是我多虑了吗？<br/>——过度焦虑既于事无补又有损健康

是我多虑了吗？
——过度焦虑既于事无补又有损健康

2015-04-09byMarkhamHeid小狐

疯狂英语·新策略 2015年11期

by Markham Heid小狐译

是我多虑了吗？
——过度焦虑既于事无补又有损健康

Do I Worry Too Much?—Frequent Fretting Is Both Unproductive and Unhealthy

by Markham Heid小狐译

《圣经》中有这么一句话：“不要为明天忧虑；因为明天自有明天的忧虑；每一个今天的艰难就已经够我们受的了。”然而不知从什么时候起，烦恼变成了我们日常生活中的家常便饭。我们似乎无时无刻不在烦恼——小到天气交通、饮食起居，大到工作交友、生老病死——任何一件事都能拨动我们那脆弱而敏感的神经。但是科学家现在给我们发出了警告，失控的担忧和焦虑是一种病，会危害我们的健康甚至生命。究竟怎样的担忧才算是失控的？又为何它会发展成一种病态心理以致影响健康？我们又该如何缓解根本停不下来的忧虑？让我们来逐一探寻。

A s human beings, our ability to predict trouble—and outwit it—is one of those1)cerebral superpowers that set us apart from birds and beasts. But nonstop worrying can be2)crippling to your life and your immune system.

“Just having a thought about some potential bad thing that might happen—everyone has those,” says Dr. Michelle Newman, director of the Laboratory for Anxiety and Depression Research at Pennsylvania State University. “But if you have diffculty stopping the worry once it starts, that’s one of the ways we defne what’s called3)pathological worry.”

预测及战胜麻烦的能力是令我们人类有别于动物的大脑超能力之一。但无休止的担忧会降低你的生活质量，损坏你的免疫系统。

“只是想想某些可能发生的潜在坏事，我们每个人都会如此。”宾夕法尼亚州立大学焦虑与抑郁研究实验室的负责人米歇尔·纽曼博士说。“但如果你一开始担忧就停不下来，那便是所谓‘病态担忧’的症状之一。”

Newman, who is also editor of the journal Behavior Therapy, cites more characteristics of out-of-control worrying, like fixating on things over which you have no control—or which have a low probability of happening—and “4)catastrophizing” them. Worrying about a loved one who’s driving and picturing the horrible5)ramifications of an accident is one example; imagining a string of events that might lead to your losing your job and your home is another.

Anxiety is a related feeling that often goes hand in hand with worrying. While it can be a little tricky to separate the two, Newman says the technical difference is that worrying is “verbal-linguistic” while anxiety is “physical.” If you feel tense or on edge while thinking about your job security or your child’s long car trip, you’re experiencing both worry and anxiety. Feel those emotions “more days than not” for a period of six months, and you meet the American6)Psychiatric Association’s criteria for a diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder, or GAD. Basically, you’re a7)chronic worrier.

“I like to say that chronic worry is a process looking for content,” Newman says. “You’ve gotten into the habit of looking for something to be concerned about, and you always fnd it.”

纽曼也是杂志《行为治疗法》的编辑，她列举了担忧失控的更多特征，例如关注那些你无力控制或发生可能性很低的事情，并将其“小题大做”。比如担心自己所爱之人的行车安全，并想象出车祸的可怕后果；又比如想象出一连串可能导致你失去工作或住房的事件。

焦虑是一种常常与担忧紧密相连的情绪。尽管要区分这两种情绪并不简单，但纽曼表示从学术层面上说，二者之间的差别，在于担忧是“口头语言”，而焦虑是“身体表现”。如果你在想到自己的职业保障或是你孩子要乘坐长途汽车时感到紧张或烦躁，那么你就是在体验担忧和焦虑的双重感受。以六个月为一个周期，如果在这个周期内你多数时间都感到担忧和焦虑，那么你就达到了美国精神医学学会对于广泛性焦虑症，即GAD的诊断标准。也就是说，你基本上长期饱受担忧之苦。

“我认为，长期担忧是一个寻找慰藉的过程，”纽曼说。“你已经养成了一种没事也要找事来担心的习惯，而你总能找到。”

1) cerebral ['serɪbrəl] adj. 大脑的

2) cripple ['krɪpl] v. 削弱

3) pathological [,pæθə'lɒdʒɪkəl] adj. 病态的

4) catastrophize [kə'tæstrəfaɪz] v. 小题大做

5) ramifcation [,ræmɪfɪ'keɪʃən] n. 后果

6) psychiatric [saɪkɪ'ætrɪk] adj. 精神病学的

7) chronic ['krɒnɪk] adj. 惯常的，长期的

That’s bad news for several reasons. First and foremost,8)incessant worrying and anxiety can increase your blood pressure and heart rate and has been linked to an elevated risk for9)cardiovascular disease. “Anxiety can also overactivate your immune system,” says Dr. Wesley Moons, formerly of the University of California, Davis, and now CEO of his own consulting frm, Moons Analytics.

