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Science and technology
科學技術
Post-traumatic stress disorder
創傷后精神緊張性障礙
Battle ready?
士兵，你準備好了嗎？
It may be possible to vaccinate soldiers against the trauma of war
為士兵接種抗戰爭創傷疫苗成為可能
WITH its deafening explosions, searing fires, dismembered corpses and stench of death, war pushes everyone it touches to the brink.
爆炸聲震耳欲聾，通紅的火舌四處蔓延，殘肢斷臂尸橫遍野，臭氣熏天，戰場上，每個人都瀕臨崩潰的邊緣。
Most recover naturally.
一些人會慢慢恢復，
Some, though, suffer psychological injuries that do not heal.
然而有的人一輩子都在受精神創傷的折磨。
The names of these injuries have changed.
這些創傷幾經更名，
Once they were known as shell-shock; then as battle fatigue; then as combat stress reaction.
起初稱作炮彈休克，緊接著是戰斗疲勞癥，而后又變為戰斗應激反應。
Now, the preferred term is post-traumatic stress disorder.
如今流行的說法是創傷后精神緊張性障礙。
But whatever they are called, they are worryingly common.
令人擔憂的是，盡管名稱更易頻繁，是指內容卻大同小異。
About 17% of American troops returning from Iraq and 11% of those coming back from Afghanistan suffer from them.
從伊拉克和阿富汗回國的美國士兵中，各有17%和11%罹患此癥。
The most common treatment is known as exposure-based therapy.
暴露療法是治療PTSD最常用的方法。
This asks those afflicted to imagine the sights and sounds that traumatised them, and helps them confront those memories.
醫生會要求患者復原那些使其精神受創的畫面和聲音，然后再將它們從記憶中一一刪除。
It often works. But not always.
雖然此法卓有成效，但卻不是萬靈藥。
And it would undoubtedly be better if troops did not develop the condition in the first place.
毫無疑問，最重要的還是能將致病誘因消除。
With this in mind, a team of engineers, computer scientists and psychologists led by Skip Rizzo at the University of Southern California propose a form of psychological vaccination.
鑒于此，由南加州大學斯卡普·里茲博士組織帶領的，包括工程師、計算機科學家和心理學家在內的科研小隊提出了注射心理疫苗的構想。
By presenting soldiers with the horrors of war before they set off to fight, Dr Rizzo hopes to inure squaddies to anything they might witness on the field of battle.
通過向出征前的士兵展示可能發生的恐怖戰爭場景，里茲博士希望他們能適應真實的戰地環境。
The idea of doing this developed from Dr Rizzo's work using virtual reality to help with exposure-based therapy.
里茲博士的這個想法來源于虛擬現實與暴露療法的相互結合。
Such VR enables the sights, sounds, vibrations and even smells of the battlefield to be recreated in the safety of a clinic, and trials suggest it can help those who do not respond to standard exposure-based therapy.
虛擬現實能夠在安全的診所里復原出戰場的畫面、聲音、顫動，甚至是氣味，相關試驗還表明虛擬現實對未接受暴露療法的患者同樣有效。
The success of such simulation led Dr Rizzo to wonder if a similar regime, experienced before actual battle, might prepare troops mentally in the way that traditional training prepares them physically.
模擬現實治療法大獲成功，使其設想類似方法能否運用在出征前的士兵身上，這樣一來，除了軍隊提供的體能訓練之外，他們的心理也做好了應對戰爭的準備。
His preliminary results suggest it might.
初步研結果似乎證實了博士的設想。
The virtual training course Dr Rizzo and his team have developed leads soldiers through a tour of duty that includes seeing and handling human remains, experiencing the death of virtual comrades to whom they have become emotionally close, and watching helplessly as a child dies.
在接受虛擬訓練的服役期間，里茲博士的團隊將引導士兵接觸并學會處理死尸的方法，士兵還將體會到虛擬情境下親密戰友的犧牲，以及對兒童面臨死亡的愛莫能助。
Unlike a real battlefield, though, a virtual one can be frozen, and events occurring there discussed at leisure.
虛擬戰場的獨特之處在于它可以隨叫隨停，學員也可以在體驗之余參與討論。
When that happens, a virtual mentor emerges from the midst of the chaos to guide the user through stress-reduction tactics he can deploy.
每當士兵情緒波動，不能自已的時候，畫面上就會出現一位虛擬導師向他們傳授適用的減壓技巧，
These may be as simple as breathing deeply, or as sophisticated as objectively recognising normal reactions to stress, and thus realising that your own reactions are normal too.
既有深呼吸這樣簡便易行的方法，也有一些較為復雜的應對措施，例如讓士兵認識到抗壓反應的合理性，這樣他們就不會再對自己的抗壓反應遮遮掩掩。
To monitor what is going on Dr Rizzo's colleague Galen Buckwalter tracks physiological markers of stress, such as the reactions of participants' pupils to what their eyes are seeing, their electrocardiograms and their galvanic skin responses.
里茲的同事伽林·布克沃特博士負責對士兵壓力狀態下的生理指標進行跟蹤監測。其中包括受試者觀看圖像時的瞳孔反應，心電圖特征以及體表電流狀況。
Dr Buckwalter hopes that as his charges become more psychologically prepared for battle, these markers will change in recognisable ways.
布克沃特博士希望出征士兵的各項指標能隨著日益強健的心理承受力而變得更加易于辨識。
This will allow officers to identify who is, and is not, ready for combat.
這樣，軍官們就可以對每個士兵的備戰情況了然于胸。
That would be an obvious boon.
心理疫苗的好處顯而易見，
But it could also create problems, for it is a long-standing belief of most armed forces that, with proper training, anyone can become a warrior.
但問題也隨之產生，因為長久以來，很多軍隊都堅信只要訓練得當，每個人都可以成為合格的士兵。
Dr Buckwalter's work would undermine this philosophy if it showed that no amount of training was ever going to change some people's markers.
如果布克沃特博士的實驗能夠證明訓練與指標并無直接聯系，這樣的也就隨之不攻自破了。
If that were the case, should such soldiers then be excused active duty?
如果事實果真如此，是不是有些士兵就不能繼續服役了？
As things stand, those with physical limitations who apply to serve in America are still recruited, but are given only work that they are physically capable of doing.
現實的情況是，美國軍隊對那些身體有缺陷的現役士兵依舊敞開大門，但只讓他們做一些力所能及的事情。
Should applicants with psychological limitations be treated similarly?
對心理有障礙的士兵是否應該采取類似的措施呢？
Perhaps they should.
答案或許是肯定的。
For if it does prove possible to sort those who are likely to become inured to war's horrors from those who will not, one result would be a more effective fighting force.
如果挑選的士兵更能適應恐懼的戰爭，不僅能大大提高部隊的戰斗力，
A second would be the consequential elimination of one of those horrors—the psychological wounds that are often regarded by soldiers who suffer them as worse than physical ones.
還能降低心理遭受心理創傷的概率，因為在受過創傷的士兵眼里，心靈的折磨遠遠超過身體上的苦痛。
