World Mental Health Day: If you're feeling depressed or anxious, you're not alone

世界心理健康日：如果你感到抑郁或担忧，你不是一个人

Shayla, a 22-year-old from Georgia, has had days during the coronavirus pandemic when she said it has been a struggle to get out of bed.

Shayla，一位来自乔治亚的22岁女生说，在新冠疫情期间，她一度起床困难。

The part-time college student said she was out of work for a time due to restaurants being closed during the lockdown, and in addition to the financial stress, struggled with not being able to see friends and socialize.

这名在外兼职的大学在校生表示，因为饭店在疫情封锁期间都关门停业了，所以她也没了工作。另外，除了经济压力外，疫情让她无法和朋友见面并交际。

As a person with an underlying health issue, she said she also struggled with fears about getting COVID-19 since she is at risk for complications from the virus.

由于身体本来就不好，Shayla说，她还担心自己也感染新冠肺炎，因为新冠肺炎所伴随的并发症会导致她的健康危危可及。

"It has been very hard on my mental health," said Shayla, who asked that her last name not be used. "I had a lot of things to think about already and then COVID just added to it, so it was a lot of pressure."

Shayla在采访中请求隐去她的姓氏，她说：“这些都对我的心理健康造成了严重的影响。我本来就心理负担很重，新冠疫情更是雪上加霜。这一切都给我造成了巨大的压力。”

Shayla turned to therapy to cope, the first time in her life she has sought professional help for her mental health.

为了化解心理方面的问题，Shayla选择进行治疗，这是她一生中第一次选择专业医生来帮助自己面对心理方面的问题。

"It was like I was just in this box and I didn't know how to get out of it," she said. "Mentally and physically, I was just exhausting myself."

她说：“我感觉自己被关在盒子里，而我却不知道如何从盒子里出来。无论是心理还是身体方面，我都感觉疲惫不堪。”

Shayla is not alone in her mental health struggles during the pandemic, research shows.

研究显示，在疫情期间，在心理健康方面苦苦挣扎的并非Shayla一个人。

In the United States, rates of anxiety and depression remain higher than they were pre-pandemic, according to data released this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

根据疾病控制预防中心本周公布的数据，在美国，人群的抑郁比例要高于疫情发生前。

Mental health experts have described the pandemic as a kind of "perfect storm" in negatively impacting mental health.

心理健康专家将疫情描述为一种“摧毁心理健康的完美风暴”。

In addition to the fear, grief and anxiety around the virus itself, for many people the pandemic has brought on financial instability, job loss, isolation, additional caregiving responsibilities, uncertainty around school and work and related political disagreements.

除了围绕病毒本身所产生的恐惧、难过和担忧外，疫情还导致许多人收入不稳定，失业，处于隔离状态，肩负更多的养育责任，对学校和工作产生不确定以及相关的政治争议。

Now as the global community marks World Mental Health Day on Oct. 10, the pandemic has continued far beyond what people initially thought possible, for nearly two years.

随着全世界将10月10日设定为世界心理健康日，疫情已经持续了近2年，远远超过了人们最初的预期。

"I've heard the pandemic described as a disaster of uncertainty because it seems like the finish line keeps moving," said Dr. Erica Martin Richards, chair and medical director of the department of psychiatry and behavioral health at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, D.C. "And that makes it harder to come up with a plan [to cope]."

“有人把疫情比喻为一场不确定的灾难，因为疫情似乎就像是一条不断向前移动的终点线”，Erica Martin Richards博士，华盛顿锡布利纪念医院精神病学与行为健康科的主任表示。“不确定的疫情使提出应对计划变得更加困难。”

The pandemic has also proven to disproportionately impact women's mental health.

疫情还被证实对女性的心理健康产生了更大的不利影响。

One study, published by the Kaiser Family Foundation in April, found that 55% of women across all age groups said their mental health had declined during the pandemic, compared to 38% of men. Another, published last month in Lancet Regional Health-Americas, also found women were more likely than men to report higher psychological distress during the pandemic, especially anxiety.

