Hollywood Domination Chapter 252: Psychological counseling

If you count the two lives before and after, Jenny's mental age should be almost 40 years old. Of course, her body is still quite young now. When she was in a relationship, she didn't feel like she was "an old cow eats young grass", but this doesn't mean that she would really be like those stars who have made a fortune all the way and had a very simple experience. The judgment was so frightening that I wish I could kneel down and ask Maggie to save her—if this is the case, all psychotherapy is almost a cult-like method of intimidation and preaching. However, she couldn't help admitting that Maggie's scaremongering really made her 'stab' a bit. At least, she no longer hoped that this awkward meeting would end soon, but instead became interested in Maggie.

"Can I talk about your reasons?" she asked, exploring Maggie's expression, but now that the psychiatrist was smiling again, Jenny's obvious questioning didn't seem to matter much to her Influence. "As far as I know, my current illness—of course, it's not that good for me personally, but at least I haven't reached the point where Heath had to take medicine to barely sleep for two or three hours like Heath did a while ago."

She realized that she was a little too aggressive, so she quickly added, "Of course, I didn't mean to talk about Heath's condition with you. I respect your doctor-patient relationship."

"That's a good question," said Maggie cheerfully, "and it's one of the most common conversations between me and my celebrity clients: why are you different from ordinary people."

She poured a cup of tea for Jenny, "To answer you first, yes, your psychological problems don't seem to be too serious, we did sds in the first consultation, your score just crossed the normal boundary, So, if you're being honest, your problem isn't too serious. I don't need to give away to tell you - of course you can observe that there are many people around you who score higher on this scale than you ——And some of them are also my patients. I cured some of them, and some of them were introduced to other doctors. According to my personal experience, the patients who can be cured by me have a distinctive feature, That is, they are all eager for help from the outside world, eager to be healed."

Her clear eyes looked at Jenny calmly, "And Jennifer, patients like you are nicknamed "followers". You should have a psychiatrist and say bluntly that your own willingness to seek help is not that strong, and it can even be said that you don’t have it at all.”

She paused meaningfully, and Jenny felt a moment of discomfort in her eyes—but she didn't feel Maggie's malice, in a way, she had to admit, Maggie said That's right, it can even be said that Maggie has seen through her mentality of going to the doctor.

Maggie also seemed to find a response from her expression, she continued, "Of course, many patients did not have great hopes when they first received consultation, but after stable and long-term consultation, their The progress is very good. But I am afraid that the celebrity patients are not in this range. Without the patient's willingness to cooperate, the consultation may have little effect, and this is especially true for you. In the two contacts with you, I found that, If your willingness to cooperate is not strong enough, we may not even be able to complete a psychological consultation with real progress, are you interested in discussing my idea with me?"

Jenny has to admit that Maggie's intimidation tactics are quite effective. Even though she clearly guessed her purpose and even knew that she was arousing her interest step by step, she still felt that her interest was aroused .

Looking at Maggie, she nodded reluctantly, even jerky, under Maggie's happy gaze, "Well, why not?"

"Very good," Maggie said, "if you can, please lean back, yes, maintain a relaxed posture, although I know this is difficult for you. You are in an unfamiliar environment, There's a good chance that you're about to expose some of your weaknesses, and it does make you nervous and feel like you need to take a defensive stance - ok, it's a good stance, as long as you're comfortable with it - and that's us One thing I want to talk about is the defensive attitude of celebrities towards psychological counseling."

"Generally speaking, if the patient is not very desperate to seek help, or has a tendency to over-share, it will take a certain amount of time to establish a trusting relationship between the patient and the counselor, and some conventional means of help , For example, we will organize group consultations and mutual aid clubs, of course, these are the objects of ridicule in film and television dramas, and many people think this is a kind of psychological hypnosis." Maggie said in a chatty tone, "This kind of person usually I also think that psychology is a false religion, but the fact is that creating an atmosphere of pouring out and holding anonymous mutual aid meetings is very helpful for building trust relationships, and participants will realize under the influence of this atmosphere that their * doesn't matter , is not a special situation in the group, and will not be used as a weapon to harm him. In fact, the reason why the trust relationship between the patient and the counselor takes time is that the patient needs to be familiar with the counselor, and at the same time judge his The professional qualities of the patient, the persuasion of his self-preservation instinct, the exposure of his weaknesses to the danger of being attacked, there are many kinds of persuasion processes, and generally speaking, the patient will realize that his secret is important to society and the group to which he belongs. It doesn’t matter to him, few people even really care about it, and the consultant is far enough away from his social circle, even if he wants to use secrets to persecute himself, it is impossible to find a suitable way.”

