“Foreign countries also have more advanced equipment now.” Dr. Sullivan shook his head. “I don’t know the specifics either, but from academic exchanges, it seems there are very few effective methods. You have to understand, the human brain is the most complex part of the body. Current medicine can only grasp the general idea; to fully uncover its secrets may take several centuries.” He gave a bitter smile and shook his head again. “Perhaps the mysteries of the human brain are endless. Even after a few hundred years, whether we can truly understand it is still unknown.”

Suddenly remembering something, Ping Brooks asked, “Dr. Sullivan, you said my son doesn’t have a neurological disorder, but you can’t rule out the possibility. How do you explain that?”

Dr. Sullivan replied slowly, “Mental illness, also called insanity, is the result of abnormal brain function. With current instruments and methods, we still can’t detect destructive changes in brain structure.”

Glancing at the EEG image in his hand, he continued, “According to current data, mental illness is caused by a disorder in the patient’s brain biochemical processes, or by the excessive accumulation of certain metabolic products in the brain. Because the brain function of mental patients is abnormal, these patients show obvious abnormalities in mental activity, such as talking to themselves for no reason, unpredictable mood swings, sometimes facing the wall or shouting angrily at nothing, sometimes being disheveled.”

“But,” Ping Brooks hesitated, “what does this have to do with my son?” In fact, he knew it had a lot to do with Ethan.

Glancing at the Ping Brooks couple, he said, “There are many causes of mental illness. For example, the fast pace of modern life, excessive life pressure, emotional stress.” He paused for a moment, and for some reason glanced at Nurse Foster, but Nurse Foster was listening intently and didn’t notice anything in his gaze. “Heartbreak is also a cause of mental illness. Recently, there have been frequent cases of depression, mental disorders, and even suicides among college students. These are all the serious consequences of long-term mental suppression, leading to biochemical disorders in the brain, and a lack of emotional regulation and outlets for release.”

“Then what about my son?” Ping Brooks finally asked, “Is he really mentally ill?”

Helen Carter had been holding back tears, but at this point she couldn’t help but cry out, “Little Ethan is not mentally ill, he’s not mentally ill!” The emotions she had been suppressing could no longer be controlled, and she began to sob softly.

Volume One: Where Am I

Chapter Five: Searching for the Cause

Ping Brooks managed to control his emotions and gently comforted his wife, “Helen, don’t worry, Dr. Sullivan will definitely help us find a solution. Besides, besides, Little Ethan’s illness might be in the early stages, right, Dr. Sullivan?”

Dr. Sullivan was silent for a moment. “Mr. Brooks is right, you don’t need to worry too much. But this kind of neurological problem isn’t something a doctor can fix with surgery. All we can do is prescribe some calming and brain-nourishing medicine, but you must pay close attention to him and notice if there’s anything unusual in his daily behavior.”

Finally stopping her tears, Helen Carter slowly raised her head. “No, Little Ethan always comes home cheerful, there’s nothing unusual about him.”

After thinking for a moment, Dr. Sullivan said slowly, “He seems to be in a kind of autistic state now, fantasizing that he’s living in ancient times, like the Song Dynasty, talking about Qin Hui, Yue Fei, sleeping for eight hundred years—I think most of this is his subconscious imagination. This is a fairly typical escape mentality.”

“So what should we do?” Helen Carter asked anxiously.

“You need to find the cause,” Dr. Sullivan said slowly. “That is, find out why he wants to escape—whether it’s because of academic setbacks or emotional troubles.”

Although Dr. Sullivan wasn’t a psychologist, he had a general understanding of students’ psychology these days. Compared to his own time, today’s students enjoy much more, don’t have to worry about much, but are also much more fragile. Many can’t handle setbacks; even a trivial breakup can feel like the sky is falling, and after a few days of job hunting and a few rejections, they start to think they’re good for nothing.

Ping Brooks looked at his wife in confusion. He was a quiet man who rarely communicated with his son. If his son had something on his mind, it was the mother who would notice.

But Helen Carter also shook her head. “Little Ethan is grown up now, he doesn’t tell me much anymore. But—” she thought for a moment, “I saw his sophomore year grades. They weren’t excellent, but he didn’t fail any classes. Besides, he’s not in his junior year yet. Our family isn’t rich, but we’re not struggling either. I don’t think he should have any job pressure.”

The usually silent Nurse Foster suddenly asked, “Could it be that he’s had some emotional setback?”