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In the year 1518, the city of Strasbourg was struck by a dancing plague.
1518年，斯特拉斯堡市遭受了一场舞蹈瘟疫的袭击。
Yes, a dancing plague.
是的，舞蹈瘟疫。
And it was deadly.
而且是致命的。
It started with a single woman, but within a month, there were over 400 people dancing in the streets—wildly, uncontrollably, and often to their deaths.
一开始是一个单身女性，但不到一个月，就有400多人疯狂地、不受控制地在街上跳舞，而且常常导致死亡。
Some sources claim that, for at least some portion of the outbreak, as many as 15 people were dying a day.
一些消息来源声称，至少在疫情发生的某些时段，每天有多达15人死亡。
And if it's not already obvious, the dancers weren't having fun.
如果这还不明显的话，舞者们并没有体会到乐趣。
They screamed and begged for mercy.
他们尖叫着求饶。
There were literally hundreds of people, miserable and in pain… because they were dancing for no reason.
有成百上千的人，痛苦不堪……因为他们无缘无故地跳舞。
Even more strange is the fact that 1518 was neither the first nor the last time this happened.
更奇怪的是，1518年既不是第一次发生这种事，也不是最后一次。
There are other documented incidents from the 1200s through the 1600s from all along the Rhine River.
从13世纪到17世纪，在莱茵河沿岸还有其他记录在案的事件。
And while it's unclear why these plagues happened, psychologists think they can explain it through a combination of two phenomena:
虽然还不清楚为什么会发生这些瘟疫，心理学家认为他们可以通过两种现象的结合来解释：
dissociative trance disorder and social contagion.
分离性恍惚障碍和社会传染。
Now, there are other possible explanations, from it being some kind of extreme religious ritual to sleep deprivation.
现在，还有其他可能的解释，从某种极端的宗教仪式到睡眠剥夺。
Researchers have even suggested the dancers might've been poisoned with ergot, a mold that grows on rye and causes spasms and hallucinations.
研究人员甚至认为舞者可能是中了麦角的毒，麦角是一种生长在黑麦上的霉菌，会引起痉挛和幻觉。
But that seems unlikely, since rye wasn't eaten everywhere that the dancing plagues happened.
但这似乎不太可能，因为并不是舞蹈瘟疫发生的每个地方都吃黑麦。
And dissociative trance disorder plus social contagion would explain quite a lot.
分离性恍惚障碍加上社会传染可以解释很多。
Dissociative trances could be responsible for the dancing, while the social contagion bit could explain how it "spread" like the plague.
分离性恍惚状态可能是舞蹈的原因，而社会传染可以解释它是如何像瘟疫一样“传播”的。
Dissociative trance disorder or DTD is currently included in the DSM-5 under "other specified dissociative disorders."
分离性恍惚障碍（DTD）目前包括在DSM-5的“其他特定分离性障碍”类目下。
That's a group of disorders which all involve experiencing a disconnect between what's happening in your thoughts and memories and your surroundings and actions.
这组疾病都涉及患者的思想和记忆中发生事情的脱节，以及周围环境和行为之间的脱节。
And DTD is essentially when people experience dissociation as a kind of trance:
DTD本质上是人们体验到一种恍惚的分离：
a temporary state of mind where the person loses their usual sense of identity, their awareness narrows, and their movements and speech become limited.
一种暂时的精神状态，在这种状态下，人们失去了通常的身份感，他们的意识缩小，动作和言语变得有限。
Now, it's kind of hard to measure how many people experience DTD, because unless things get really bad,
现在，很难衡量有多少人经历过DTD，因为除非事情变得非常糟糕，
people might not want to talk about feeling possessed or disconnected from themselves.
否则人们可能不想谈论被控制或与自己脱离的感觉。
Plus, a 2011 survey which identified 402 cases worldwide suggested that it might be underdiagnosed in places like the U.S. due to cultural biases.
此外，2011年的一项调查发现，全球有402个病例表明，在美国等地，由于文化偏见，可能有很多病例未被诊断出来。
And the low number of documented cases has made it kind of hard to study what exactly goes on in people's brains during a DTD trance.
