美国国家公共电台 NPR Light Therapy Might Help People With Bipolar Depression

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

We try not to obsess¹ about this too much, but we really do get to work very early around here. We don't get a whole lot of sunlight, especially in the winter months. So when you look around the newsroom, you see these special lamps on some of our colleagues' desks. And people say that light therapy really does work. Research has shown that it can help with depression. And as NPR's Patti Neighmond reports, there's some new evidence that light might even be able to help people with bipolar disorder².

PATTI NEIGHMOND, BYLINE³: Some people call it a happy box. It's actually more like a computer monitor. You sit in front of it for an hour a day, and it helps cure the winter blues⁴. It's safe, effective and relatively⁵ inexpensive. So researchers at Northwestern University wanted to know if it would work for people with bipolar disorder, too. Psychiatrist⁶ Dorothy Sit headed the study.

DOROTHY SIT: We usually ask people to sit in front of the box, a distance of 12 or 13 inches away, and to position the light at eye level.

NEIGHMOND: It shines a bright light that mimics⁷ a sunny day outside. Patients don't stare at the light. They just have to sit in front of it.

SIT: They can certainly read - read the paper, journal, look at their bills.

NEIGHMOND: Now, a word of caution - the study was small - 46 patients. Half got the bright white light and half got a placebo⁸ that delivered a dim red light. After four to six weeks, Sit says the findings were impressive.

SIT: Sixty-eight percent of the patients improved with bright light therapy versus⁹ only 22 percent of patients on the placebo box. So patients returned to work. They are able to look after things at home. They were functioning back to their normal selves again.

NEIGHMOND: Sit wants to see her findings duplicated in more studies. And she says future research should measure internal body clocks to see whether slumps¹⁰ or upswings in energy effect bipolar depression and whether other brain changes occur. And there's an important caveat¹¹ for people with bipolar disorder.

AL LEWY: The new study is intriguing¹² but highly preliminary.

NEIGHMOND: Psychiatrist Al Lewy with Oregon Health and Science University says patients with bipolar disorder need to consult with their doctor before trying light therapy. This is mostly because the timing¹³ of the therapy can make a big difference, especially for people with bipolar disorder who experience intense highs and lows.

LEWY: If you do the light, particularly in the morning, with bipolar depression, you might cause the person to switch into a manic episode.

NEIGHMOND: Which is why patients in the study got their light therapy in the middle of the day. The cycle of highs and lows make bipolar depression much more difficult to treat than other types of depression. Psychiatrist Ken¹⁴ Duckworth, medical director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, says that's because medications like mood stabilizers and antidepressants work well to treat the manic phase of the disorder but not the depressive phase.

KEN DUCKWORTH: People with bipolar disorder spend most of their time on the depressive end of the spectrum¹⁵. And this difficulty is compounded by the fact that we don't have very good treatments for the depressive phase of bipolar disorder.

NEIGHMOND: So while there's a lot more research to be done, Duckworth says light therapy could be a promising¹⁶, non-drug treatment for patients with bipolar depression. Patti Neighmond, NPR News.

1 obsess   

vt.使着迷，使心神不定，（恶魔）困扰

参考例句：

• I must admit that maps obsess me.我得承认我对地图十分着迷。
• A string of scandals is obsessing America.美国正被一系列丑闻所困扰。

2 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。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 blues   

n.抑郁，沮丧；布鲁斯音乐

参考例句：

• She was in the back of a smoky bar singing the blues.她在烟雾弥漫的酒吧深处唱着布鲁斯歌曲。
• He was in the blues on account of his failure in business.他因事业失败而意志消沉。

5 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

6 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。

7 mimics   

n.模仿名人言行的娱乐演员，滑稽剧演员( mimic的名词复数 )；善于模仿的人或物v.（尤指为了逗乐而）模仿( mimic的第三人称单数 )；酷似

参考例句：

• Methods:Models were generate by CT scan,Mimics software and Abaqus software. 方法：采用CT扫描，Mimics软件和Abaqus软件的CAD进行三维有限元模型的创建。 来自互联网
• Relaxing the mind and body mimics the effect that some blood-pressure pills would have. 放松身心会产生某些降压药才能产生的效果。 来自辞典例句

8 placebo   

n.安慰剂；宽慰话

参考例句：

• The placebo has been found to work with a lot of different cases.人们已发现安慰剂能在很多不同的病例中发挥作用。
• The placebo effect refers to all the observable behaviors caused by placebo.安慰剂效应是指由安慰剂所引起的可观察的行为。

9 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

10 slumps   

萧条期( slump的名词复数 )； （个人、球队等的）低潮状态； （销售量、价格、价值等的）骤降； 猛跌

参考例句：

• Deflation could emerge from simultaneous slumps in the world's three major economies. 如果世界经济三大主体同时衰退，通货紧缩就会出现。
• This is the cycle of economic booms and slumps. 这是经济繁荣和经济萧条的周期变化。

11 caveat   

n.警告； 防止误解的说明

参考例句：

• I would offer a caveat for those who want to join me in the dual calling.为防止发生误解，我想对那些想要步我后尘的人提出警告。
• As I have written before,that's quite a caveat.正如我以前所写，那确实是个警告。

12 intriguing   

adj.有趣的；迷人的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的现在分词)；激起…的好奇心

参考例句：

• These discoveries raise intriguing questions. 这些发现带来了非常有趣的问题。
• It all sounds very intriguing. 这些听起来都很有趣。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 timing   

n.时间安排，时间选择

参考例句：

• The timing of the meeting is not convenient.会议的时间安排不合适。
• The timing of our statement is very opportune.我们发表声明选择的时机很恰当。

14 ken   

n.视野，知识领域

参考例句：

• Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
• Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.

15 spectrum   

n.谱，光谱，频谱；范围，幅度，系列

参考例句：

• This is a kind of atomic spectrum.这是一种原子光谱。
• We have known much of the constitution of the solar spectrum.关于太阳光谱的构成，我们已了解不少。

16 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。