新闻周刊:关于焦虑的新认识(1)（在线收听）

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封面文章来源于《科学与技术》版块

Scientists' Understanding of Anxiety is Radically Evolving—But How Long Will it Take for Treatments to Catch Up?

科学家们对焦虑的理解正在发生根本性的变化——但是治疗需要多长时间才能赶上?

By Adam Piore

作者：亚当·皮奥里

If you think we live in anxious times now, the neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux suggests you consider what life must have been like in the Middle Ages. "That was probably a pretty lousy time to live," LeDoux, author of the 2015 book Anxious and one of the foremost experts on the neuroscience of fear, told Newsweek. "Disease, poverty and just the stress of life."

如果你认为我们现在生活在一个焦虑的时代，那么神经学家约瑟夫·勒杜会建议你想想中世纪的生活会是什么样的。2015年出版的《焦虑》一书的作者、恐惧神经科学领域最重要的专家之一勒杜在接受《新闻周刊》采访时表示:“那可能是一段相当糟糕的生活时光。”“疾病、贫穷和生活的压力。”

LeDoux was making a point he also makes in his recent book: Every age thinks it's "the Age of Anxiety."

勒杜在他最近的书中也提出了一个观点:每个时代都认为这是“焦虑的时代”。

"We love our anxiety and because it's ours, we think it's so special," he said. "But that's the nature of anxiety—it's all-consuming in your mind. If my mind is charged with anxiety, I can't imagine other people could've felt this bad in their lives."

“我们喜欢焦虑，因为它是我们的，所以我们认为它很特别，”他说。但这就是焦虑的本质——它在你的脑海中占据了全部。如果我的大脑充满焦虑，我无法想象其他人在生活中也会有如此糟糕的感受。”

It was a fair point, but I wasn't entirely convinced. I'd arrived at his office early and, while waiting for the eminent researcher, took a quick peek at my cellphone, which revealed the following news stories: The Amazon rainforest—the "lungs of the world"—was on fire, which could accelerate global warming. The trade war between the U.S. and China had escalated and the Dow Jones Industrial Average had plunged 600 points. There'd been two random mass shootings in recent weeks.

这是一个公平的观点，但我并不完全信服。我很早就到了他的办公室，在等这位杰出的研究人员的时候，我快速地看了一眼我的手机，发现了以下新闻: 亚马逊雨林——“世界之肺”——着火了，这可能会加速全球变暖。美国和中国之间的贸易战升级，道琼斯工业平均指数暴跌600点。最近几周发生了两起随机大规模枪击案。

As I contemplated what all this might mean for my children, the planet and my 401k, a text message arrived from my editor at Newsweek. Could I deliver my story on anxiety a week early—say, in three days? If this wasn't the "Age of Anxiety," then what was it?

当我在思考这一切对我的孩子、地球和我的401k计划意味着什么时，《新闻周刊》的编辑发来了一条短信。我能提前一周，比如三天内，讲述我的焦虑故事吗? 如果这不是“焦虑时代”，那是什么呢？

LeDoux was right about one thing. I am certainly not the only one living in the present who is grappling with fear of the future, even if it sometimes feels like it.

勒杜有一件事是对的。我当然不是唯一一个活在当下、正与对未来的恐惧作斗争的人，即使有时感觉我就是唯一一个。

In May, the American Psychiatric Association reported that for the second year in a row, two out of three Americans say they are "extremely or somewhat anxious" about their health, paying bills and keeping themselves and their family safe. The problem is most pronounced for younger adults—70 percent of those between 18 and 34 report anxiety about paying bills and keeping their families safe, and two out of three are also anxious about relationships (compared with 40 percent for those over 55). About one in five has sought professional care.

今年5月，美国精神病学协会报告称，连续第二年，三分之二的美国人表示他们对自己的健康、支付账单、保证自己和家人的安全“极度或有些焦虑”。 这个问题在年轻人身上表现得最为明显——在18岁至34岁的人群中，70%的人表示对支付账单和保障家庭安全感到焦虑，三分之二的人还对人际关系感到焦虑(55岁以上人群中这一比例为40%)。