焦虑发作影响生活？你可能得了“新冠焦虑症”

全文字数：2335字  /  阅读时间：8分钟

The COVID-19 pandemic brought many new terms and words into our lives: learning pod, COVID bubble, and social distancing, to name a few.

新冠大流行给我们的生活带来了许多新术语和新词汇：豆荚学校、新冠气泡、社交距离等。

“豆荚学校”（Learning Pods）：学校可以小到像豆荚一样，就五六个孩子。几个家长轮流照料，再聘请一两位老师，既用线上课程资源，也自己组织教学，由孩子定课表。

疫情气泡（bubble)：在疫情暴发期间，人们形成的一个封闭的小群体或者小圈子。圈子里的人，通常是家庭成员、同事、朋友、同学等，对彼此的健康状况知根知底，在确认都健康的前提下，大家进行面对面的互动，比如聊天、运动、吃饭等。

Another term we can add to that list is "coronaphobia." The researchers who helped coin the term in December 2020 said that coronaphobia is a new type of anxiety specific to COVID-19. Anxiety during a pandemic is expected. But when does that anxiety become a serious condition?

我们可以在这个列表上添加的另一个术语是“新冠恐惧症”。2020年12月创造这个词的研究人员表示，这是一种针对COVID-19的新型焦虑——在大流行期间会出现焦虑。但是什么时候这种焦虑情绪升级为一种严重的恐惧症了呢？

Here's everything you need to know about coronaphobia, including how to determine if your anxiety rises to the level of this disorder and what to do if it does.

关于“新冠恐惧症”，你可以了解以下内容：如何确定你的焦虑达到了心理障碍的程度，以及如果得了该如何应对？

After analyzing nearly 500 studies that addressed the alarm and panic people were feeling during the pandemic, researchers defined coronaphobia as "an excessive triggered response of fear of contracting the virus causing COVID-19, leading to accompanied excessive concern over physiological symptoms, significant stress about personal and occupational loss, increased reassurance and safety seeking behaviors, and avoidance of public places and situations, causing marked impairment in daily life functioning."

在分析了近500份有关疫情期间人的恐慌感、警觉感的研究报告之后，研究人员得出了“新冠恐惧症”这个词的定义——“因害怕感染新冠而产生过度的恐惧反应，从而造成对自身生理上病痛症状的过度担忧，对个人生活上和职业上损失的过度压力，对更强的确定感、安全感的寻求，对公共场合与社交活动的逃避，最终导致日常生活功能严重受损的病症。”

The researchers listed several factors that can lead to coronaphobia. These include wallowing in all the uncertainties that come with the pandemic (like whether you'll get COVID-19 or if your paycheck is in jeopardy), adopting new practices and avoidance behavior, and the anxiety that can develop when you hear about world leaders and celebrities who have contracted the virus.

研究人员列举了几个诱发“新冠恐惧症”的因素：沉溺于疫情引发的不确定性（比如会不会感染、薪水会不会告急）；采取新的生活方式和回避行为机制；得知一些领导人也感染新冠后增长的焦虑情绪等等。

Lily Brown, PhD, director of the Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety at the University of Pennsylvania, told Health that many people wonder if their anxiety level about COVID-19 is normal or if they're too worried about the virus. To help them figure it out, Brown tells patients to use their pandemic behavior as a marker.

宾夕法尼亚大学焦虑症治疗和研究中心的主任Lily Brown博士告诉Health期刊，很多人都想知道他们对新冠的焦虑是正常的还是过度了。为了帮助他们弄明白，他让患者们把他们在疫情下的行为作为一个参考标志。

"Oftentimes, what happens when people have anxiety disorders is their anxiety starts to spill over so that it increasingly becomes more and more challenging to follow through on their obligations and get their needs met."

“通常来说，人们患上焦虑症后会开始过分焦虑，履行义务和满足要求会越来越难。”

"Again, most people have felt anxiety during the pandemic. But if you notice that you're having a hard time meeting your commitments or completing must-do tasks because you're panicked about catching the virus (or worried that loved ones will get sick), these might be indications that you have coronaphobia." Brown said.

