Who would study psychology unless they had some issues?!

When a person is frightened, the excited sympathetic nervous system can cause the pupils to dilate to their maximum extent in less than a second.

During the core fear response period, this extreme dilation of the pupils will last for 1-5 seconds, indicating that the body is in a state of high alert, ready to respond to potential threats.

Even after the initial peak of fright has passed, the pupils may not immediately return to baseline levels. If the [source of fear] persists, or if the individual remains in a constant state of tension and anxiety, the pupils may remain dilated to some extent for tens of seconds or even minutes.

In Nan Zhubin's eyes, the visitor is currently in this state of sustained fright.

The visitor's pupils, after being extremely dilated, have not returned to the baseline for a long time, accompanied by reactions such as staring eyes, fixed gaze, stiff and trembling body, sitting motionless on the sofa and gasping.

It's as if the [source of fear] that only existed in the past is still around.

"Okay, Zhihao, let's pause here." Nan Zhubin saw that the other party had once again fallen into a [Memory Flashback] scene.

The visitor looked up, raised an eyebrow sharply, forcing clear forehead wrinkles, and used this exaggerated action to focus their attention on the present.

"Teacher, my mind is full of images from those two videos now, um..."

The visitor slapped one hand heavily on his chest, producing a dull "thump thump" sound.

Then held his chest tightly:

"I feel a bit nauseous..."

Nan Zhubin showed a slight empathetic sadness: "Do you remember the process of the [grounding technique] we just did?"

"Hiss—whew." The visitor took a deep breath, "Remember."

Nan Zhubin said, "Let's practice it again. This time I will reduce my guidance as much as possible to let you practice independently."

"However, in this round of the [5-4-3-2-1 exercise], the things you see, touch, hear, and smell should not be deliberately repeated from last time. We will try to capture what we first sense. Is that okay?"

The visitor nodded, then murmured as if to himself, "First, deep breath, pressing feet to the ground..."

The visitor closed and then quickly opened his eyes again.

"Then it's five things seen: yellow sand flowing in the hourglass; reflections on the coffee table surface; oily fingerprint residues on the glass cup; birds flying outside the window; books with red and blue covers on the bookshelf..."

"Next are four things felt by the skin..."

Nan Zhubin took a slight breath, observing the visitor across.

The other party kept muttering the [grounding technique] process, as if this was the only way to make the body follow the instructions.

That's completely fine.

For those with difficulty concentrating, self-guiding through language is a normal behavior.

For a novice just learning the technique, they must mobilize as many cognitive resources as possible to advance their technical task completion.

Nan Zhubin watched quietly.

When the visitor completed the task of "3 auditory sensations," cognitive resources finally began to be freed. Nan Zhihao's attention began to return, ceased the murmuring, and could continue the sensory task.

Finally, with a motion of tension and then relaxation at the ankles that was slightly visible to the naked eye, the visitor looked up, saying, "Teacher, I'm better."

But Nan Zhubin did not let out the breath he was holding.

Better, but not well.

After the previous [grounding technique], the visitor entered a relatively relaxed state;

But now, the visitor is still in a quite deeply negative emotional state.

—The difference is significant.

Nan Zhubin evaluated silently.

The visitor's states were different in these two instances.

The previous negative emotion was sudden, intense, and fluctuating greatly; but it came quickly and went quickly.

This time the negative emotion also came suddenly, but the intensity is relatively lower, yet it lasts longer, making it harder to resolve.

Perhaps because the visitor relived two painful memories in a short period and used the grounding technique twice consecutively, achieving a certain degree of Desensitization. This made the emotional intensity experienced by the visitor lower, and the degree to which they could use techniques to shake off the negative emotions was also reduced.

Of course, it could also be that because this time the [grounding technique] was practiced independently by the visitor, the effect wasn't as good as when guided by Nan Zhubin.

However, it's also a good opportunity.

The third layer of landing of the [grounding technique], [Self-soothing] landing, is precisely designed for situations like this, to address the immediate problem.

...

Organizing his thoughts in his mind, Nan Zhubin guided, "Great, you just completed the [grounding technique] independently that we practiced before, how do you feel now?"

The visitor touched his chest and took a breath.

Then he said softly, "It seems... still a bit panicked. The nausea in my stomach is gone, but the chest is still tight... Did I make a mistake in any of the steps during my own practice?"

The visitor looked up showing a wry smile.

Nan Zhubin gently shook his head, giving timely reassurance, "This is the normal process of practicing alone. You can now clearly perceive the signals your body sends, so we can smoothly move on to the next step."

Saying this, Nan Zhubin pointed to the hourglass he had initially placed on the coffee table, "When you were searching for visual objects, your first choice was this hourglass. Do you like it?"

The visitor replied, "Because you brought it, teacher, I always felt... it must have some great use?"

Indeed, it has a great use.

Nan Zhubin said, "Good, now turn the hourglass over so the sand flows to the other side."

The visitor complied, and his eyes were unconsciously drawn to the slowly trickling sand.

Nan Zhubin said, "Good, then close your eyes."

Then, he asked a somewhat unrealistic question, "Can you feel the sensation of the sand slowly flowing inside the hourglass in your hand?"

At this question, the visitor frowned and thought for a moment, as if trying to sense it carefully.

"I feel... not really..."

But quickly changed his tone, "But... it seems, just a little."

"Vaguely, maybe, after all, the sand is very fine and small."

Nan Zhubin secretly chuckled

It's not "very" fine, "very" small;

It should be "extremely" fine, "extremely" small.

An hourglass the size of a thumb, with flowing sand, is something a normal person can't feel at all.

But Nan Zhubin could see that the visitor was not accommodating him or being perfunctory.

He truly had a faint "feeling" of the sand flowing.

That's exactly the state Nan Zhubin wanted at this moment.

"Good." Nan Zhubin guided, "Now, feel the sand inside the hourglass slowly and carefully again."