一项由Kaiser家庭基金会在4月发表的研究发现，55%的各个年龄段的女性表示，他们的心理健康在疫情期间变差了，而男性的这一比例为38%。

另一项由《柳叶刀地区健康-美洲》于上个月所发表的一项研究也发现，在疫情期间，女性比男性产生了更大的心理压力，特别是忧虑。

Richards, also an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins Medicine, said women's mental health has suffered disproportionately during the pandemic for a number of reasons.

同时在约翰霍普金斯大学医学院担任精神健康与行为科学助理教授的理查兹表示，女性心理健康受疫情影响更大的理由如下：

First, even in non-pandemic times women are already two to three times more likely than men to experience a major depressive episode in their lifetime, according to Richards.

首先，即使是在没有疫情的时期，女性在一生中经历重大抑郁的可能性也是男性的2到3倍。

Then during the pandemic, women took on additional caregiving responsibilities and were hit disproportionately hard by job loss, data shows.

数据显示，在疫情期间，女性需要承担更多的照顾责任而且受失业的影响也更大。

Women, and especially women of color, also faced more barriers to accessing support during the pandemic, according to Richards.

女性，特别是有色人种的女性，在疫情期间获得帮助时也会面临更多的障碍。

For some women, their mental health struggles may have played out during the pandemic in an increasing dependence on alcohol, or increased control over their food, according to Dr. Jessi Gold, an assistant professor in the department of psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine.

对于某些女性而言，在疫情期间随着自己对酒精越来越依赖或对食物的控制越来越严格，他们在面对心理问题时也许已经筋疲力尽，Jessi Gold，华盛顿大学医药学院助理教授表示。

Data shows that incidences of eating disorders and alcohol-related liver disease rose during the pandemic, particularly among young women.

数据显示，进食障碍的比例和酒精引起的肝病在疫情期间，特别是在年轻女性中间有所增加。

"Those are easy coping mechanisms that people know work," said Gold. "There are ways that people can deal. And there's a lot of people who function to a point, until they can't."

“这些都是比较容易采用且人们知道会起作用的应对机制”，Gold表示。“人们应对心理压力的方法有很多种。有许多人都会选择很多方法，直到没有选择为止。”

Both Gold and Richards said they have seen an increasing need for professional mental health as the pandemic has continued on, at some points with seemingly no end in sight.

Gold和理查兹都表示，随着疫情似乎无止境的持续，人们对专业心理健康的需求也逐渐增加。

"Anxiety was the thing that emerged first for a lot of people because anxiety does not like uncertainty and that's what we've been dealing with during the pandemic," said Gold. "And the longer the anxiety goes on, the more people start to feel on the depressive side of things."

Gold表示：“由于忧虑并不喜欢不确定性，所以对许多人而言，忧虑是最先产生的感觉，也是我们一直在应对的问题。忧虑持续的时间越长，人们就越容易开始只看到事情消极的一面。”

Warning signs that it is time to seek professional help for mental health include everything from depressive and hopeless thoughts to undesired weight loss or weight gain, suicidal thoughts, excessive feelings of worry, irritability and changes to sleep patterns. They key is to notice if any of those things begin to affect your ability to function in your daily life, according to Richards.

当心理问题出现以下情况时，则表示要寻求专业的帮助了，具体包括认为所有的一切都令人担忧无望，体重减重或增加，有自杀的念头，过度担忧，烦躁不安以及睡眠习惯改变。关键要注意是否上述现象已经开始对你的日常生活能力产生影响。

"When stress is becoming overwhelming, ask for help from a professional," she said. "That professional can come in a number of ways -- religious leaders or groups, OB-GYNs, primary care doctors. Those people should be able to, if not help, point you in the right direction."

“当压力变得越来越大时，请寻求专业人士的帮助”，她说。“专业人士包括宗教领袖或团体、妇产科医生、初级保健医生。这些人，哪怕没有提供帮助，也应该能够为你指明正确的方向。”

There are also ways people can protect and strengthen their mental health on their own, tools that become even more critically important as the pandemic continues, according to Gold.