“其实大多数人在疫情之下都会感到焦虑。但是当你发现你因为害怕自己感染新冠（或者担心你爱的人生病），而难以兑现你的承诺、完成必须的任务，这意味着你可能患上了新冠恐惧症。”Brown说。

Brown's research has shown that, on average, women have reported more anxiety than men during the pandemic. This is for various reasons, including that women said they have greater anxiety than men about family members getting sick or inadvertently spreading the virus themselves.

Brown的研究表明——平均而言，在大流行期间，女性比男性更焦虑。这有多种原因，比如一些女性表示，她们比男性更担心家庭成员生病或自己在无意中传播病毒。

Brown also found that younger people have experienced increased anxiety—not just because of the virus itself but due to the uncertain effect the pandemic can have on their future.

Brown还发现，年轻人也会越来越焦虑——不仅是因为病毒本身，还因为疫情可能对他们的未来产生的不确定影响。

"[These groups] in particular should really be on the lookout for whether they start to experience any of that functional impairment, " Brown said. "And if they are, it may be good to reach out for additional support."

Brown说：“（这些群体）应该尤其注意他们是否开始经历任何一类功能性障碍。如果有的话，最好寻求外界的帮助。”

Spending more time on social media—and consuming more media, in general—may also increase anxiety levels about the pandemic. Brown advised. "You would want to limit the amount of time you engage with it, not constantly checking in to see what the latest outrageous news is or what the latest social media battle is about."

在社交媒体花更多的时间以及使用更多的媒体，也可能会增加对大流行的焦虑程度。Brown建议道：“你需要限制自己参与其中的时间，而不是不断查看最新的骇人听闻的新闻或最新的社媒之战。”

Coronaphobia, if identified at earlier stages by mental health professionals, can be stopped with adequate treatment measures. Patients can be psychoeducated regarding the disease, which could be the first step in mitigating coronaphobia.

在早期阶段，如果有专业的精神科人员发现了这种恐惧症，可以通过适当的治疗措施停止它。患者可以接受关于这种疾病的心理教育，这可能是缓解恐惧症的第一步。

Education can also be provided to address the general measures, which could help in the long run with sleep hygiene, activity,  scheduling, and relaxation techniques. Constructive peer support, early mental health interventions, and supportive therapy for those undergoing stress can help to reduce the anxiety and uncertainty associated with COVID-19.

教育也可以解决的措施，这可能有助于患者的睡眠，日常活动和放松。建设性的同伴支持、早期精神干预措施以及对患者的支持性治疗，有助于减少和COVID-19相关的焦虑和不确定性。

What's more, decades of research have shown that cognitive behavioral therapy(CBT) can effectively treat anxiety. Other interventions that are proven to help with anxiety are mindfulness-based stress, meditation,acupuncture, and eventually - particularly if nonpharmaceutical interventions have failed to yield any benefit - pharmacological therapy. A particular family of medications, called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, is a safe proven treatment for generalized anxiety disorder.

几十年的研究表明，认知行为疗法（CBT）*可以有效地治疗焦虑症。被证明有助于缓解焦虑的其他疗法也包括正念减压、冥想、针灸。最后，当非药物干预没有产生任何作用时，可以采用药物疗法。SSRI类抗抑郁药*这种特殊的药物品种，能够安全地治疗广泛性焦虑症。

译注：①CBT认知行为疗法属于治疗心理疾病的一种方法，主要是处理思维以及行为之间的关系。对于出现的焦虑症以及抑郁症或者是强迫症等，通过认知行为疗法，能够促进疾病的痊愈，帮助患者识别想要摆脱的思想以及行为模式。

②SSRI类抗抑郁药，即选择性5-羟色胺再摄取抑制剂（Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor），是一类新型的抗抑郁药品。

原文链接：

https://www.health.com/condition/infectious-diseases/coronavirus/coronaphobia-covid-anxiety-disorder

编译 | 张静宇 唐潇 夏依旦 高敏奕

排版 | 唐潇 张静宇