纽约时报 疫情当前 强迫症患者的困境(2)（在线收听）

About one-third of people with O.C.D. are afflicted by contamination O.C.D.

大约1/3的强迫症患者都患有污染强迫症。

The new reality of a pandemic that requires acute attention to the transmission of germs creates additional peril for these people.

大流行这一新现实却要求所有人都给予细菌传播以高度关注，于是，这些强迫症患者陷入了比常人更多的危险。

"The rules have changed," said Julia Hitch, a psychologist in Seattle whose practice is in part devoted to treating children and adults with O.C.D.

“规则已经变了，”工作内容包含治疗儿童及成年强迫症患者的西雅图心理学家朱莉娅·希奇说道。

"Friends and neighbors are now engaging in O.C.D.-type behaviors, and it's making people in treatment with O.C.D. wonder:

“看到朋友和邻居都陷入了类似强迫症的习惯，正在接受强迫症治疗的人不免就会好奇：

'How do I not let this get out of hand, and what is out of hand anymore?'"Dr. Hitch said.

‘我又如何才能避免失控？话又说回来，现在到底怎样才算失控？”希奇医生说。

Those who have successfully gone through treatment to overcome or manage a contamination obsession and sanitizing compulsion are working hard to cope.

那些通过治疗成功克服或控制住了污染困扰及消毒强迫症的人正在艰难地应对这一问题。

Bella Ronan, a 19-year-old in Kirkland, Wash., was diagnosed with O.C.D. when she was 9.

华盛顿州柯克兰市现年19岁的贝拉·罗南9岁时便被诊断出了强迫症。

Her symptoms began, she said, after her younger sister, Frannie, was born.

她说，自己的症状是在妹妹弗朗妮出生后开始出现的。

Ms. Ronan obsessively worried about germs coming into the house that could harm her sister, who has Down syndrome.

罗南非常担心进入家中的细菌会伤害到患有唐氏综合症的妹妹。

To avoid transferring germs from one room to another, Ms. Ronan designated a different pair of slippers for each room of the house.

为了避免细菌从一个房间传播到另一个房间，罗南为每个房间都指定了一双拖鞋。

She would change her slippers three times as she went from the kitchen to the living room to the laundry room.

从厨房到起居室再到洗衣房，她都要换三次拖鞋。

If her mother wiped down a table with a cleaner that had chemicals in it and Ms. Ronan's book was placed on the table,

如果妈妈用含有化学物质的清洁剂擦拭了她放了书的桌子，

she would refuse to touch the book again for fear of being contaminated by the chemical.

她就会拒绝再碰那本书，因为她害怕被化学物质污染。

"I was washing my hands 40 times a day, scrubbing them so they were raw and bloody,"

“我一天要洗40次手，洗得我手都流血了，手也变得不那么光滑细腻了，”

said Ms. Ronan, who is living with her family while on a gap year between high school and college.

正处于高中和大学之间的空档年，现在仍和家人同住的罗南说道。

Years of intensive therapy and finding the right combination of medications offered short-term relief from the O.C.D., she said.

多年的高强度治疗加上正确的用药已经帮助她在短时间内摆脱了强迫症，她说。

But her life was changed after she turned 18 and was eligible for an adult residential treatment program.

年满18岁后，她又获得了接受成人住院治疗的机会，她的生活也因此发生了改变。

She stayed for eight weeks and the treatment consisted of intense exposure therapy

住院的那8个星期里，她接受了包括高强度地暴露于细菌环境之下，随后逐渐延长两次洗手之间的时长等治疗。

during which Ms. Ronan tested her fears that germs and chemicals could make her sick by touching various surfaces and liquids

进行高强度暴露疗法时，罗南挑战了自己对细菌及化学物质的恐惧，

(for example, the bottom of shoes, bathroom countertops and laundry detergent)

因为正是这种恐惧令她担心接触各种物表和液体

and then gradually extending the amounts of time before she could wash her hands.

(例如鞋底、浴室台面和洗衣粉)便会致使自己生病。

The residential treatment was followed by a monthlong step-down recovery program,

住院治疗结束之后，罗南又进行了为期一个月的逐步恢复计划，

during which she lived in an apartment with other O.C.D. patients.

在此期间她已经能与其他强迫症患者共同居住了。

"The only way to overcome the O.C.D. is to learn to live with it, and that's by living an exposure lifestyle," Ms. Ronan said.

“克服强迫症的唯一办法就是学着接受，通过主动暴露的生活方式去学着接受，”罗南说。

Now, she is focused on staying healthy mentally and physically.

现在，她已经将自己的注意力转移到了维持身心健康方面。

"I've spent almost 11 years having something inside my head tell me things that would cause my mom, my dad,

“我花了将近11年的时间才让会令我爸爸妈妈，我的朋友还有我的医生都认为，

my friends and my therapist to say, 'That's a little extreme,'" she said.

‘那样就有点儿过头了'的念头根植在我的脑子里，”她说。

"But now those same people are telling me to wash my hands all the time so I don't get sick, and I'm trying to wrap my head around it all."

“但他们现在又反复跟我说，我要勤洗手才不会生病，这一切的一切，我现在都还没消化过来。”

Ms. Ronan has asthma, which makes contracting Covid-19 even scarier.

令感染新冠肺炎变得更为可怕的是，罗南女士还患有哮喘。

She is taking her cues on sanitizing from her mother and father, who she trusts.

她正在接受父母提供的消毒建议，因为她只信任他们。

"If they say I should wash my hand for 20 seconds under warm water,

“如果他们说我应该用温水洗手洗20秒，

I know there are facts causing them to tell me to do that and I'm relying on facts."

我知道他们告诉我这么做肯定是有事实依据的，而我是看事实下决定的人。”

She is also listening to advice from doctors and other experts she hears on TV or reads about in news articles.

她还会听取她在电视上看到或新闻里读到的医生和其他专家的建议。

Becky Ronan, Bella's mother, is struggling with her own anxiety connected to her older daughter's condition.

贝拉的母亲贝基·罗南也有自己的焦虑，大女儿贝拉的病就是她焦虑的原因。

"As worried as I am about anyone getting Covid-19,

“任何人感染新冠病毒我都会担心，

I'm equally worried about her having a backslide and having to go back into a residential program," Becky said.

“但我同样担心的是（贝拉）她的病复发，因为那样她就又得回去接受住院治疗了，”贝基说道。

"That is just as scary as Covid-19."

“（对我来说）那样的结局和新冠肺炎一样可怕。”