"Needless to say, this line of thinking is completely inapplicable to social celebrities. Their secrets are unlikely to be unnoticed, and most of the time they are by no means irrelevant. Once a consultant has a bad idea, it can be very convenient. Harm them as much as possible, and use it to obtain rich benefits—not only have channels and audiences, but also have interest temptations and motivations. In this case, it is a bit abnormal to not have a confrontational mentality.”

Maggie took a breath, "Let's take you for example, Jennifer, I believe that even if your reason tells yourself that I am a credible consultant introduced by your agent, I have profound qualifications, There has never been a phenomenon of leaking to the media in the past, I have many celebrity clients, and I have maintained long-term consulting relationships with them-but you are still very wary of me in your heart, you can't let go of suspicion, you are always worried, If you tell your secret in this room, maybe it'll be a headline the next day, won't it?"

Maybe it's Maggie's frank and relaxed tone, maybe it's her comfortable sitting posture and the cool air in the room, maybe it's the chatty atmosphere, this kind of precise guessing didn't make Jenny feel uncomfortable, but instead made her feel sorry for Maggie. Ji's professional ability built a certain sense of trust. At least she felt that she was a little familiar with her, and the two were really talking, unlike the first consultation where she was absent-minded, and Maggie seemed to be just Cope with things. Maggie's words made her feel a kind of...sincerity, and she instinctively wanted to return it with sincerity.

"...Yeah," she admitted, which was one of the reasons she couldn't relax. "Of course I don't mean to doubt your professionalism, but this concern ... is still lingering, you know, I am closely watched by the paparazzi, and although it is ridiculous, I do doubt that if your office is people bugged, and if our consultation tapes get stolen - you know what I mean."

"Yes, yes, I understand." Maggie said, "Because you were bugged once before, and, according to the news I saw, you, Britney Spears, Lin Sai Lohan, last year's Internet search hot words, you are also the most endangered celebrities in the Internet age, the public has great interest in your life, so the paparazzi will use any means to obtain your private information , violation of your sexual rights, every fluctuation of your emotional life has the media involved, as do the major events in your personal life. Your phone calls are taped, you get death threats from a stalker - these are supposed to be private Every moment has become an excuse for public carnival."

She looked at Jenny gently, "For your reason, these things have passed, and the impact it has had on you has both advantages and disadvantages-don't look at me like that, I read the articles in the entertainment section extensively, Because I live in Los Angeles, I know what the attention economy is—"

She and Jenny laughed together, and continued, "But your subconscious mind doesn't, your mind remembers all this, so your confrontational psychology can't be too strong, because you are just trying to protect yourself , this is your natural reaction."

Jenny is really listening now, and she can't help but ask, "But what you just said, at least in my opinion, is that even if I overcome this confrontational psychology and discuss my problems with you, the recovery Normal—at least the state I was in before these symptoms appeared, is almost impossible, isn't it?"

"During our first meeting, we talked about your symptoms," Maggie said. Symptoms, after the filming of "Monroe", right? At that time, you were followed by the paparazzi, and at the same time you were dealing with the breakup with your boyfriend, and you began to explore a new acting technique and immerse yourself in the character more deeply, so it appeared These symptoms. If you were to analyze it yourself, which factor do you think is the decisive factor?"

Jenny hesitated for a moment, and she already understood what Maggie meant, "You mean, if I don't give up the Methodism, it's impossible for me to remove this obstacle, right?"

"If you don't give up methodism and don't make changes in your lifestyle, the possibility of healing is very low." Unknowingly, the discussion between the two has begun to deepen, Maggie said , "The subject I have been doing is to study the mental health of experiential and method actors. One of the beliefs you must establish is, Jennifer, you are not alone. My statement is only between a family, and there is no academic There's a broad consensus because it's such a small group. But it's true that I think method acting is a detriment to an actor's mental health and, in many cases, a catalyst for many mental illnesses. It's a detriment to self-awareness. Sex is there for all to see, after all, if I understand correctly, every performance of yours is an obliteration of 'who I am', you know exactly who you are, but in performance, you are obliterating all the time This kind of realization, trying to think of oneself as another person."

What Maggie said made Jenny nod involuntarily and admitted that she began to thank Cesare for letting her see a psychiatrist. Finding the crux of the problem through the scan gave her a sense of hope—a sense of relief and relief that she had never felt when trying to save herself before.

"And at the same time, the special circumstances I'm in also make my hope of solving all this very small, doesn't it?" She reasoned together with Maggie, "Because it's hard for me to trust others , this kind of self-preservation will block the channel for me to ask for help, so you think my pressure will become more and more serious, until I can't bear it myself and have a mental breakdown, don't you?"