也有一些可以独自保护并改善心理健康的方法，随着疫情持续，这些方法也变得越来越重要，Gold表示。

"There will be things that will continue to be frustrating about this experience," she said. "Things will be up and down and we have to have some acceptance about that. Just think, 'I'm just trying to do the best I can,' and that's where you have to land."

她说：“肯定还会有一些事情会让心理有挫败感。事情肯定会起起伏伏，我们要做的是接受。我们可以这样想，‘我正在尝试尽我所能，’这就是我们要考虑的。”

Here are five mental health-boosting tips from Gold and Richards.

以下是Gold和理查兹给出的改善心理健康的五个小技巧。

1.Get plenty of sleep: "It's easier said than done but it makes a big difference," said Gold. "Sleep is all about routine, which is why as a kid it worked that your parents gave you a bath, put you in your pajamas and read books. It works the same as an adult, we just don't take time to do things like that."

1.获得充足的睡眠：“虽然说比做容易，但是充足的睡眠确实会有很大的作用，”Gold表示。“睡眠就是一种习惯。这就是为什么在你小时候，你的父母会给你洗澡，为你换上睡衣并给你读睡前故事。这个方法对于成人同样有用，我们只是没有花时间去把睡眠作为一种习惯。”

2.Do self check-ins: "Ask yourself how you're doing and name the feelings and validate them and let them be something that you take the time to stop and acknowledge instead of powering through," said Gold. "Doing self-assessments like that can make you stop and say, 'I'm here, too. What am I feeling?'

2.自我检查：“问问自己的感受并说出自己的感觉，然后对这些感觉一一验证。然后花时间去停止并承认这些感觉而不是让这些感觉变得越来越强，”Gold表示。“进行这样的自我评估会让你停下来并对自己说，‘我现在就在这里。我的感受如何？’”

Other questions Gold suggests asking include, "Have I been sleeping? Have I been eating? What have I enjoyed about the day? What's been hard?"

其他问题还包括，“我睡觉了吗？我吃饭了吗？今天哪些事情让我感到开心？哪些事情比较棘手？”

3: Keep the positives of the pandemic: "We have to embrace some of the changes that have come out of the pandemic," said Richards. "For some people, it was I can stay home, I can bake more, I can take a walk with my loved ones twice a week, I can go check on my neighbor."

3.看到疫情积极的一面：“我们必须要接受某些疫情所带来的变化，”理查兹说。“对于一些人，这些变化是我可以呆在家里，我可以花更多时间烘焙，我可以和爱人每周散步两次，我可以去邻居那里做客。”

"Everyone has to find their own balance, not only with what keeps them safe, but what really they find helps with their mental health as well," she said.

“每个人都要找到自己的平衡点。这种平衡点不仅是让自己安全的东西，还有真正的有助于保持心理健康的东西。”

4.Say no when you need to: "It is sometimes important to really just say no and set limits," said Richards. "Even though that might seem difficult, you're actually able to help people more down the road if you're able to really take time for your own mental health first."

4.需要时说不：“有时说不以及设限真的很重要，”理查兹说。“即使这样做似乎很困难，但是只有你能够真正花时间先关注好自己的心理健康，你才可以更多地帮助他人。”

5.Do self-care you enjoy, not what you think you should do: "Look at self-care or coping skills as hobbies and things that you actually enjoy," said Gold. "So do you like meditating or are you doing that because someone told you that's the way to feel better? Figuring out what you like and what makes you feel better is more important than doing things you're told you're supposed to do."

5.做自己喜欢的而不是认为自己应该做的自我安抚活动：“把自我安抚或处理技巧看做是兴趣和自己真正热爱的事物，”Gold表示。“你是真的热爱冥想，还是因为别人告诉你冥想对你有帮助，你才去做的呢？思考自己热爱什么以及什么让自己感觉更好要比做别人告诉你应该这样做更加重要。”

来源：ABC News， 编辑&整理：译锐翻译Susan