his past experiences to achieve an initial Cognitive Reconstruction.

The silence at this moment is intended to give Chen Lizhou room to sort through his inner emotions.

Nan Zhubin picked up the cup next to him, first poured Chen Lizhou a full glass, then filled his own, sipping slowly.

After talking so much, his mouth indeed felt dry.

About half a minute later, Chen Lizhou slowly raised his head: "Teacher Nan, do you mean... even though we later lost passion, even though I have thought about divorce, even though I’ve had crooked thoughts, my love for Fangfang is still real?"

"That’s right." Nan Zhubin set down the cup and nodded gently.

"Love is not black and white, nor is it unchanging. It can change from passionate to calm, have conflicts, regrets, and various imperfections, but these imperfections can never negate the essence of love."

"Your love for your wife includes companionship, striving, responsibility—if you didn’t love, you wouldn’t struggle so much."

A young man barely in his twenties, without even a girlfriend, is teaching a middle-aged man whose child is already in elementary school—about what love is.

Out of the consultation room, it would be laughable.

Inside the consultation room, Chen Lizhou leaned forward as he listened.

However, the exploration of love is almost completed here.

At least part of Chen Lizhou’s self-condemnation has been resolved for now.

Nan Zhubin finishes with one last sentence.

"From our psychological theory point of view, there is no doubt that you love your wife," Nan Zhubin smiled, "Of course, many things in reality cannot be solely approached from theory."

Chen Lizhou nodded slightly.

Many people who get tangled up in reality, even if they learn systematic ways to guide themselves, often fall into the inner turmoil of "Discard the theory altogether."

Instead, they need some emotional evidence.

Coincidentally, Chen Lizhou now has such emotional evidence he can provide to Nan Zhubin. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

"How do you feel now?" Nan Zhubin suddenly asked Chen Lizhou.

"Very... complex, I feel my mind is very chaotic." Chen Lizhou said, "It seems there are many things to say, but I don’t know what to say."

He smiled apologetically at Nan Zhubin.

Nan Zhubin also smiled: "But your body seems to have a lot to say."

This made Chen Lizhou freeze for a moment, and what confused him more was Nan Zhubin’s action.

He saw Nan Zhubin push the tissues on the table toward Chen Lizhou and simultaneously took out his phone, switching to selfie mode, and placed it in front of Chen Lizhou.

Chen Lizhou was completely dazed.

In the phone’s camera, he saw a man with reddened eyes. Two streams were flowing down from his eye corners, tears silently hitting his lapel, forming light damp marks.

"Your body, ’it’ is crying."

Language is a form of expression, facial expression is a form of expression, movements are also a form of expression.

Expressing itself through these channels is the "body."

But when these channels of expression are blocked, the body naturally finds other ways to express itself.

Even if the owner of the body is unaware of it all.

...

The consultation was paused for an extraordinarily long time here.

For Chen Lizhou, who is experiencing Personality Dissociation, this state is worth him carefully experiencing.

However, the occasional "ruthlessness" of Psychological Consultation is that the visitor’s emotions are used as a tool for healing.

Normal individuals need time to calm down after an emotional outburst, to let themselves stabilize, and perhaps to savor it for a while. For many, this process is quite comfortable or even enjoyable.

But in Psychological Consultation, such a method is not "efficient."

Therefore, after Chen Lizhou carefully experienced the emotion, Nan Zhubin did not allow Chen Lizhou time to stabilize and savor it.

Nan Zhubin even seized the moment when he saw the emotion beginning to calm slightly and immediately led the consultation to the next stage.

This was also the last task of today’s consultation—the reconstruction of Chen Lizhou’s Unresolved Issues.

"Through your recent narration, we now have a real understanding of the cause of your current problems."

Before intervening with specific techniques, Nan Zhubin needed to first relay the current situation to the visitor.

"The reason you fall into Personality Dissociation, unable to face these memories, fundamentally lies in these imperfections, these conflicting emotions, and the irreparable regrets—"

Nan Zhubin spread his left hand, then clenched his right fist, making a striking gesture.

"—have exceeded your psychological limits of endurance."

"Your brain automatically activated the Dissociation mechanism to protect you, cutting off your emotional perception temporarily to escape this pain."

Chen Lizhou took a deep breath, nodding: "I understand. Actually, I always thought before that I became like this just because Fangfang left so abruptly..."

"I now realize... It wasn’t like that. I kept avoiding these issues, avoiding facing myself... and the things I’ve done in the past."