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In the late 1980s, an American psychologist named Francine Shapiro noticed that
在20世纪80年代，一位名叫弗朗辛·夏皮罗的美国心理学家注意到，
if she thought about disturbing memories while walking through the woods,
如果她在穿过树林时想起令人不安的记忆，
the thoughts would dissipate without her actively trying to do anything about them.
在不积极对它做些事的情况下，这些记忆就会消失。
Eventually, she realized that when she recalled the traumatic memories as she walked,
最终，她意识到自己边走路边回想那段创伤记忆时，
her eyes were moving from side to side.
眼睛从一边转到了另一边。
And when that happened, it felt like the memory would bother her less the next time it came to mind.
当这一切发生的时候，感觉就像她下次再回想起这段记忆时痛苦会减少一样
She started looking in to the idea and soon, eye movement desensitization reprocessing, or EMDR therapy, was born.
她开始研究这个想法，很快，眼动脱敏与再加工（EMDR）疗法诞生了。
But as promising as some research makes it sound, EMDR is actually pretty controversial,
尽管一些研究认为它很有希望，但EMDR实际上很有争议，
and there's a whole lot of back and forth about whether the eye movements that set EMDR apart really do anything.
区别于EMDR的正常眼球运动是否有作用仍在反复讨论。
The therapy is mostly used to treat post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD,
EMDR疗法主要用于治疗创伤后应激障碍（PTSD），
which can happen when someone hasn't been able to process and recover from a trauma they've experienced.
后者是指一个人不能处理创伤，并从他们经历的创伤中恢复过来时发生的情况。
Even years later, the trauma can affect their life in all kinds of ways,
即使若干年后，创伤仍会以各种方式影响他们的生活，
they might have flashbacks, sleep and concentration problems, persistent feelings of anger and shame,
他们可能会出现病理性重现、睡眠和注意力集中的问题、持续的愤怒和羞愧感，
or any of a whole bunch of other symptoms.
或者其他一系列症状。
As the name suggests, treating PTSD with EMDR therapy centers around those side-to-side eye movements.
顾名思义，治疗PTSD的EMDR疗法围绕左右眼运动展开。
Its proponents think that by moving their eyes back and forth,
它的支持者认为通过来回移动他们的眼睛，
patients can reprocess traumatic memories that have basically gotten "stuck"
病人可以重新处理基本上被卡住的创伤性记忆，
because the usual ways the brain deals with trauma didn't work.
因为处理创伤的常规疗法不起作用了。
In each session, you're told to focus on a specific traumatic memory:
在每个疗程中，你都被告知要专注于一个特定的创伤记忆：
the details, the emotions it brings up, and your reaction to it.
它的细节、它带来的情感以及你对它的反应。
While you're doing that, the therapist holds up a finger in front of you
当你这样做时，治疗师会在你面前竖起一根手指，
and moves it quickly from side to side for about 15 seconds while you follow the movement with your eyes.
然后把它从一边到另一边快速地移动大约15秒，与此同时，你的眼睛也追随它移动。
You'd almost expect them to start saying "you are gettting sleeepier...",
你几乎会期望他们开始说“你快困了...”，
except that this isn't hypnosis and you're not on a Hollywood set in the 1940s.
但这不是催眠，你不是在20世纪40年代的好莱坞片场。
The hope is that as you recall different details related to the memories, they become less and less disturbing.
该做法是想让你在回想起与此记忆有关的不同细节时，它们带来的困扰会减少。
Then, once you're more desensitized,
然后你一旦变得更麻木，
you can start associating positive lines of thinking with the previously traumatic memory.
就可以开始将积极的想法与之前的创伤记忆联系起来。
Maybe something like "that wasn't my fault." Or, "I am a good person."
比如“这不是我的错”，或者“我是个好人”等之类的想法。
The concept is so simple that it doesn't even seem like it should work.
这个概念简单得似乎都不应该奏效。
And yet, meta-analyses of the research on EMDR have consistently shown that it does improve PTSD symptoms,
然而，此疗法研究的荟萃分析一致表明，它确实能改善PTSD的症状,
at least compared to no treatment at all.
至少与没治疗时相比有所帮助。
The thing is, there's no real consensus about how it works.
问题是，它的运作方式并没有真正的共识。
Almost all effective therapies for PTSD involve reprocessing traumatic memories in some way,
几乎所有治疗PTSD的有效疗法都包括用某种方式重新处理创伤记忆，
since those stuck memories seem to be the main cause of the disorder.
因为那些被卡住的记忆似乎是造成这种疾病的主因。
With EMDR, researchers think the eye movements allow the brain to do that reprocessing,
研究人员认为EMDR的眼球运动能让大脑进行再处理，
but there's some debate about the exact mechanism behind it.
