Yes, They Get Depressed, Too!

Yes, They Get Depressed¹, Too!

People often say that pets and their owners grow to look like each other. Recent research from Brisbane claims that pets also have emotions like their owners and even the same psychological problems.

Professor Judith Blackshaw is an animal 1)behaviourist on a quest to solve human misery². Along with her psychiatrist³ colleague, Professor Ivor Jones, she’s looking for the root causes of depression and anxiety. Miss Izzy, the 2)Staffordshire terrier, isn’t just along for the walk; the professors believe 3)domestic animal behaviour is the key.

Blackshaw: Well I think the big thing we are trying to achieve is to show people that the 4)species of animals are very similar. A depressed person and, of course there is a lot of depression in the world, and a depressed animal are very similar. For example, I had a cat who died from depression. Now we might call it grief or broken heart, but this cat’s companion was actually killed by a dog.

The cat was so 5)traumatized it refused to eat; the owners not picking up the signs in time for Judith Blackshaw to treat it. To Professor Jones the situation sounds all too human.

Jones: There are many conditions where there are close similarities between psychiatric states and animal states.

It’s not a view though shared by mainstream⁴ psychiatry⁵ where animal behaviour is not considered relevant to human depression. But to professors Blackshaw and Jones the 6)parallels between humans and animals are so powerful, they can only be explained by a common source.

Jones: Well, psychiatry has found all sorts of ways of understanding all these psychiatric 7)syndromes: depression, anxiety, 8)obsession⁷ and so on. But they haven’t described how it evolved, and I think that’s what we’re trying to do.

Blackshaw: This is the exciting thing there’s never been a study that I know of that’s compared human and animal cases.

There’s more to this study, though, than simply two academics in passionate⁸ pursuit of pure knowledge. According to public health authorities, 800,000 Australians suffer some form of depression each year. Treating depression costs half a billion dollars a year and that’s not including the cost of anxiety illnesses. Dollars and cents though don’t measure the human cost.

Two-legged animals aren’t the only beneficiaries of the professors’ work. Already a few 9)vets have 10)twigged to the parallels between people and their pets. When the family 11)pooch or 12)moggie gets depressed, they’re prescribing 13)Prozac and other human psychiatric drugs.

For Judith Blackshaw and Ivor Jones, the success of human drugs on animals is just one further piece of evidence for how close the species are.

Blackshaw: Cats, dogs and humans are emotionally very, very similar. After all we’re all domesticated¹¹ animals.

注释：
1) behaviorist [bi5heivjErist]  n. 行为学者，行为科学家
2) Staffordshire terrier 斯塔福德狗
3) domestic [dE5mestik] a. 驯服的
4) species [5spi:Fiz] n. 物种
5) traumatize [5trC:mEtaiz] v. 使受损伤，使受精神上创伤
6) parallel [5pArElel] n. 类似，相似物
7) syndrome⁶ [5sindrEum] n. 病症
8) obsession [Eb5seFEn] n. 强迫症
9) vet⁹ [vet] n. 兽医 
10) twig¹⁰ [twi^] v. 注意，了解
11) pooch [pu:tF] n. <美俚>狗，杂种狗
12) moggie [5mC^i] n. <英俚>猫，也作moggy
13) Prozac百忧解，一种抗抑郁药物，通过提高大脑中复合胺（患有抑郁症的病人被检测出大脑中这种物质的含量很低）的含量达到振奋精神的作用。

宠物也忧伤
   
人们常说宠物与它们的主人会渐渐地变得越来越相似。最近一份来自布里斯班的研究结果表明，宠物不仅和它们的主人一样有情绪，甚至还存在相同的心理上的问题。
朱迪斯·布莱克肖教授是一位动物行为学家，正从事一项关于人类悲苦情绪的分析与研究工作。她与她的同事——精神病学家艾弗·琼斯教授一道，探求抑郁和焦虑的根源。这条名叫伊子小姐的斯塔福德犬对研究起到了重要作用。两位教授认为家畜的行为举止正是揭开谜团的关键。

布莱克肖: 我认为，我们现在所做的是为了达到这样一个重要目的: 让人们知道不同物种之间是非常相似的。一个抑郁的人——世界上抑郁的人毫无疑问有很多——和一只抑郁的动物非常相似。比方说，我见到过一只猫就是抑郁而死的，或者我们也可以说是悲痛或伤心而死，而这只猫的伴侣的确是被狗咬死的。