While at UC Davis, Moons and his graduate student Grant Shields found that people who reacted to stressful situations with anger experienced a smaller immune system response than those who reacted with anxiety. Shields says the sorts of immune system responses his research linked to anxiety could hurt the body’s ability to fght off infection or disease and have been tentatively linked to higher mortality rates.

“That’s not to say getting angry is a healthy reaction to stress,” Moons adds. “But in terms of your immune system, anxiety appears to trigger some different and potentially more10)detrimental responses.”

从很多方面来说，这都是个坏消息。首先，不停地担忧和焦虑会令你血压增高，心跳加速，且提高患上心血管疾病的风险。“焦虑还可能会使你的免疫系统处于过度兴奋状态，”韦斯莱·姆恩斯博士说，他曾任职于加州大学戴维斯分校，如今开办了自己的咨询公司——“姆恩斯分析”，并任CEO。

在加州大学戴维斯分校工作期间，姆恩斯和他指导的研究生格兰特·希尔兹发现，在面对压力时，与表现出焦虑的人相比，那些表现出愤怒的人的免疫系统应激反应要小得多。希尔兹说，他研究的这些与焦虑相联的免疫系统反应会损害身体对抗感染或疾病的能力，但究竟是否也会导致更高的死亡率还有待进一步的研究确定。

“这并不是说生气是一种正确应对压力的方式，”姆恩斯补充说。“但就免疫系统而言，焦虑似乎会引发一些非同寻常且潜在危害更大的生理反应。”

But isn’t there a benefit to lots of worrying? After all, if your mind is tackling11)contingencies and potential threats, you can act now to prevent them—right?

Unfortunately, Newman12)refutes this idea. “Mostly worrying becomes a process unto itself that doesn’t lead to problem solving or helping you in any way,” she says. If you’re worrying about something, she says, you’re not taking steps to address the source of your worry, if that’s even possible.

When you13)boil it down, worry is really a failure to live in the moment, Newman says. Activities that attempt to anchor your mind to the present—including yoga and meditation—may help combat incessant worrying. Exercise, massage and other things that14)alleviate physical tension are also helpful, she says.

Another great way to reign in your worrying is to set aside a specifc time and place for it. Select a spot you can get to easily every day, but that isn’t a place where you normally spend time, Newman advises. (A quiet bench in your backyard, maybe, or a chair in your guest room.) Your goal is to give yourself 20 or 30 minutes a day in that space, devoted only to worrying. “The rest of the day, you tell yourself you aren’t going to worry because you will at that time and place,” Newman explains. “The idea is that by isolating your worry, you can control it.”

She says that focusing on a favorite relaxing setting—your “happy place”—also has proven worry-reducing benefits. “Close your eyes,” she says. “Try to vividly picture that place—the sights and smells and sounds you would feel and hear.” Hopefully the place that you see is worry-free.

但忧虑过多就一点好处都没有吗？毕竟，如果你一直在思考如何应对突发状况和潜在威胁，你就可以未雨绸缪，防患于未然，不是吗？

不幸的是，纽曼否定了这个观点。“大多数情况下，担忧只停滞于这一过程本身，并不能使问题得到解决，也不能在任何方面对你有所帮助。”她说。如果你正在担忧某件事，那并不表示你在采取措施解决问题，即使这个问题可能确实存在解决办法。

归结起来，担忧实际上就是无法活在当下，纽曼说。做一些试图将你的思维固定于当前的活动——包括瑜伽和冥想——也许对战胜不停的担忧有所帮助。锻炼、按摩和其他能够减轻身体压力的事情也很有帮助，她说。

另一种能很好地压制忧虑的方式是为其预留出一段特殊的时间和空间。选一个你每天能够轻易到达的地方，但并非你平时消磨时间的地方，纽曼建议。（也许是你家后院里一条安静的长椅，或是你家客房里的一张椅子。）你的目标是每天给自己20或30分钟待在那个空间里，全心全意地只用来担忧。“在这一天的其他时间里，你告诉自己不会担忧了，因为你会在那段时间、那个地点担忧，”纽曼解释说，“这个做法是要隔离出你的担忧，好让你能够控制它。”

她说，专注在某个你最喜欢的放松环境，即你的“欢乐空间”，这也被证实有益于减轻担忧。“闭上你的眼睛，”她说，“试着在脑海里生动地描绘出那个地方——在那儿你能够看到美景、闻到香气、听到妙音。”希望你看到的那个地方没有忧虑。