纽约时报 疫情当前 强迫症患者的困境(1)

For Those With O.C.D., A Threat That Is Both Heightened and Familiar

强迫症患者的困境 一个日益突出却并不陌生的威胁

The coronavirus outbreak has turned many of us into nervous germophobes,

新冠疫情的爆发让我们中间的许多人都变成了神经质的细菌恐惧症患者，

seeking to protect ourselves from infection by washing our hands methodically and frequently,

为了保护自己不受感染，我们频繁且认真地洗手，

avoiding unnecessary contact with so called high-touch surfaces and methodically sanitizing packages, our homes and our bodies.

避免与所谓的“高频接触物表”发生不必要的接触，认真消毒包裹、家还有我们的身体。

For people diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder¹, or O.C.D., the worry created by the threat of coronavirus has the potential for more intense and longer-lasting implications.

然而，新冠病毒引发的担忧对强迫症（OCD）患者或许有着更加强烈而持久的影响。

According to the International OCD Foundation,

据国际强迫症基金会透露，

there are about three million Americans who have been diagnosed with O.C.D.

有近300万美国人被诊断患有强迫症。

It’s a condition characterized by unwanted thoughts or urges that generate high levels of anxiety and repetitive acts meant to neutralize² the obsessional³ thought.

这是一种以不必要的，会诱发重度焦虑心理及为平复强迫性思绪而做出的重复性行为的想法或冲动为表征的疾病。

The cleaning and sanitizing practices that help prevent coronavirus infection are bringing people with O.C.D. into closer orbit

清洁和消毒确实有助于预防冠状病毒感染，却也将强迫症患者进一步推向了一大有害习惯，

to behaviors that are a gateway⁴ to detrimental⁵ patterns that could interfere⁶ with their ability to engage meaningfully with the world outside their homes for years to come.

一个或将在未来数年内一直影响他们与家门外的外界社会有效互动的习惯的大门。

Courtenay Patlin, a 28-year-old in Los Angeles, is trying to find balance between appropriate caution and overreaction.

洛杉矶28岁的女士柯特奈·帕特林正试着在适度的谨慎和过度反应之间求取平衡。

Several weeks ago, before the California shelter-in-place order, Ms. Patlin decided⁷ to mostly stay indoors.

几周前，加州还未下达原地隔离命令，帕特林就已决定大部分时间在室内活动。

She had read enough about how quickly coronavirus had spread in China, Italy and then Seattle, and how very sick it was making so many.

她看了不少有关新冠肺炎在中国，意大利乃至西雅图如何快速地传播，如何严重侵蚀无数人的健康的资讯，

She felt she could rely on only herself and her Clorox to stay healthy.

感觉唯有靠自己，靠高乐氏（清洁用品品牌）才能保持健康。

“I keep a very clean apartment, and I feel safe at home,” she said.

“我家里保持得非常干净，待在家里我很安全，”她说。

Ms. Patlin, a graduate student studying clinical psychology⁸, was diagnosed with O.C.D. about five years ago, she said,

帕特林女士是一名研究临床心理学的研究生，她说，大约五年前自己被诊断出了患有强迫症，

after years of being afraid of public toilets,

多年来，她一直十分畏惧使用公共厕所，

refusing to eat off dishes that she hadn’t scrubbed herself or witnessed being sufficiently⁹ cleaned by others

还拒绝吃用不是自己洗的盘子或她没有亲眼看到被洗得干干净净的盘子盛的食物，

and being fearful of being hugged by basically anyone.

还害怕与任何人拥抱。

She used to clean her apartment and her hands with pure bleach¹⁰ and cleaning solutions until the skin on her fingers started to peel off,

过去，她常常不加勾兑直接用漂白剂和洗涤液洗手或是清洁她的公寓，一直洗到手指部位的皮肤开始脱落为止，

which she would take as a sign that she was cleaning the proper amount.

她甚至认为那才是清洁合格的标志。

In recent years, she said, she had managed what is known as “contamination O.C.D.” with medication and therapy.

