Chapter 1052 - 798: The Origin
Not long ago, Nan Zhubin encountered a visitor at Bai Qinghua’s company who claimed to have "Obsessive Compulsive Disorder." In the end, it was a false alarm, as the person didn’t actually have "Obsessive Compulsive Disorder," nor was there a need for long-term consulting intervention.
Unfortunately, like "depression," "Obsessive Compulsive Disorder" is a disease that has been somewhat sensationalized in the internet age.
The public misunderstands "Obsessive Compulsive Disorder," with many people even mocking it, thinking having "Obsessive Compulsive Disorder" is something cool.
Nan Zhubin has seen people claim "My OCD is acting up; I can’t feel comfortable unless I tidy up the room," or "I have OCD, every task must be completed with high quality," and expressions like that.
Whereas the true meaning of "Obsessive Compulsive Disorder" has a very core manifestation—
Pain.
The patient’s extreme pain.
It’s been said before that the manifestations of "Obsessive Compulsive Disorder" include "Obsessive Thoughts" and "Obsessive Behaviors," with "Obsessive Behaviors" more often being mocked by the public.
The pain in "Obsessive Behaviors" lies in—if the behavior is not performed, the patient suffers; and after performing the behavior, the patient still suffers.
For example, compulsive tidying, where patients clean their living environment despite knowing it’s unnecessary, with sweeping sessions occurring weekly, daily, or even multiple times a day, causing significant disruption to their life and work.
Or compulsive hand-washing, where some people use it to highlight their love for cleanliness, yet for true OCD patients, washing may take ten minutes, half an hour, or even hours, until the skin peels, the hands bleed, and the pain makes them grimace, yet they still cannot stop.
"Obsessive Behaviors" are painful, and "Obsessive Thoughts" are also painful.
Sometimes "Obsessive Thoughts" are often confused with some manifestations of "automated thinking," "anxiety," and "PTSD."
Mr. Zhou Shuren once said—"Seeing a woman reminds me of breasts, seeing breasts reminds me of nudity, seeing nudity reminds me of sex."
This is a more typical "automated thinking," and Mr. Zhou Shuren really did say this.
Some parents, worried when they see their children playing on their phones, fear their exams will be bad, which leads to not getting into a good school, and then a bad school means no good job, and a life doomed to failure.
And then they start to panic.
This is a pathological "anxiety" about the future.
As for "PTSD," it has certain similarities with "Obsessive Thoughts," where patients’ minds are occasionally flooded with images and thoughts of past traumatic experiences, even when they warn themselves not to remember, they still can’t control themselves, leading to immense suffering.
The distinction of "Obsessive Thoughts" lies in its lack of real basis, even absurd and rootless.
Even the parents’ pathological anxiety has some real starting point, albeit very twisted; if you say it’s completely unreasonable, you might still find a few scant arguments.
"Obsessive Thoughts" have none.
Nan Zhubin once met a father with "Obsessive Thoughts," whose thoughts left the visitor himself and the consultant sighing deeply.
"I want to poke out my daughter’s eyes; I don’t know why I have this idea, but I always think this way."
"I love my daughter, and I love my wife; our family has no deep-rooted conflicts, and they have done nothing wrong to me."
"My family is my everything; when wronged or facing difficulties outside, just thinking of my wife and child, thinking of home, I can persevere."
"But I still want to poke out my daughter’s eyes; this thought pops up anytime and anywhere."
"I therefore dare not see my daughter; I’m afraid to go home. Soon, I got divorced, and I don’t even dare ask for custody."
"My wife resents me, my daughter doesn’t understand me, and I suffer, my family is gone, I really love them."
"But I can’t control my thoughts; until now, I live in a daze, I don’t dare to start a family again, nor contact my former family."
"—Even now as we speak, I still want to say poke out my daughter’s eyes."
Many mental disorders and illnesses are the result of interactions between environmental external factors and personal cognitive internal factors.
In the current understanding of psychiatry, the enemy of "Obsessive Compulsive Disorder" is often the patient themselves.
And due to its absurdity and rootlessness, intervention is often more challenging.
If an environmentally influenced "Obsessive Compulsive Disorder" occurs, then for therapeutic intervention—
It’s a tremendously good thing.
...
Nan Zhubin is currently striving to collect information, ascertaining that the visitor indeed has "Obsessive Compulsive Disorder," while exploring the root of their pain and cause of the disorder.
For initial consultation information gathering purposes, the consultant prioritizes understanding the visitor’s issues from a "comprehensive" rather than "in-depth" perspective.
At present, indeed there has been a breakthrough.
"You mentioned mentor? Previous mentor?" Nan Zhubin emphasized.
PhD, mentor, triggered certain keywords.
It seems to be a rather familiar background.
"Yes. My previous mentor." Hearing the consultant’s "repetition" of keywords, Jie Nianzhou nodded.
"His issue... it caused quite an uproar at our school back then."
The visitor took a deep breath, paused for a while, seemingly organizing his thoughts.