It is apparent that for the visitor, "dream interpretation" is quite an interesting matter.

The visitor said, "I have discussed dreams with Old Liu before, but he isn't good at it and couldn't give a coherent explanation."

She showed a look of enthusiasm and continued, "Just a couple of days ago, I had a dream. In the dream, there were two snakes, one white and one black."

Very brief.

After speaking, the visitor stopped and looked at Nan Zhubin.

Nan Zhubin leaned slightly forward with a probing gesture, "And then?"

The visitor shook her head and said, "That's all I remember—is that not enough?"

Nan Zhubin shook his head and said, "Indeed, it's not very useful, too little information."

Before the visitor showed a look of disappointment, Nan Zhubin explained, "We may have heard similar dream interpretations from various places before, like 'Zhou Gong's Dream Interpretation' and such. But professional dream interpretation in Psychological Consultation is different from these."

"It's not like a psychological test where you hear someone's dream and immediately know what kind of personality they have."

"Analyzing dreams involves considering the dreamer's personal traits and the baseline of their recent life to analyze the neglected mental states and physical fluctuations of the dreamer."

Nan Zhubin explained the principles of dream interpretation.

He intentionally explained it with a purpose—by proactively elucidating the limitations of dream interpretation, he aimed to reduce the visitor's wariness in the still-unstable consultation relationship, weakening their sense of "privacy invasion" concerning dream interpretation.

By doing so, attempting to guide the visitor's purpose from "trying something new" to "sharing the Self"—at least "sharing part of the Self."

Thereby allowing Nan Zhubin to achieve the purpose of analyzing the visitor.

Nan Zhubin recounted knowledgeably, "For instance, your dream of 'white and black snakes' has many possibilities."

"First, in classic imagery correlation, 'snake' and 'sex' have a very direct relationship."

At this point, Nan Zhubin spread his hands, and the visitor cooperated with a smile.

Dream interpretation is also a classic technique of the Psychoanalytic School. And as the founder of the Psychoanalytic School, Sigmund Freud's early ideas were very radical.

In Freud's early theories, most of human problems—even "all" problems—are caused by the suppression of sexual impulses in the subconscious.

In contemporary terms, it's due to repression.

From this perspective, Freud's ideas were "ahead" of the world by nearly two hundred years...

However, Freud himself later amended and complemented these biased theories. As a professional in psychology, treating "all problems are due to repression" as a joke is fine, but taking it seriously is amateurish.

Skipping this point, Nan Zhubin continued:

"Second, it's possible you saw snakes in the lab, on TV, or in books during the day, or even just heard the word 'snake' from someone else. This could lead to dreaming about snakes, under the principle of 'reality projection.'"

"Third, it's possible that during the time you were dreaming, you wanted to go to the zoo to see snakes, or wanted to play with snakes at an exotic pet shop. Dreaming under such expectation allows for 'expectation projection' of snakes."

"Fourth, it's possible that you encountered elements like 'long and narrow,' 'white,' 'black' during the day, and harbored a certain degree of anxiety and fear before sleep. These related elements combined in your dream into the image of two snakes through 'abstract information reorganization.'"

"Fifth, it might also be due to deeper issues. Maybe you were attacked by snakes before? And you recently felt similar feelings to back then in your surroundings, consequently eliciting 'scene memory' in the dream."

Nan Zhubin summarized, "In short, there are many possible reasons that you dreamed of these two snakes."

Concluding from a dream element heard straightforwardly is definitely overly arbitrary.

Therefore, if someone says they dreamt of horns growing on their head, hence believes they have the potential of a qilin to become an emperor—absolutely ignore them.

Unless they are saying it deliberately, in which case consider hitting them, or in severe cases, report them accordingly.

...

Upon hearing Nan Zhubin list out this series of possibilities.

Although these words didn't solve the visitor's doubts, the hints of disappointment and contempt on the visitor's face were withdrawn.

"These things, Old Liu never mentioned to me before." The visitor nodded slightly, "He just directly told me he couldn't explain it, without telling me why."

The visitor began to realize that Nan Zhubin, though young, indeed has some substance.

Unconsciously, the attitude towards the consultation gradually became serious.

The consultation relationship improved.

Nan Zhubin slightly nodded in his heart, smiling on the surface, "Do you have any other more detailed dreams, or dreams that you are very concerned about?"

"Other more detailed, more concerning dreams..." The visitor unconsciously repeated this phrase, beginning to murmur to herself.

After taking two breaths, the visitor looked up.

Her tone carried some hesitation, "I... indeed have a dream I am very concerned about, and possibly have had similar dreams many times."

"'Many similar dreams.'" Nan Zhubin repeated, "Then, approximately when was the last time you had this dream?"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.