評論
打印
I'd like to do pretty much what I did the first time, which is to choose a light-hearted theme.
我想能和第一次演講一樣，選擇一個輕松的主題。
Last time, I talked about death and dying.
上一次我談論了關于生與死。
This time, I'm going to talk about mental illness.
這次我要談談精神疾病。
But it has to be technological, so I'll talk about electroshock therapy.
但它應該是技術性的，所以我要談談電擊療法。
You know, ever since man had any notion that some of his other people, his colleagues,
大家知道，自從人們發現周邊其他人，同僚等
could be different, could be strange, could be severely depressed
可能是和自己不同的，可能是行徑奇怪，或者可能是嚴重抑郁的
or what we now recognize as schizophrenia,
或者是我們現在所指的精神分裂癥
he was certain that this kind of illness had to come from evil spirits getting into the body.
就斷定患了這種病一定是種魔鬼附體的病癥。
So, the way of treating these diseases in early times was to, in some way or other,
為了治療這種病癥，在早期，應用了不同方法，
exorcise those evil spirits, and this is still going on, as you know.
眾所周知，驅魔法一直沿用至今。
But it wasn't enough to use the priests.
但是僅僅靠祭司是不夠的。
When medicine became somewhat scientific, in about 450 BC, with Hippocrates and those boys,
在約公元前450年，醫藥成為一門學科，希波克拉底和學生們
they tried to look for herbs, plants that would literally shake the bad spirits out.
嘗試研究、尋找草藥、植物，從中找出將惡魔驅除出人體的藥方。
So, they found certain plants that could cause convulsions.
他們發現某些植物可以引發人體抽搐。
And the herbals, the botanical books of up to the late Middle Ages,
到中世紀后期和文藝復興時期的植物學書，即各種”本草集“，
the Renaissance are filled with prescriptions for causing convulsions to shake the evil spirits out.
里面記錄有很多藥方，都能靠誘發抽筋來驅除惡魔。
Finally, in about the sixteenth century,
最后，大約在16世紀，
a physician whose name was Theophrastus Bombastus Aureolus von Hohenheim,
一個物理學家，名字叫做Theophrastus Bombastus Auricularis von Hohenheim
called Paracelsus, a name probably familiar to some people here, good, old Paracelsus
被稱作帕拉塞爾蘇斯，在座可能有人知道這個名字，老頑固帕拉塞爾蘇斯，
found that he could predict the degree of convulsion by using a measured amount of camphor to produce the convulsion.
發現他可以預測抽搐的程度，通過使用定量的樟腦誘發人體抽搐。
Can you imagine going to your closet, pulling out a mothball, and chewing on it if you're feeling depressed?
你可以想象嗎，走到你的衣櫥，拿出一顆樟腦球然后嚼食它，想象這樣緩解抑郁？
It's better than Prozac, but I wouldn't recommend it.
這個比百憂解（抗抑郁藥)有效，但是我可不推薦這么做。
So what we see in the seventeenth, eighteenth century is the continued search for medications other than camphor that'll do the trick.
發展到17，18世紀人類繼續尋找除了樟腦外的其他辦法。
Well, along comes Benjamin Franklin,
這時出現了本杰明·富蘭克林，
and he comes close to convulsing himself with a bolt of electricity off the end of his kite.
通過風箏電流，他幾乎誘發自己抽搐，這是通過風箏傳導的雷電電流。
And so people begin thinking in terms of electricity to produce convulsions.
然后人們開始思考通過電流誘發抽搐。
And then, we fast-forward to about 1932,
到了大約1932年，
when three Italian psychiatrists, who were largely treating depression,
3位主要治療抑郁癥的意大利精神病專家
began to notice among their patients, who were also epileptics,
注意到他們的憂郁癥病人中，那些同時患有癲癇癥的患者，
that if they had an epileptic -- a series of epileptic fits,
如果他們癲癇癥發作后，連續發作多次
a lot of them in a row -- the depression would very frequently lift.
許多人抑郁癥便減輕
Not only would it lift, but it might never return.
不僅僅是減輕，還可能完全根治。
