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出名的代价之一 -- 强迫症
2010-01-29来源:和谐英语
当代名人们因为药物引发的灾祸通常都是依赖毒品的结果（或者用来掩饰这一点）。然而即使在这种情况下，某种类型的强迫症仍然脱不开干系。处方类止痛药成为最近希斯·莱杰和布莱特妮·墨菲等名人死亡事件中的罪魁祸首也绝非偶然。对我们来说，成功带来的痛苦只能靠麻醉剂来解决听起来似乎也没什么不对。
The medical catastrophes suffered by contemporary celebrities are often, of course, the result of (or deliberate covers for) drug dependence. Yet even here a species of hypochondria is at work. It is no accident that prescription painkillers have featured so tragically in recent celebrity deaths, such as those of Heath Ledger and, allegedly, Brittany Murphy. It seems somehow normal to us now that success brings with it agonies that can only be treated with opiates.
在研究了各种历史上的强迫症病例之后──从查尔斯·达尔文到马塞尔·普鲁斯特──我能够总结的只有这一点：在我们超过了一个临界点之后，对自己身体的过份关注就变成了一种实际上非常危险、甚至是致命的病状。对于某些患者来说，强迫症似乎是保证隐私不受侵犯的一种方式；想想在软木贴面房间里奋笔疾书的普鲁斯特。对自己身体内在的过度关注──不论是由于病痛还是出于让自己变得更好看的迫切要求，能够确保在外部世界取得某种优势。不过，如果没有节制的话，它往往会变成一种病态，而且历史上很少有人像当代的富人和名人们那样拥有这种自残的资源或者机会。
Having studied the case histories of various historical hypochondriacs-from Charles Darwin to Marcel Proust-I can only surmise that there is a point of crisis beyond which excessive concern with one's body turns into an actually dangerous or even lethal pathology in itself. It seems that for some sufferers hypochondria is a way of guaranteeing inviolable privacy; consider Proust laboring in his cork-lined room. An inward-tending obsession with one's own body, whether expressed as illness or an excessive urge to improvement, can guarantee certain advantages in the outside world. Unstopped, however, it will tend to the morbid, and few, historically, have had such resources or occasions for self-mutilation as the rich and famous in our century.
我们倾向于将强迫症视为某种自私的表现。强迫症患者仍然声名不佳，他们唯我独尊，对他人真实的痛苦甚至毫不理会。不过心理学家告诉我们说，强迫症通常也是一个组织或者家庭的互动；病人的行为是出于其他人的愿望，这些人出于某种原因需要他或她生病。我们对于某些名人的身体是既敬畏又憎恶，既嫉妒又排斥，除此还能有更好的描述吗？当我们仰慕的名人像古希腊神话中的伊卡洛斯一样坠落的时候，又是什么样的形像可以更好地表现我们对他们的深度关注呢？那些因为职业而让人崇拜的人们或许为了保持年轻和健美付出了努力。他们会为了我们，也会为了我们对自己身体的病态恐惧而继续这样做下去。
We tend to think of hypochondria as a kind of selfishness. The hypochondriac remains a disreputable figure, solipsistic and even immune to the real suffering of others. But psychologists tell us that hypochondria is often also part of a group or family dynamic; the patient acts out the expectations of others who somehow need him or her to be sick. What better description could there be of our attitude-at once awed and repelled, envious and disproving-to the bodies of certain celebrities? What better image of our grisly concern when the heroic patient takes an Icarus fall? The professionally adored may toil to stay youthful and fit. They will be doing it for us, and our morbidly projected fears for our own bodies.
The medical catastrophes suffered by contemporary celebrities are often, of course, the result of (or deliberate covers for) drug dependence. Yet even here a species of hypochondria is at work. It is no accident that prescription painkillers have featured so tragically in recent celebrity deaths, such as those of Heath Ledger and, allegedly, Brittany Murphy. It seems somehow normal to us now that success brings with it agonies that can only be treated with opiates.
在研究了各种历史上的强迫症病例之后──从查尔斯·达尔文到马塞尔·普鲁斯特──我能够总结的只有这一点：在我们超过了一个临界点之后，对自己身体的过份关注就变成了一种实际上非常危险、甚至是致命的病状。对于某些患者来说，强迫症似乎是保证隐私不受侵犯的一种方式；想想在软木贴面房间里奋笔疾书的普鲁斯特。对自己身体内在的过度关注──不论是由于病痛还是出于让自己变得更好看的迫切要求，能够确保在外部世界取得某种优势。不过，如果没有节制的话，它往往会变成一种病态，而且历史上很少有人像当代的富人和名人们那样拥有这种自残的资源或者机会。
Having studied the case histories of various historical hypochondriacs-from Charles Darwin to Marcel Proust-I can only surmise that there is a point of crisis beyond which excessive concern with one's body turns into an actually dangerous or even lethal pathology in itself. It seems that for some sufferers hypochondria is a way of guaranteeing inviolable privacy; consider Proust laboring in his cork-lined room. An inward-tending obsession with one's own body, whether expressed as illness or an excessive urge to improvement, can guarantee certain advantages in the outside world. Unstopped, however, it will tend to the morbid, and few, historically, have had such resources or occasions for self-mutilation as the rich and famous in our century.
我们倾向于将强迫症视为某种自私的表现。强迫症患者仍然声名不佳，他们唯我独尊，对他人真实的痛苦甚至毫不理会。不过心理学家告诉我们说，强迫症通常也是一个组织或者家庭的互动；病人的行为是出于其他人的愿望，这些人出于某种原因需要他或她生病。我们对于某些名人的身体是既敬畏又憎恶，既嫉妒又排斥，除此还能有更好的描述吗？当我们仰慕的名人像古希腊神话中的伊卡洛斯一样坠落的时候，又是什么样的形像可以更好地表现我们对他们的深度关注呢？那些因为职业而让人崇拜的人们或许为了保持年轻和健美付出了努力。他们会为了我们，也会为了我们对自己身体的病态恐惧而继续这样做下去。
We tend to think of hypochondria as a kind of selfishness. The hypochondriac remains a disreputable figure, solipsistic and even immune to the real suffering of others. But psychologists tell us that hypochondria is often also part of a group or family dynamic; the patient acts out the expectations of others who somehow need him or her to be sick. What better description could there be of our attitude-at once awed and repelled, envious and disproving-to the bodies of certain celebrities? What better image of our grisly concern when the heroic patient takes an Icarus fall? The professionally adored may toil to stay youthful and fit. They will be doing it for us, and our morbidly projected fears for our own bodies.
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