"The last time you talked to someone really honestly about your troubles, and being open about all your vulnerabilities, wasn't a conversation like talking to Meryl about the difficulties you were having at work, but—let's just For example, talk to your friends about your negativity about the breakup, your depression and depression—when was that conversation?" Instead of answering Jenny's question directly, Maggie asked rhetorically.

Jenny thought for a while, and couldn't help being stunned. Maggie saw her reaction and nodded.

"This is what makes you special compared to other Method actors," she said, "Generally speaking, Method actors don't have a well-developed side job, but you are not only an outstanding actor, but also a business genius. You have just been recognized for your achievements in filmmaking. This is different from Meryl, Daniel, Robert De Niro and other method masters. And I have noticed that your words and deeds often remind me of some of my acquaintances, They are usually a successful businessman, an ambitious entrepreneur."

Maggie smiled, "The personalities of successful people usually have something in common. They like to take the initiative in conversations, and they will do everything they can to avoid showing weakness, because this will make them lose the initiative in business negotiations." Status. They are very mindful of their words and deeds, and they can even be said to be very self-denying, because their every move is a weapon, and they hope to control their behavior so that they can achieve their goals in the workplace-I think these characteristics Sounds familiar, doesn't it?"

Jenny was speechless—she no longer wanted to confront Maggie, but even so, Maggie's almost 'mind-reading' analysis made her feel as if she had been seen through. uneasy.

"Generally speaking, these people's psychological environment is also very closed, and their habits determine that they tend to keep their thoughts in their hearts, but this does not mean that such people are mentally ill, or even hopeless , some people suffer from mental illness, like Arthur in "Michael Clayton"." Maggie laughed, "I think it's a very good movie, because you can see, except In addition to Arthur, there are many institutionalized people, such as the character played by Sidney, who is very closed, but mentally healthy.——The same is that, although the actors of the experience school and the method school may suffer from mental illness Sexuality is higher than that of ordinary people, but there are also some people who are very peaceful in their inner world, or trying to achieve balance. We can usually see reports of some method actors who are unrestrained, such as Daniel Day-Lewis-I personally think that he once had The life of a prodigal son is a kind of catharsis for his inner pressure. Later, he changed a method. Generally speaking, Daniel can still maintain basic mental health. This kind of sudden emotional outburst, *enjoying catharsis-style carnival, It can be seen as a channel to dredge the heart. Generally speaking, these actors are not afraid of showing weakness, they can casually admit that they need help, because this is nothing unusual for an actor, they always The channels of foreign traffic have always been open, in fact, sometimes even too open by ordinary people's standards."

"However, your situation is very special, Jennifer, because of your multiple identities, your habits and your instincts make you tend to close your true feelings, and you also have enough acting skills to support you to complete this task Work, if your psychological structure is a bucket, then your work provides you with several times more water than normal people, and this bucket provides some outlets,” Maggie found out Pick up a pen and start drawing pictures for Jenny, "Communicate with others, ask for help——"

She looked at Jenny inquisitively, and Jenny shook her head, she admitted, "I don't have many friends, most of them are far away from me, they care about me, but I really rarely talk to them Talking about my troubles - I just figured if they couldn't help me, it wouldn't do any good to talk about it. And the truth is, I don't get to see them very often."

Maggie puts a lock on this point, "some cathartic behavior that can be done on its own, drinking, eating, vacationing, shopping——"

"I don't drink alcohol, I go on a diet all the year round, I don't have time for vacations, and I don't need to go shopping," Jenny simply crossed the picture by herself, "I guess you can see it too, Maggie, your preparations are so careful, Of course you know where I live—and that’s how most actresses live, I guess, don’t you?”

"Indeed," Maggie smiled. "You are a very special case, Jennifer. Your multiple identities make your life completely shaped by self-control. The source of your troubles. Many celebrities who lack self-control, like Britney Spears, their sense of security was destroyed by the paparazzi, and they picked up bad habits in the catharsis, step by step on the road to self-destruction , but your problem is just the opposite, your self-control is too strong, which makes your inner world become a well-guarded island, and even you yourself can hardly overcome the obstacles it sets up when you need help."

She drew a wall around the bucket with a few faucets above it, "So now we have a rough personal mental model where we have stressors, outlets, and obstacles, and we can even Claiming that it is a scientific model, the so-called science is that we can use some formulas to analyze it.”

Maggie labeled the faucets one by one: "Long hours of high-intensity mental and physical work, methodical acting skills, public attention and media attacks-by the way, I must say one more thing, you are very sorry for the media. It is one of the sources of pressure, but the affirmation of the media does not make you happy, and it cannot be used as a channel to reduce pressure, which is a negative factor.”

