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I went a few years ago to a conference, and on Friday of the three-day conference,
幾年前我去參加一個學術會議，連開三天，第一天是周五
one of the participants took me aside, and she said,
一個與會者把我叫到一邊，她說
"I suffer from depression and I'm a little embarrassed about it,
“我有抑郁癥，我為此有點難為情
but I've been taking this medication, and I just wanted to ask you what you think?"
而且我一直在吃某種藥物，我只是想問問看你的意見？”
And so I did my best to give her such advice as I could.
我但是盡我所能給了一些建議
And then she said, "You know, my husband would never understand this.
之后她說，“其實，我的丈夫并不知道這件事情
He's really the kind of guy to whom this wouldn't make any sense, so I just, you know, it's just between us."
他是那種無法理解這種事情的人。所以，嗯，我們的談話能否保密。”
And I said, "Yes, that's fine."
我說， “好，沒有問題。”
On Sunday of the same conference, her husband took me aside,
周日開會的時候，她的丈夫把我叫到了一邊
and he said, "My wife wouldn't think that I was really much of a guy if she knew this,
對我說， “我的妻子并不知道我跟她了解的那個我之間的不同
but I've been dealing with this depression and I'm taking some medication,
我有抑郁癥，有一段時間了。我現在需要吃一些藥物維持
and I wondered what you think?"
我想聽聽你的看法？”
They were hiding the same medication in two different places in the same bedroom.
他們兩個人服用同一種藥物，并且將藥物藏在同一個臥室的不同的地方
And I said that I thought
于是我對他說
communication within the marriage might be triggering some of their problems.
我覺得婚姻內部的溝通問題可能是他抑郁的原因之一
But I was also struck by the burdensome nature of such mutual secrecy.
讓我感到震驚的是人們想要保守這樣的秘密，并因此成熟的沉重負擔
Depression is so exhausting.
抑郁讓人精疲力盡
It takes up so much of your time and energy, and silence about it,
它會消耗掉你幾乎全部的時間和精力，而對此保持沉默
it really does make the depression worse.
只會讓抑郁的癥狀變得更加嚴重
And then I began thinking about all the ways people make themselves better.
我開始考慮所有可能的途徑幫助抑郁的人們變得好一些
I'd started off as a medical conservative.
我在治療方法上，一開始是很保守的
I thought there were a few kinds of therapy that worked, it was clear what they were
我覺得只有少數幾種療法是有效的，就那么幾種——
there was medication, there were certain psychotherapies,
藥物治療，幾類特定的精神療法
there was possibly electroconvulsive treatment, and that everything else was nonsense.
電休克療法有時候有效果，其它所有的方法都是扯淡
But then I discovered something.
但是后來我的看法變了
If you have brain cancer,
如果你的腦子里長了腫瘤
and you say that standing on your head for 20 minutes every morning makes you feel better,
然后你覺得自己每天早晨倒立20分鐘會讓自己感覺好一些
it may make you feel better,
或許讓你自己感覺好一些
but you still have brain cancer, and you'll still probably die from it.
但是你的腦瘤還在那里，你還是可能因此死去
But if you say that you have depression,
但是如果你患上了抑郁
and standing on your head for 20 minutes every day makes you feel better, then it's worked,
然后你覺因為每天倒立20分鐘感覺好一些，那是有一定效果的
because depression is an illness of how you feel,
因為抑郁是你的感覺和情緒出了問題
and if you feel better, then you are effectively not depressed anymore.
如果你感覺好一些了，那么你的抑郁就會少一些
So I became much more tolerant of the vast world of alternative treatments.
所以我現在變得非常的寬容，各種奇怪的偏門療法我都能接受了
And I get letters, I get hundreds of letters from people writing to tell me about what's worked for them.
我收到了成百上千的郵件，人們寫信跟我分享他們使用的治療方法
Someone was asking me backstage today about meditation.
就在剛才還有人在幕后問我關于藥物治療的事情
My favorite of the letters that I got was the one that came from a woman
有一封郵件提供的方法我很喜歡是一位女士寫給我的
who wrote and said that she had tried therapy,
她嘗試過心理療法，不管用
she had tried medication, she had tried pretty much everything,
藥物療法，也不行，各種方法都嘗試了，還是不行
and she had found a solution and hoped I would tell the world,
最后她自己發現了一個方法，她希望我告訴全世界
and that was making little things from yarn.
她認為最好的療法是用紗線做一些小制品
She sent me some of them.
她還給我郵寄了一些
And I'm not wearing them right now.
我現在沒穿在身上
I suggested to her that she also should look up obsessive compulsive disorder in the DSM.
我建議她再去醫院查查，看看有沒有強迫癥
