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I went a few years ago to a conference, and on Friday of the three-day conference,
几年前我去参加一个学术会议，连开三天，第一天是周五
one of the participants took me aside, and she said,
一个与会者把我叫到一边，她说
"I suffer from depression and I'm a little embarrassed about it,
“我有抑郁症，我为此有点难为情
but I've been taking this medication, and I just wanted to ask you what you think?"
而且我一直在吃某种药物，我只是想问问看你的意见？”
And so I did my best to give her such advice as I could.
我但是尽我所能给了一些建议
And then she said, "You know, my husband would never understand this.
之后她说，“其实，我的丈夫并不知道这件事情
He's really the kind of guy to whom this wouldn't make any sense, so I just, you know, it's just between us."
他是那种无法理解这种事情的人。所以，嗯，我们的谈话能否保密。”
And I said, "Yes, that's fine."
我说， “好，没有问题。”
On Sunday of the same conference, her husband took me aside,
周日开会的时候，她的丈夫把我叫到了一边
and he said, "My wife wouldn't think that I was really much of a guy if she knew this,
对我说， “我的妻子并不知道我跟她了解的那个我之间的不同
but I've been dealing with this depression and I'm taking some medication,
我有抑郁症，有一段时间了。我现在需要吃一些药物维持
and I wondered what you think?"
我想听听你的看法？”
They were hiding the same medication in two different places in the same bedroom.
他们两个人服用同一种药物，并且将药物藏在同一个卧室的不同的地方
And I said that I thought
于是我对他说
communication within the marriage might be triggering some of their problems.
我觉得婚姻内部的沟通问题可能是他抑郁的原因之一
But I was also struck by the burdensome nature of such mutual secrecy.
让我感到震惊的是人们想要保守这样的秘密，并因此成熟的沉重负担
Depression is so exhausting.
抑郁让人精疲力尽
It takes up so much of your time and energy, and silence about it,
它会消耗掉你几乎全部的时间和精力，而对此保持沉默
it really does make the depression worse.
只会让抑郁的症状变得更加严重
And then I began thinking about all the ways people make themselves better.
我开始考虑所有可能的途径帮助抑郁的人们变得好一些
I'd started off as a medical conservative.
我在治疗方法上，一开始是很保守的
I thought there were a few kinds of therapy that worked, it was clear what they were
我觉得只有少数几种疗法是有效的，就那么几种——
there was medication, there were certain psychotherapies,
药物治疗，几类特定的精神疗法
there was possibly electroconvulsive treatment, and that everything else was nonsense.
电休克疗法有时候有效果，其它所有的方法都是扯淡
But then I discovered something.
但是后来我的看法变了
If you have brain cancer,
如果你的脑子里长了肿瘤
and you say that standing on your head for 20 minutes every morning makes you feel better,
然后你觉得自己每天早晨倒立20分钟会让自己感觉好一些
it may make you feel better,
或许让你自己感觉好一些
but you still have brain cancer, and you'll still probably die from it.
但是你的脑瘤还在那里，你还是可能因此死去
But if you say that you have depression,
但是如果你患上了抑郁
and standing on your head for 20 minutes every day makes you feel better, then it's worked,
然后你觉因为每天倒立20分钟感觉好一些，那是有一定效果的
because depression is an illness of how you feel,
因为抑郁是你的感觉和情绪出了问题
and if you feel better, then you are effectively not depressed anymore.
如果你感觉好一些了，那么你的抑郁就会少一些
So I became much more tolerant of the vast world of alternative treatments.
所以我现在变得非常的宽容，各种奇怪的偏门疗法我都能接受了
And I get letters, I get hundreds of letters from people writing to tell me about what's worked for them.
我收到了成百上千的邮件，人们写信跟我分享他们使用的治疗方法
Someone was asking me backstage today about meditation.
就在刚才还有人在幕后问我关于药物治疗的事情
My favorite of the letters that I got was the one that came from a woman
有一封邮件提供的方法我很喜欢是一位女士写给我的
who wrote and said that she had tried therapy,
她尝试过心理疗法，不管用
she had tried medication, she had tried pretty much everything,
药物疗法，也不行，各种方法都尝试了，还是不行
and she had found a solution and hoped I would tell the world,
最后她自己发现了一个方法，她希望我告诉全世界
and that was making little things from yarn.
她认为最好的疗法是用纱线做一些小制品
She sent me some of them.
她还给我邮寄了一些
And I'm not wearing them right now.
我现在没穿在身上
I suggested to her that she also should look up obsessive compulsive disorder in the DSM.
我建议她再去医院查查，看看有没有强迫症