She drew an extra closed outlet on the bucket, and held it up to show Jenny, as if waiting for her opinion, and Jenny looked at the picture again, and couldn't help but feel shuddering: she couldn't find anything wrong, What's more, she thought Maggie was right.

"So you're saying, if I don't change the genre of acting and continue to act, my problems will be difficult to solve." Gaining her attention, but she wasn't blustering at all, and there was nothing wrong with the picture, and Jenny realized that there was a real lack of outlet in her life.

She started to add an additional closed outlet, and for the first time confessed a secret that would cause people to turmoil if it was spread out—or in other words, a secret that is truly personal*, "After breaking up with Chris , My **** life is completely blank, so I guess this is also a closed channel, and it was closed recently, maybe this also has a certain role in promoting nightmares and insomnia.”

Maggie was indifferent to her overtures and softening, without making a fuss, reminding Jenny that this is private, and just nodded in agreement, "Yes, sexual desire is one of the driving forces of human beings. You can't imagine how many theories put sex. Repression as a source of psychological problems is certainly worth noting."

"Yes, so, long hours of work, public attention, these are the spigots I can't turn off, the only spigot I can take the initiative to turn off, otherwise the bucket will get fuller and fuller sooner or later, is that what you mean?" Jenny asked again, but this time, there was no doubt in her tone, but thoughtfulness instead. "Actually, I also thought about this problem myself, and my thoughts coincided with your suggestion at the time-I think my problems should be alleviated a lot after the filming of "Monroe", because the next few films have all It is relatively simple, which is equivalent to turning off the faucet."

"If you are willing to give up methodological acting skills, the problem will be much simpler." Maggie's tone became more and more relaxed, and she looked at Jenny with some appreciation, "Many therapists are unwilling to establish a personal relationship with patients. Emotional connection, don't want to reveal my biased views, but I've been a pretty freewheeling therapist, so I'm going to give you my verdict, as arbitrary as it may be - Jennifer, you're a very special girl, Generally speaking, actors with artistic talent tend to be sentimental and fragile in nature, but you are different. I think you are rational, tenacious, sensitive and intelligent, so you can carry it until now, until the new techniques you use are developed. After a whole new source of stress emerges, you develop some mild disorder—I wouldn't even call it a mental illness, just a warning sign. Preventive treatment for the human psyche requires It is much more effective than restorative treatment, so I think even if you are not willing to give up your new technique completely, we can still find a way out for you. This is a problem that needs your attention, but after getting your attention , we can solve it relatively easily, because you are different from patients in similar situations, and your strength allows you to make many attempts.”

It's like her intimidation is very effective although its purpose is obvious, and now her praise, although it also obviously has the purpose of decompressing Jenny, still makes her smile, "Okay, I Admittedly, you do have two hands—and good self-promotion.”

With a teasing look of 'you and I know it', I exchanged a look with Maggie. In Maggie's gentle smile, Jenny's smile also widened, and she spread her hands, "And you succeeded Convinced me, maybe we can really give it a try—"

She said half-jokingly, half-seriously (she hadn't yet gotten used to asking another person for help), "But the thing is, I'm going back to Europe tomorrow to shoot Monroe, and obviously , it is impossible for me to give up this new technique suddenly, so, under such circumstances, how can you treat me, doctor?"

"That's a real problem," Maggie said right away—and she readily admitted, "and I guess you can't take remote counseling just yet, can you?"

Jenny nodded. For her, the suspicion that Maggie's clinic had bugs must be untenable. You can let your guard down here, but if Maggie consults with her remotely via computer or telephone, her sense of security will not be so strong. For a normal person, she always suspects that her mailbox has been stolen , The computer was hacked, and the phone was tapped completely belonged to persecution paranoia, but Jenny's encounters repeatedly proved that her worries were definitely not due to overthinking. Besides, she was going to London, where the paparazzi had no limits. If the wiretapping incident happened again—in short, remote consultation was definitely not feasible, at least he couldn't rest assured right now.

"Then do you think you can support me for a while longer? Wait until you return to your country and start consulting formally," Maggie asked, "Or do you want me to give you some advice, what help do you need from me?"

Maybe this is the normal atmosphere of counseling, and ordinary people can easily open up to a counselor, and they don't need Maggie's lengthy analysis to get to this point. However, for Jenny, she paid Maggie's expensive consultation fees have also proved to be worth the money - because of her own speciality, Jenny has always been very skeptical about whether she can benefit from psychological counseling, and besides, she has never done psychological counseling before. The teacher also responded with natural skepticism. And Maggie's performance just now at least shows that she is very smart and can deduce so much information from two sides, and her professional attitude also makes her appreciate it. Wild, Jenny thought it wouldn't do any harm to try it out with her.