但他们对其背后的具体机制仍有争论。
One possibility is that performing an extra task,
一种可能性是通过让大脑执行额外任务，
moving your eyes back and forth, overloads your working memory,
反复移动眼球，让工作记忆过载，
which handles everything you're consciously doing at any given time.
后者处理任何特定时间内你有意识做得所有事情。
Your working memory can only deal with a few different things at once,
你的工作记忆只能同时处理几件不同的事情，
and the idea is that if you start filling it up with tasks,
该想法是，如果你开始用任务填满它，
there's less room for the negative stuff that would normally be triggered by traumatic memories.
就会缩小那些由创伤记忆引发的消极想法的空间。
Other researchers think that the eye movements mimic what's known as an orienting response
其他研究人员认为，眼球运动模仿的是一种适应反应，
what your brain automatically does when you're exposed to a new environment or stimulus,
即你在接触新环境或新刺激时，大脑自动产生行为，
in order to process and understand it for the first time.
以便第一次处理和理解它。
Or EMDR could improve communication between the hemispheres of your brain,
EMDR可以改善大脑半球之间的交流，
or the effect could have to do with REM sleep, or … you get it.
或者它的效果可能与快速眼动睡眠有关，或者...你明白了吧。
There are a lot of options, but not a lot of answers.
选项很多，答案却不多。
Some researchers argue that this isn't a big deal,
一些研究人员认为这没什么大不了的，
we use lots of things in medicine that we don't entirely understand the mechanisms of.
我们在医学上使用了很多我们不完全了解的机制。
Antidepressants, for example, or general anesthesia.
例如，抗抑郁药或全身麻醉。
Others are a lot more skeptical.
其他人则更加怀疑。
Yes, meta-analyses have shown that EMDR is an effective treatment for PTSD.
是的，荟萃分析表明EMDR是治疗PTSD的有效方法。
But they've also consistently shown that it isn't more effective at treating PTSD
但他们也一直表明它在治疗PTSD方面没有
than similar therapies that don't involve moving your eyes around.
比不需要眼球活动的类似疗法效果更好。
Like trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy, where you're gradually re-exposed to the trauma
创伤性认知行为疗法让你重新逐步暴露在创伤面前，EMDR也如此，
and learn to make sense of what happened and how it affects your thoughts and behaviors.
它让你学会理解创伤以及它是如何影响你的思想和行为的。
A meta-analysis published in 2006 looked at seven studies comparing these two therapies,
2006年发表的一项荟萃分析在7项研究中比较了这两种疗法，
and found no evidence that one was more effective for PTSD than the other.
并没有发现任何证据能表明对PTSD的治疗哪种更有效。
That might seem like a point in favor of EMDR,
这似乎是对EMDR的支持，
but if you're trying to sell the idea that eye movements add a new, super effective layer to therapy, this isn't good news.
但是如果你想推销眼球运动是超级有效的新治疗法，这就不是好消息了。
If the eye movements used in EMDR were actually triggering something in the brain to help process traumatic memories,
如果EMDR中使用的眼球运动确实能触发大脑中的某些东西，以此来帮助处理创伤记忆，
you'd expect it to work better than a therapy that's similar in almost every way except the eye movements.
那么你将期望它比除了眼球运动之外的所有类似疗法更有效。
So, a lot of psychologists believe that even though EMDR is as effective as some other treatments for PTSD,
所以很多心理学家认为即使EMDR和其他治疗PTSD的方法一样有效，
it doesn't actually offer anything revolutionary.
但它实际并没有提供任何革命性的东西。
Their perspective is basically that what's effective isn't new, and what is new isn't effective.
他们的基本观点是，有效的不新，新的无效。
But! Regardless of whether the eye movements offer something new,
但是！不管眼球运动有没有提供新东西，
EMDR is still a highly recommended treatment for PTSD.
EMDR仍然是一种极力推荐的PTSD治疗方法。
Yes, there are a lot of questions about it, but we're not just going to throw an effective treatment out the window.
是的，它存在很多问题，但是我们不会把有效的治疗方法扔出窗外。
If nothing else, the way therapists conduct EMDR,
如果没有别的方法，治疗师会实施EMDR疗法，
like the fact that it doesn't involve too much discussion of the trauma, might work better for some patients.
就像不过多讨论创伤对一些病人来说可能更好一样。
But with future research, hopefully we'll learn more about how to help people process trauma …
但是在未来的研究中，我们希望能学到更多关于如何帮助人们处理创伤的方法……
and whether simple eye movements can hack your brain's memory circuits.
以及简单的眼部运动是否能破坏大脑的记忆回路。
Thanks for watching this episode of SciShow Psych!
感谢您收看本期的心理科学秀！
If you're interested in learning about the history of another strange therapy,
如果你有兴趣了解另一种奇怪疗法的历史，
you can check out our video about the dangerous past of electroconvulsive therapy and what it's used for today.
可以看看“电休克疗法的危险过去以及今天的用途”那期视频。
