【心理学译作·双语】克服恐惧的唯一方法是穿过恐惧

Overcoming Fear: The Only Way Out is Through

克服恐惧的唯一方法是穿过恐惧

To get rid of fear, you must first embrace it.

想要摆脱恐惧，你必须先拥抱它。

Posted Sep 20, 2010 |  Reviewed by Devon Frye

发布于2010年9月20日 | 由Devon Frye审核

A story about the Nobel winning writer Isaac Bashevis-Singer has him resting at home after receiving news of his award. A reporter appears at his door:

有一个有关诺贝尔奖获得者Isaac Bashevis-Singer作者的小故事，讲的是他在得知获奖消息后在家中休息时，有一个记者来到了他家门口：

"Mr. Bashevis-Singer, are you surprised? Are you happy?"

“Bashevis-Singer先生，你感到惊讶吗？你感到开心吗？”

"Of course," answers the elderly writer, "I am very surprised and happy."

“当然，”年迈的作家答道，“我很惊讶，也很开心。”

Ten minutes later, another reporter appears:

十分钟之后，另一个记者也赶到了：

"Mr. Bashevis-Singer, are you surprised? Are you happy?"

“Bashevis-Singer先生，你感到惊讶吗？你感到开心吗？”

"How long can a man remain surprised and happy?" comes the reply.

“一个人又能惊讶、开心多久呢？”他回答。

Along with the late writer's wit, this anecdote also illustrates the mechanism of habituation. Habituation, defined formally, refers to the fact that nervous system arousal decreases on repeated exposure to the same stimulus. In layman's terms, it means that familiar things get boring. This mechanism is hard-wired into the human genetic program. It has clear adaptive value, because habituation to familiar stimuli allows more energy to be directed to novel stimuli, hence improving the odds of survival.

这则轶事不仅表现出了作家的才智，也阐明了习惯化的机制。习惯化的正式定义是，当重复暴露在相同的刺激下时，神经系统的唤醒程度会下降。用通俗的话说，就是类似的事物会变得无聊。这种机制是人类基因程式中固有的，它对于适应环境来说有明显的价值，因为对于类似刺激的习惯化将允许我们把更多的精力导向新的刺激，以此提高生存的几率。

Psychology has made several uses of this principle. For example, an infant can't report on whether they can tell the different between red and blue, or between "pah" and "bah" sounds. But you can habituate infants to one color or sound, and then switch to the other. If the infant dishabituates (shows physiological arousal), then you know they saw the difference. Marriage therapists will often advise a couple struggling with sexual boredom to "try something new." This works because a novel stimulus dishabituates the nervous system, causing arousal. That arousal can in turn be mined for satisfying sex.

心理学已经多次应用过这个原理。例如，婴儿在看到红色、蓝色，或者听到“pa”、“ba”的声音时，是无法告知我们他们能否辨认出不同的。但是我们可以使婴儿习惯于一种颜色、声音，然后切换成另一种。如果婴儿表现出了去习惯化（表现出生理层面的唤醒），那我们就可以得知他们看到了不同。婚姻治疗师常常建议性倦怠的夫妇“尝试点新花样”。这是有用的，因为一个新的刺激将使神经系统去习惯化，导致兴奋，而这种兴奋可以被利用以获得令人满意的性爱。

But the most important application of the habituation principle has been in the area of anxiety treatment.

但是在治疗焦虑领域的应用才是习惯化原理最重要的应用。

The experience of anxiety involves nervous system arousal. If your nervous system is not aroused, you cannot experience anxiety. Understandably, but unfortunately, most people attempt to cope with feelings of anxiety by avoiding situations or objects that elicit the feelings. Avoidance, however, prevents your nervous system from habituating. Therefore, avoidance guarantees that the feared object or situation will remain novel, and hence arousing, and hence anxiety provoking. Moreover, avoidance tends to generalize over time. If you avoid the elevator at work, you will soon begin to avoid all elevators, and then all buildings that house elevators, etcetera. Soon enough, you'll be living in a prison of avoidance.

焦虑的体验涉及到神经系统的唤醒。如果你的神经系统未被唤醒，你是不能体验到焦虑的。可以理解但却不幸的是，大多数人会尝试通过避开引发焦虑的情景或物体来应对焦虑，而这种逃避将使你的神经系统无法习惯化。因此，逃避确保了恐惧的事物或情景对你而言将永远都是新鲜的，也就是“令人唤醒的”，也就会诱发焦虑。此外，逃避会随着时间而泛化，如果你在避开公司的电梯，很快你就会开始避开所有的电梯，最终你就会避开所有有电梯的建筑。用不了多久，你就会住在逃避的监狱中。

Moreover, when you avoid something that scares you, you tend to experience a sense of failure. Every time you avoid a feared object or situation, your anxiety gains strength while you lose some; you accumulate another experience of failure and another piece of evidence attesting to your weakness. Finally, avoidance eliminates practice. Without practice, it is difficult to gain mastery. Without mastery, confidence is less likely to rise.

另外，当逃避让你害怕的事物时，你常常会感到一种失败感。每当你避开一个事物或场景，你的焦虑就会更强，你就会更弱，你就累积了另一个失败的经历、另一份证明你的懦弱的证据。最终，逃避杜绝了练习，没有练习就难以精通，没有精通就很难形成自信。

So, avoiding anxiety maintains and magnifies it. To get rid of your anxiety you should instead capitalize on the principle of habituation through the use of "exposure." Exposure is by far the most potent medicine known to psychology. It is responsible, directly or indirectly, for most positive improvement achieved in therapy—any therapy, but particularly the treatment of anxiety. Exposure entails facing your fears, which makes it aversive in the short-term. But many worthy long-term goals entail short-term discomfort (think studying for an exam).