"I do have some troubles, maybe they are also one of my sources of stress." It was the first time that Jenny talked about her problems to others, and even admitted her problems to herself. Before that, she even told Cesare her She didn't reveal anything, she didn't know why, maybe it was because Cesare was very sensitive, and she felt that she had exposed too much to him. "Of course you know, I broke up with Christopher before - I don't want to talk about the pressure of this breakup, of course I have some loss, but it's nothing I can't deal with. Strong emotions—"

She pursed her lips, "It's guilt instead."

Maggie has now returned to the role of the listener. She nodded calmly and listened quietly to Jenny going on, "Because I don't intend to settle down with anyone, but without stating this Still developing a romantic relationship with him before, it was actually a kind of cheating on him - and I don't want to repeat this process, so for me, of course it's a very vague idea, that is, in my I don't plan to fall in love again until I make the final decision... before I decide whether I'm ready to settle down."

She was aware of the problem, but it was the first time Jenny had gotten her head together and talked about it openly, and it made her uncomfortable, but just thinking about the model Maggie had just set up, she knew She couldn't continue to evade, at least she couldn't even evade such a superficial question, she swallowed a bit, and continued, "However, the opposite is that between me and Salvi...Of course we have nothing now, But if I admit it completely honestly, I have a crush on him, I feel a strong attraction for him-if I admit it more honestly... the spiritual attraction is stronger than Christopher's for me. The attraction used to be stronger, but shortly after we broke up, when he obviously hadn't come out yet, as the perpetrator, I already had a good impression of others, which made me feel very guilty."

Maggie nodded thoughtfully. She didn't utter any words of judgment, nor did she express any relief. She just made a gesture to let Jenny continue. Obviously, she didn't seem to think that this was Jenny's main problem. , 'This kind of question can't trouble you', she seemed to say so.

"Such questions really don't bother me," Jenny confirmed her thoughts, "because of course I also know that it's normal to have feelings for others, as long as you can restrain yourself. There are always things in life. A lot of inappropriate people make you feel attracted, and this is not the first time I have restrained my affection for others, as you said, self-control is my forte - the problem is, when I enter the role of Monroe , I...my restraint has dropped tremendously, as if there is a second personality dominating me, but it still shares my judgment, memory, and feelings, of course we never said it explicitly, but I think I showed affection for him--that is, through facial expressions and body language--that was--I don't know what to say--"

"You don't need to continue to describe," Maggie said reassuringly, "I understand what you mean, go on."

Telling her troubles already made Jenny feel relaxed and relieved, she took a breath, and gradually got used to this way of venting—telling the problem itself seems to be a kind of relief and relaxation, " And I feel that he also understands how I feel about him, and I even think he has the same affection for me. I can receive this feeling in Monroe's state, of course, there is no actual example of this, at best It can only be called the sixth sense." She said distressedly, "The problem now is that in our normal communication, neither I nor he has the slightest abnormal signal, I am a keen person, I assure you, Maggie, if someone is interested in me, I can feel it, but Salvi didn’t give any signal. I don’t know if he has no intention of me, it’s all a misunderstanding, or because he is very good at hiding, because He's a very old-fashioned Englishman - but I don't like either answer, and if it's purely my misunderstanding, it's my hallucinations... I don't know, it's just that my judgment has gone down and there's Serious confusion--and if he really felt my affections, and even developed a fondness for me--"

Jennie shrugged, "Then I'm even more guilty—it's like I'm playing with other people's feelings again, and I really don't want to do it again."

Sighing in relief, Jenny took a long sip of tea and concluded, "And this is a small problem that we have to solve right away before we can solve the really big problem."

Maggie pursed her lips, nodded slowly, and did not speak immediately. Jenny admired her expression, but for some reason, she smiled easily.

"It's a mess, isn't it?" she asked, "No, no, don't be too quick to deny it, you know—you said it yourself, Maggie, I'm sharp and observant, and if you lie, I You can see it."

Maggie laughed helplessly, and finally nodded.

"You are indeed a very special case, Jennifer," she admitted, "and very complicated—but so far my confidence has not wavered: as long as you can join me, I believe, we will eventually It can be solved."

The corners of Jenny's lips curled up, and suddenly, she felt that everything was full of hope—even though it might be another symptom of mental illness: violent mood swings, sudden joy and anger, and love to go to extremes.

"Call me Jenny," she said, "that's my real name."