据她透露，近年来，在药物和治疗的帮助下，她的病情，也即所谓的“污染强迫症”，已经得到了控制。

But these days, Ms. Patlin has felt her O.C.D. take reign¹¹ again.

然而，最近几日，帕特林女士感觉到她的强迫症又死灰复燃了。

When she heard a neighbor sneeze across the courtyard, she closed her windows to keep out any shared air.

当她听到院子对面的邻居打喷嚏后，她便关上了窗户，将她们之间的空气拒之门外。

When a friend picked up Ms. Patlin’s prescriptions¹² from a pharmacy¹³ and left them for her at her doorstep,

一位朋友帮她从药房取回了处药方并放在了她家门口后，

she wiped down the bottles with bleach, in the hope of killing¹⁴ any germs the pharmacist may have transmitted.

她用漂白剂将那些药瓶统统擦拭了一遍，希望能杀死药剂师可能传播给她的任何细菌。

The most complicated part is she doesn't even know anymore what’s too much.

最令人头疼的是，她已经不知道多清洁算过于清洁了。

“These are the moments when I am asking myself, ‘Is that my O.C.D. or should I be doing that?’” Ms. Patlin said.

“这时候，我会问我自己，‘算强迫症吗，还是我就应该这么谨慎？’”帕特林女士说。

“The lines are getting blurred¹⁵.”

“二者的界限已经不那么分明了。”

1 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

2 neutralize   

v.使失效、抵消，使中和

参考例句：

• Nothing could neutralize its good effects.没有什么能抵消它所产生的好影响。
• Acids neutralize alkalis and vice versa.酸能使碱中和碱，亦能使酸中和。

3 obsessional   

adj.摆脱不了的

参考例句：

• She is obsessional about cleanliness. 她有洁癖。
• Obsessional personalities commonly ruminate excessively about death. 有强迫症的人通常过多地思考死亡的问题。 来自辞典例句

4 gateway   

n.大门口，出入口，途径，方法

参考例句：

• Hard work is the gateway to success.努力工作是通往成功之路。
• A man collected tolls at the gateway.一个人在大门口收通行费。

5 detrimental   

adj.损害的，造成伤害的

参考例句：

• We know that heat treatment is detrimental to milk.我们知道加热对牛奶是不利的。
• He wouldn't accept that smoking was detrimental to health.他不相信吸烟有害健康。

6 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

8 psychology   

n.心理，心理学，心理状态

参考例句：

• She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
• He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。

9 sufficiently   

adv.足够地，充分地

参考例句：

• It turned out he had not insured the house sufficiently.原来他没有给房屋投足保险。
• The new policy was sufficiently elastic to accommodate both views.新政策充分灵活地适用两种观点。

10 bleach   

vt.使漂白；vi.变白；n.漂白剂

参考例句：

• These products don't bleach the hair.这些产品不会使头发变白。
• Did you bleach this tablecloth?你把这块桌布漂白了吗？

11 reign   

n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势

参考例句：

• The reign of Queen Elizabeth lapped over into the seventeenth century.伊丽莎白王朝延至17世纪。
• The reign of Zhu Yuanzhang lasted about 31 years.朱元璋统治了大约三十一年。

12 prescriptions   

药( prescription的名词复数 )； 处方； 开处方； 计划

参考例句：

• The hospital of traditional Chinese medicine installed a computer to fill prescriptions. 中医医院装上了电子计算机来抓药。
• Her main job was filling the doctor's prescriptions. 她的主要工作就是给大夫开的药方配药。

13 pharmacy   

n.药房，药剂学，制药业，配药业，一批备用药品

参考例句：

• She works at the pharmacy.她在药房工作。
• Modern pharmacy has solved the problem of sleeplessness.现代制药学已经解决了失眠问题。

14 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

15 blurred   

v.（使）变模糊( blur的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）难以区分；模模糊糊；迷离

参考例句：

• She suffered from dizziness and blurred vision. 她饱受头晕目眩之苦。
• Their lazy, blurred voices fell pleasantly on his ears. 他们那种慢吞吞、含糊不清的声音在他听起来却很悦耳。 来自《简明英汉词典》