这只猫精神上受到了极大的打击以至于拒绝进食。由于猫主人未能及时地注意到种种迹象，所以朱迪斯·布莱克肖错过了治疗时机。对琼斯教授来说，这种情形听起来实在与人类太像了。

琼斯: 在很多情形下，人的精神状态与动物的精神状态有着极为相近之处。

不过，主流精神病学与此意见相左，他们认为动物的行为举止与人类的抑郁没有关联。但对布莱克肖教授和琼斯教授来说，人类与动物的相似之处如此有说服力，唯有用相同的根源才能加以解释。

琼斯: 对于所有这些诸如抑郁症、焦虑症和强迫症等精神病症，精神病学上已经采用了各种各样的方法进行解读。但他们并没有对病症的成因加以阐述。我认为这正是我们的目标。

布莱克肖: 令人兴奋之处在于，据我所知，从未有过科学研究将人类与动物的病例相提并论。

两名学者对纯学术的追求满腔热情，但这项研究的意义并不仅限于此。公共卫生当局的调查数据显示，每年都有八十万澳大利亚人遭受不同形式的抑郁症的困挠，每年此项治疗费用就高达五亿澳元，这还不包括焦虑症的治疗费用。而人们因精神上的问题而忍受的痛苦却是无法用金钱来计算的。
人类并非两位教授研究的惟一受益者。有一些兽医已经留意到了人和宠物之间的相似性。当家养的猫狗精神不振时，他们会开出百忧解以及其它供人类服用的精神病药物。
朱迪斯·布莱克肖和艾弗·琼斯认为，人类药物在动物身上应用成功进一步证实了这两个物种的相似性。

布莱克肖: 猫、狗和人类在情感方面具有极强的相似性。归根结底，我们都是驯化动物嘛。

 

1 depressed   

adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的

参考例句：

• When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
• His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。

2 misery   

n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦

参考例句：

• Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
• He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。

3 psychiatrist   

n.精神病专家；精神病医师

参考例句：

• He went to a psychiatrist about his compulsive gambling.他去看精神科医生治疗不能自拔的赌瘾。
• The psychiatrist corrected him gently.精神病医师彬彬有礼地纠正他。

4 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

5 psychiatry   

n.精神病学，精神病疗法

参考例句：

• The study appeared in the Amercian science Journal of Psychiatry.这个研究发表在美国精神病学的杂志上。
• A physician is someone who specializes in psychiatry.精神病专家是专门从事精神病治疗的人。

6 syndrome   

n.综合病症；并存特性

参考例句：

• The Institute says that an unidentified virus is to blame for the syndrome. 该研究所表示,引起这种综合症的是一种尚未确认的病毒。
• Results indicated that 11 fetuses had Down syndrome. 结果表明有11个胎儿患有唐氏综合征。

7 obsession   

n.困扰，无法摆脱的思想(或情感)

参考例句：

• I was suffering from obsession that my career would be ended.那时的我陷入了我的事业有可能就此终止的困扰当中。
• She would try to forget her obsession with Christopher.她会努力忘记对克里斯托弗的迷恋。

8 passionate   

adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的

参考例句：

• He is said to be the most passionate man.据说他是最有激情的人。
• He is very passionate about the project.他对那个项目非常热心。

9 vet   

n.兽医，退役军人；vt.检查

参考例句：

• I took my dog to the vet.我把狗带到兽医诊所看病。
• Someone should vet this report before it goes out.这篇报道发表之前应该有人对它进行详查。

10 twig   

n.小树枝，嫩枝；v.理解

参考例句：

• He heard the sharp crack of a twig.他听到树枝清脆的断裂声。
• The sharp sound of a twig snapping scared the badger away.细枝突然折断的刺耳声把獾惊跑了。

11 domesticated   

adj.喜欢家庭生活的；（指动物）被驯养了的v.驯化( domesticate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He is thoroughly domesticated and cooks a delicious chicken casserole. 他精于家务，烹制的砂锅炖小鸡非常可口。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The donkey is a domesticated form of the African wild ass. 驴是非洲野驴的一种已驯化的品种。 来自《简明英汉词典》