记录在案的案例数量很少，使得研究人们在DTD恍惚状态下大脑到底发生了什么变得有点困难。
But we know from people who've voluntarily entered a trance state that trances tend to involve different patterns of activity in the brain like,
但是，我们从那些自愿进入恍惚状态的人身上知道，恍惚往往涉及大脑中不同的活动模式，
a shift from more activity in the analytical left hemisphere to the more experiential right one.
即从分析性左半球的更多活动转向更具经验性的右半球活动。
That may explain why the dancers felt they were compelled to act, rather than in control of their own bodies.
这也许可以解释为什么舞者觉得他们是被迫跳舞的，而无法控制自己的身体。
Also of note: during trances, natural opioids are released.
还要注意：在恍惚期间，会释放天然类阿片。
Those could have dulled the dancers' pain, which would help explain why they were able to keep dancing for so long even though they were literally killing themselves.
这些可以减轻舞者的痛苦，有助于解释为什么他们能够一直长时间跳舞，即使他们实际上是在自杀。
Trances would also make sense because what a person experiences during a trance is influenced by their culture and beliefs.
恍惚也具有意义，因为一个人在恍惚中所体验到的事情，受其文化和信仰的影响。
For example, a 1996 study looked at 10 people who had contacted the official Exorcist of the Rome diocese because they felt they were possessed by demons or the devil
例如，1996年的一项研究调查了10名联系过罗马教区官方驱魔师的人，因为他们感觉自己被魔鬼附身了。
They were all ultimately diagnosed with having experienced at least one dissociative trance,
他们最终都被诊断出至少经历过一次解离性失神状态，
and the researchers argued that the commonalities of the cases showed how their culture and Catholic community had provided them a lens to express their trauma.
研究人员认为，这些病例的共同点表明，他们的文化和天主教社区为他们提供了一个表达创伤的出口。
Oh yeah, because that's another thing: while there are lots of kinds of trances,
是的，因为那是另一回事：虽然有很多种恍惚状态，
it's widely accepted that dissociative trances, like other dissociative disorders, are triggered by trauma.
但人们普遍认为，与其他恍惚状态一样，解离性失神状态是由创伤引发的。
Which brings us back to those plagued dancers.
这把我们带回到那些受折磨的舞者身上。
You see, the two biggest outbreaks happened in 1374 and 1518, which researchers have called "bitterly harsh years… even by the gruelling standards of the Middle Ages."
你看，两次最大规模的爆发发生在1374年和1518年，研究人员称之为“严酷的岁月……即使以中世纪的那折磨人的标准来看也是如此。”
In 1374, people living along the Rhine River got hit by a really bad flood, plus that bout of Black Death that killed half of Europe was still within living memory.
1374年，生活在莱茵河沿岸的人们遭受了一场非常严重的洪水袭击，那场导致半个欧洲国家死亡的黑死病也还在人们的记忆之中。
And in 1518, they got treated to bad harvests, high grain prices, and the arrival of syphilis.
1518年，他们遭遇了庄稼收成不好、粮价高，以及梅毒的到来。
Huzzah!
呜哈！
So they were pretty miserable, and dancing plagues weren't unheard of.
所以他们很悲惨，跳舞瘟疫也不是闻所未闻。
In fact, paintings from the time suggest that people were kind of scared of them happening again.
事实上，当时的绘画表明人们有点害怕这种疾病再次发生。
And generally speaking, people are more susceptible to trance states if they expect them… so maybe uncontrollable dancing isn't that strange a way for their trauma to have manifested.
一般说来，如果人们期望自己处于恍惚状态的话，他们就更容易受到这种状态的影响……所以，也许不可控制的舞蹈并不是让他们的创伤显现出来的奇怪方式。
But how did it spread from one woman to 400 people dancing in the streets?
但它是如何从一个女人传播给在街上跳舞的400人的呢？
That's where what's known as social or behavioral contagion comes in.
这就是所谓的社会或行为传染。
Behavioral contagion is the tendency to repeat a behavior after seeing others perform it.
行为传染是指在看到别人做某一行为后，重复该行为的倾向。
Now, this is different from conformity.
