治疗悲伤的新型心理疗法

New Form of Psychotherapy Found Effective for Grief

治疗悲伤的新型心理疗法

 

A new form of treating grief following the death of a loved one has been found to be more successful than conventional psychotherapy in some patients.

 

Two years ago, Heather Chatterjee's, daughter, Renee, was killed in an automobile¹ accident.

 

Heather Chatterjee: There's no sadness or any emotion that you can feel that describes the agony. It becomes physical pain. It becomes debilitating². It's the yearning³ and the longing⁴.

 

Ms. Chatterjee suffers from "complicated grief," a condition that afflicts⁶ an estimated 10 to 20 percent of bereaved⁷ individuals following the loss of a loved one.

 

Complicated grief includes intense feelings that last six months or longer, according to psychiatrist⁸ Katherine Shear⁹ of the University of Pittsburgh.

 

Katherine Shear: It's characterized by symptoms of intense separation distress¹⁰, yearning and longing for the person who died, and traumatic distress which is recurrent, intrusive¹¹ images of the person who died.

 

Experts say people suffering from complicated grief do not respond well to traditional psychotherapy.

 

So, Dr. Shear and colleagues developed a new form of treatment designed to get those with complicated grief to both accept their loss and focus on their personal life goals.

 

The therapy includes "revisiting" - tape recording¹² the patient telling the story of the loved one's death - and having the patient listen to the story daily, to help them lessen¹³ the intensity¹⁴ of emotion. The patient also tells the loved one things they didn't get to hear in life.

 

In a study comparing the two types of therapy, 51 percent of people with complicated grief were helped compared to 28 percent of people receiving traditional psychotherapy.

 

Dr. Shear was heartened by the results.

 

Dr. Shear: People who got complicated grief treatment were much more likely to tell us that the treatment made a very dramatic difference in their symptoms. And sometimes they said the treatment even changed their lives.

 

Among them is Heather Chatterjee, who has come to accept the death of her daughter.

 

Heather Chatterjee: It's something that will be with me for the rest of my life. But it's ok. I can go on now.

 

The study on complicated grief therapy was published in Journal of the American Medical Association.

 

Jessica Berman, VOA news, Washington.

 

注释：

psychotherapy [5saikEu5WerEpi] n. 精神疗法

automobile [5C:tEmEubi:l] n. 汽车

agony [5A^Eni] n. 苦恼

debilitate¹⁵ [di5biliteit] vt. 使衰弱

afflict⁵ [E5flikt] vt. 使痛苦

bereaved [bi5ri:vd] adj. 丧失的

symptom [5simptEm] n. 症状

intensity [in5tensiti] n. 强度

dramatic [drE5mAtik] adj. 戏剧性的

1 automobile   

n.汽车，机动车

参考例句：

• He is repairing the brake lever of an automobile.他正在修理汽车的刹车杆。
• The automobile slowed down to go around the curves in the road.汽车在路上转弯时放慢了速度。

2 debilitating   

a.使衰弱的

参考例句：

• The debilitating disease made him too weak to work. 这个令他衰弱的病，使他弱到没有办法工作。
• You may soon leave one debilitating condition or relationship forever. 你即将永远地和这段霉运说拜拜了。

3 yearning   

a.渴望的；向往的；怀念的

参考例句：

• a yearning for a quiet life 对宁静生活的向往
• He felt a great yearning after his old job. 他对过去的工作有一种强烈的渴想。

4 longing   

n.（for）渴望

参考例句：

• Hearing the tune again sent waves of longing through her.再次听到那首曲子使她胸中充满了渴望。
• His heart burned with longing for revenge.他心中燃烧着急欲复仇的怒火。

5 afflict   

vt.使身体或精神受痛苦，折磨

参考例句：

• I wish you wouldn't afflict me with your constant complains.我希望你不要总是抱怨而使我苦恼。
• There are many illnesses,which afflict old people.有许多疾病困扰着老年人。

6 afflicts   

使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Level 3-Afflicts a target with the Curse of the Silent. 三级-用静默诅咒折磨一个目标。
• Level 1-Afflicts a target with the Curse of the Silent. 一级-用静默诅咒折磨一个目标。

7 bereaved   

adj.刚刚丧失亲人的v.使失去（希望、生命等）( bereave的过去式和过去分词)；（尤指死亡）使丧失（亲人、朋友等）；使孤寂；抢走（财物）

参考例句：

• The ceremony was an ordeal for those who had been recently bereaved. 这个仪式对于那些新近丧失亲友的人来说是一种折磨。
• an organization offering counselling for the bereaved 为死者亲友提供辅导的组织

8 psychiatrist   

n.精神病专家；精神病医师

参考例句：

• He went to a psychiatrist about his compulsive gambling.他去看精神科医生治疗不能自拔的赌瘾。
• The psychiatrist corrected him gently.精神病医师彬彬有礼地纠正他。

9 shear   

n.修剪，剪下的东西，羊的一岁；vt.剪掉，割，剥夺；vi.修剪，切割，剥夺，穿越

参考例句：

• Every spring they shear off the sheep's wool and sell it.每年春天他们都要剪下羊毛去卖。
• In the Hebrides they shear their sheep later than anywhere else.在赫伯里兹，剪羊毛的时间比其他任何地方都要晚。

10 distress   

n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛

参考例句：

• Nothing could alleviate his distress.什么都不能减轻他的痛苦。
• Please don't distress yourself.请你不要忧愁了。

11 intrusive   

adj.打搅的；侵扰的

参考例句：

• The cameras were not an intrusive presence.那些摄像机的存在并不令人反感。
• Staffs are courteous but never intrusive.员工谦恭有礼却从不让人感到唐突。

12 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

13 lessen   

vt.减少，减轻；缩小

参考例句：

• Regular exercise can help to lessen the pain.经常运动有助于减轻痛感。
• They've made great effort to lessen the noise of planes.他们尽力减小飞机的噪音。

14 intensity   

n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度

参考例句：

• I didn't realize the intensity of people's feelings on this issue.我没有意识到这一问题能引起群情激奋。
• The strike is growing in intensity.罢工日益加剧。

15 debilitate   

v. 使衰弱

参考例句：

• Stewart took over yesterday when Russell was debilitated by a stomach virus.昨天拉塞尔因肠胃病毒感染身体不适，由斯图尔特暂时接手。
• Their efforts to debilitate the political will of the Western alliance came to nought.他们试图削弱西方联盟的政治决心的努力结果等于零。