因此，逃避焦虑会维持焦虑并且放大焦虑。想要摆脱你的焦虑，你应该反过来利用习惯化的原理，让自己充分“暴露”在焦虑下。到目前为止，暴露是心理学最强的良药，是它促成了治疗中的大多数的积极进步，——任何治疗，但尤其是应对焦虑的治疗——有时是直接影响，有时是间接影响。暴露要求我们直面恐惧，这在短期内是令人反感的，但是许多有价值的长期目标的达成，都要求我们经历短期的不适（比如为了考试而学习）。

Exposure also seems counter intuitive, but many truths are counter intuitive (think about the fact that we're residing on a ball floating in infinite space). Exposure scares people, but scary things are not necessarily dangerous (think roller coasters, horror films). Exposure is scary primarily because most people, lacking an understanding of the habituation principle, expect their fear to escalate indefinitely in the presence of a feared object or situation. But nothing rises indefinitely. And fear, if you face it, will soon begin to subside as you habituate.

暴露看起来也是反直觉的，但是许多的真理都是反直觉的（比如我们居住在一个漂浮在无尽空间中的球上）。暴露让人害怕，但是可怕的事情不一定是危险的（比如过山车、恐怖电影）。暴露是可怕的，主要是因为大多数人没能理解习惯化的原理，他们认为自己的恐惧会因为暴露于他们惧怕的物品或场景面前而无限增长。但是没有事物会无限增长，恐惧也是一样。如果你面对它，随着你逐渐习惯，恐惧很快就会开始平息。

Thus with anxiety, the only way out is through. If you're anxious about spiders, you will have to handle spiders. If you're scared of the elevator, you will have to ride the elevator repeatedly. If you dread talking in class, you will need to start talking in class. This is not easy to do, since confronting your fear will produce a lot of initial anxiety. You will have to stay in the feared situation and stay with the heightened fear response until it begins to subside, which it will, because it must by design.

因此应对焦虑的唯一方法就是穿过它。如果你害怕蜘蛛，你就要学着应付蜘蛛。如果你害怕电梯，你就要反复乘坐电梯。如果你害怕在课堂上讲话，你就要开始在课堂上讲话。这并不容易，因为在刚开始面对恐惧时，我们会产生大量的焦虑，你需要在你害怕的情景中停留，你需要在强烈的恐惧反应下停留，直到它开始平息。你要相信的是它一定会平息，因为它一开始就是这么设计的。

Exposure works better than avoidance on the physiological level by bringing about nervous system habituation, which is the physiological antidote to anxiety. But it works better on three other levels as well.

在生理层面上，暴露比逃避更有用，因为它能带来神经系统的习惯化，这正是焦虑在生理层面的解药。但同时，比起逃避，它在另外三个层面上也同样更有用。

On the psychological level, confronting your fear instead of backing down brings about a sense of accomplishment and empowerment. Every time you confront your fear, you gain power while your anxiety loses strength (I can tolerate it; it's difficult but not impossible; it's not the end of the world). Every time you confront your fear you accumulate evidence of your ability to cope (I did it yesterday; I can do it again today).

在心理学层面上，直面恐惧而不是退缩能带来成就感和主权感。每当你直面恐惧，你都会更有力量，而你的焦虑就会更弱（我能忍受它；这很难但不是不可能；这并不是世界末日）。每当你直面恐惧，你都能累积证据，来证明你有应对焦虑的能力（我昨天做到了，今天我也能做到）。

On the behavioral level, confronting your fear repeatedly helps develop skills and mastery. Mastery decreases the chance of failure and therefore reduces the need to worry.

在行为层面上，反复直面恐惧能帮助你培养技能、达到精通。精通能减少失败的机会，因此可以减少担忧的必要。

Finally, exposure is particularly useful on the emotional level. It turns out that many (perhaps all) anxiety problems are at their core a "fear of fear." Most people who fear crowds, elevators, or planes know that these objects are not dangerous (they most likely let their kids go to the mall, ride the elevator, or fly in a plane). What they fear are the sensations of fear itself. Exposure to the sensations of fear allows them to habituate to these sensations, while at the same time improving their emotional literacy, since staying in the terrain helps to learn how to navigate, manage, and work it.

最后，暴露在情感层面上是尤其有用的。其实许多（也许所有的）焦虑问题在根本上都是“对于恐惧的恐惧”。大多数害怕人群、电梯或者飞机的人都知道这些物体并不是危险的（他们可能大都愿意让自己的孩子去商场、坐电梯或者坐飞机），他们害怕的是那种恐惧的感觉。暴露在恐惧的感觉下能允许他们去适应它，与此同时提升他们的情商。处于这种境况中有助于他们学会摸索方向，尝试应对并最终成功。

Exposure isn't easy. However, living in the prison of avoidance isn't easy either, and it isn't much of a life. The short-term discomfort of exposure is the price we must pay to purchase a valuable long-term asset—a life free from debilitating anxiety.

把自己暴露在恐惧下不是件容易的事情，但是活在逃避的监狱中也不见得简单，甚至那都算不上是真正的活着。暴露带来的短期不适是我们必须付出的代价，以换取一项拥有长期价值的资产——一个不用感到衰败、一个免于焦虑的人生。

About the Author

Noam Shpancer, Ph.D., is a professor of psychology at Otterbein College and a practicing clinical psychologist in Columbus, Ohio.

原文地址：https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/insight-therapy/201009/overcoming-fear-the-only-way-out-is-through