这不同于从众。
That's where you see someone else do something and then experience a conflict about it,
这是你看到别人做一些事后，经历了一场有关此事的冲突，
because you want to do or say what everyone else is doing to fit in, but it's not something you would normally do.
因为你想做别人做的事，或说别人说的话来顺应环境，但你通常不会做这些事情。
Contagion happens when you're already experiencing conflict about something.
当你已经经历了关于某事的冲突时，传染就会发生。
Then, seeing someone do the thing you kind of already want to do becomes enough to make you do it—even if you don't think about it like that.
看到某人做了你想做的事情，就足以让你去做，即使你并不这么想。
Say, for instance, you have a neighbor who always leaves trash scattered around their yard, and you're not really sure what to do about it.
比如说，你有一个邻居总是把垃圾扔在院子里，你真的不知道该怎么办。
And then, one day, you see another neighbor confronting your terrible neighbor.
后来有一天，你看到另一个邻居和那个可怕的邻居对峙。
Next thing you know, you're up in their face yelling at them, too.
你知道要做的下一件事，就是你也在他们面前大喊大叫。
Come on, Jim!
快点，吉姆！
Take out the trash!
把垃圾拿出来吧！
Studies tracking thousands of people over time have found evidence for behavioral contagion for everything from happiness and cooperative behavior to obesity and divorce.
随着时间的推移，跟踪数千人的研究发现，从快乐、合作行为到肥胖和离婚，各种行为都有传染的迹象
Even memories can be spread by contagion.
甚至记忆也可以通过传染来传播。
People who think they maybe remember something one way can become convinced of it when someone else also remembers it that way—Berenstein bears-style.
认为自己可能以某种方式记住某件事的人，当别人也以这种称为贝贝熊的方式记住某件事时，会变得信服。
There never was a Berenstein bears!
从来没有贝贝熊！
It always had an A at the end.
最后总是有A。
I promise.
我发誓。
And sadly, the spread of terrible behaviors by contagion is also well-documented, including violence to others and self-harm.
可悲的是，也有通过传染传播可怕的行为的记录，包括对他人的暴力和自残。
So… why not deadly dancing?
所以，为什么不跳致命舞蹈呢？
Seeing that woman in her dancing trance, combined with the cultural fear of dancing plagues,
看到那个处于舞蹈恍惚状态的女人，再加上对舞蹈瘟疫的文化恐惧，
could have been just enough for others to manifest their trauma in a dissociated dance, too.
对于其他人来说，也足以在一场解离性的舞蹈中表现出他们的创伤。
And at the time, it was believed that dancing it out was the best way to rid yourself a dancing curse.
当时，人们认为，跳出来是摆脱舞蹈诅咒的最好方法。
So officials actually made room for the dancers in a public space where they were sure to be seen by everyone.
因此，官员们实际上在公共场所为舞者留出空间，这样其他人能看到他们。
And the rest, as they say, is history.
正如他们所说，其余的则是历史。
A lot of this is still speculation, of course.
当然，这其中很多仍然是猜测。
We can never really know why hundreds of people took to the streets to dance themselves to death.
我们永远也不会知道，为什么成百上千的人走上街头一直跳到死。
But!
不过！
These two ideas do cobble together a pretty decent explanation.
有两个想法凑成了一个相当合理的解释。
And they can begin to help us understand why humans sometimes do wild, hard-to-believe things.
它们可以帮助我们理解为什么人类有时会做一些疯狂的、令人难以置信的事情。
Thanks for watching this episode of SciShow Psych!
感谢收看本期《心理科学秀》节目！
I hope you learned something—that's what we here at SciShow are all about.
我希望你学到了一些东西，这就是《科学秀》节目的目的。
So tell us in the comments what part of this video you found most surprising!
所以，请在评论中告诉我们，你觉得这段视频中最令人惊讶的部分是什么！
And if you just can't get enough about the psychology of dancing, you might like our episode on what your moves say about you.
如果你对舞蹈的心理学了解得还不够，你可能会喜欢我们制作的有关你的动作反应出来的你自己。
You can watch that one next!
接下来你可以收看那个视频！
And let's be honest—you know you're curious now.
老实说，你现在很好奇吧。
