评论
打印
And yet, when I went to look at alternative treatments,
当我去了解其它偏门疗法时
I also gained perspective on other treatments.
我也接触到了其它疗法的不同的视角
I went through a tribal exorcism in Senegal that involved a great deal of ram's blood
我研究过塞内加尔一个部落的净化仪式，他们在仪式中使用了大量的公羊血
and that I'm not going to detail right now,
这里我就不详细讲了
but a few years afterwards I was in Rwanda working on a different project,
但是几年之后，当我去卢旺达参与另一个项目时
and I happened to describe my experience to someone,
我向一个当地人介绍了那个仪式
and he said, "Well, you know, that's West Africa, and we're in East Africa,
他说，“嗯，你知道，那是西非，我们这里是东非
and our rituals are in some ways very different,
我们的宗教仪式有一些不同的地方
but we do have some rituals that have something in common with what you're describing."
但是我们也有一些地方是共通的，（我们的方法）跟你描述的那种有些相似
And I said, "Oh." And he said, "Yes," he said,
然后我说，“哦”。 他说，“是的”，然后他继续说道
"but we've had a lot of trouble with Western mental health workers, especially the ones who came right after the genocide."
但是西方世界跑过来的心理治疗师给我们添了不少麻烦，尤其是那些大屠杀之后跑来的心理医生们
And I said, "What kind of trouble did you have?"
于是我问他，“什么麻烦？”
And he said, "Well, they would do this bizarre thing.
他说，“是这样的，他们做的事情很古怪
They didn't take people out in the sunshine where you begin to feel better.
他们并不会让人去阳光下活动，虽然这会让人感觉舒服
They didn't include drumming or music to get people's blood going.
他们不使用音乐或打鼓的方式激发人们的情绪
They didn't involve the whole community.
他们不会让整个社区参与其中
They didn't externalize the depression as an invasive spirit.
他们也没有将抑郁外显化为一种恶灵进行驱逐
Instead what they did was they took people one at a time into dingy little rooms
相反的，他们将那些（抑郁的）人单独地带到一个昏暗的小房间
and had them talk for an hour about bad things that had happened to them."
花一个小时让他们回忆发生在他们身上的悲惨的事情。”
He said, "We had to ask them to leave the country."
他说，“我们只能请他们离开这个国家了。”
Now at the other end of alternative treatments, let me tell you about Frank Russakoff.
现在，我想分享另外一种替代的疗法，弗兰克·若萨克夫接受了这种替代疗法
Frank Russakoff had the worst depression perhaps that I've ever seen in a man.
弗兰克的抑郁症可能是我见过的最严重的抑郁症之一
He was constantly depressed.
他一直处于抑郁状态
He was, when I met him, at a point at which every month he would have electroshock treatment.
当我刚见到他的时候，他每个月都要接受电休克治疗
Then he would feel sort of disoriented for a week.
所以他每个月第一周会被电的迷迷糊糊
Then he would feel okay for a week.
第二周变得正常起来
Then he would have a week of going downhill.
第三周开始情绪又开始走下坡路
And then he would have another electroshock treatment.
然后他就会寻求下一次电休克治疗
And he said to me when I met him,
当我开始见到他的时候，他说
"It's unbearable to go through my weeks this way.
“这种（电休克的）周期对于我而言是无法避免的
I can't go on this way, and I've figured out how I'm going to end it if I don't get better.
我不能这么下去了。我知道如果我不能够变好起来意味着什么
But," he said to me,
“但是”，他对我说，
"I heard about a protocol at Mass General for a procedure called a cingulotomy, which is a brain surgery,
“我听说麻省总院最近在进行医疗实验，实验一种脑手术，叫扣带回切开术
and I think I'm going to give that a try."
我想我会去尝试一下。”
And I remember being amazed at that point
我至今都记得当时我听到后的惊喜的心情
to think that someone who clearly had so many bad experiences with so many different treatments
想想这样一个人经历了如此多的悲惨经历，忍受了那么多的治疗方法
still had buried in him somewhere enough optimism to reach out for one more.
骨子里依然有一种与生俱来的乐观要去尝试新的东西
And he had the cingulotomy, and it was incredibly successful.
后来他做了扣带回切开术，出乎意料地成功
He's now a friend of mine.
他跟我现在成为了朋友
He has a lovely wife and two beautiful children.
他有一个可爱的妻子和两个漂亮的小孩
He wrote me a letter the Christmas after the surgery, and he said,
那次手术的圣诞节后，他写了一封信给我，他说
"My father sent me two presents this year,
“我的父亲今年寄给我两件礼物
First, a motorized C.D. rack from The Sharper Image that I didn't really need,
一个是某个品牌的车载CD架，我不是很需要
but I knew he was giving it to me to celebrate the fact that I'm living on my own and have a job I seem to love.
但是我知道他是给我这个的目的是想要庆祝一下，我可以重新开始并且有了一份喜欢的工作
And the other present was a photo of my grandmother, who committed suicide.
另外一件礼物是我外婆的一张照片，她自杀了
As I unwrapped it, I began to cry, and my mother came over and said,
当我拆开包装的时候，我开始哭泣，我的妈妈过来问道
'Are you crying because of the relatives you never knew?'
‘你哭是因为你从来没有见过外婆么？’
And I said, 'She had the same disease I have.'
我说，‘不，是因为她的痛苦，我同样经历过。’
I'm crying now as I write to you.
写这封信的现在，我又忍不住哭泣
It's not that I'm so sad, but I get overwhelmed,
不是因为悲伤，而是因为我再也无法承受
I think, because I could have killed myself,
我想我曾经也可能会自杀
but my parents kept me going, and so did the doctors, and I had the surgery.
但是我的父母给了我勇气，还有治疗我的医生们，还有这个手术
I'm alive and grateful.
我活着，心怀感恩
We live in the right time, even if it doesn't always feel like it."
我们活在美好的时代，虽然有时候看起来很糟。”
