英语听力精选进阶版 For Kids With Anxiety, Parents Learn To Let Them Face Their Fears

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

For some children with anxiety disorders², treatment means weekly sessions with a therapist. Now a new study suggests parents could also help. Angus Chen explains.

ANGUS CHEN, BYLINE³: Last year, Joseph Calise, a 9-year-old boy from Norwalk, Conn., realized that he couldn't be alone. When he took a shower or was in bed at night, Joseph would panic and call for his parents.

JOSEPH CALISE: I would have nightmares⁴. I couldn't think of anything else.

CHEN: These moments terrified him.

JOSEPH: I felt like it would never change.

CHEN: So Joseph's parents, Jessica and Chris Calise, sat outside the bathroom door when he showered and let him sleep in their bed at night.

JESSICA CALISE: I just want him to be happy. I want him to sleep. And if that means that I don't sleep, that's a sacrifice we make.

CHEN: This kind of comforting, something psychologists call accommodation, is an almost universal reaction from parents, says Eli Lebowitz, a psychologist at Yale University,

ELI LEBOWITZ: It is a good and natural and healthy and beautiful thing that parents want to help their children who are struggling with anxiety to feel less afraid.

CHEN: But when children's anxiety is severe enough to keep them from playing with their friends, going to school or falling asleep, Lebowitz says it sets them up for failure.

LEBOWITZ: These accommodations, although well-intentioned, actually lead to more anxiety over time.

CHEN: That's because a child is always relying on their parents, so they never learn to deal with stressful situations on their own. Embedded⁵ in that is this message.

LEBOWITZ: You can't cope, and so I will do it for you.

CHEN: So Lebowitz started an experiment to train the parents to react differently to their kids' anxiety. Jessica Calise signed up for those trainings. Once a week, she met for an hour with a therapist. The first thing she learned was to acknowledge⁶ what her son Joseph was feeling.

JESSICA CALISE: That's one thing that I would never have said is that, you know, like, I understand that you're feeling nervous or scared.

CHEN: Then, she and her husband learned to support Joseph while he faced his anxiety by himself.

CHRIS CALISE: Go lay in your bed for a little bit. We'll check on you in 10 minutes.

JESSICA CALISE: I know it's scary for you, but I know you can do it. You're going to do great.

CHEN: And finally, they learned to praise Joseph when he got through those 10 long minutes.

JESSICA CALISE: You're a rock star. You did such a great job. You stayed in your bed, and it was OK. Like, you did it.

CHEN: Then, they'd repeat the whole thing every night, gradually extending the time until Joseph could make it to morning by himself. Anne Marie Albano, a psychologist at Columbia University who didn't work on the study, says this helps the child build their confidence and learn to deal with anxiety on their own.

ANNE MARIE ALBANO: So it's helping⁷ the child to develop their own coping strategies and, in many ways, to ride whatever wave of anxiety they're having and be really good to themselves.

CHEN: Now, it was a small study. Sixty-four parents whose children had been diagnosed⁸ with an anxiety disorder¹ received 12 weeks of this training. When it was done, their children were rescreened, and almost 70 percent of them showed no signs of anxiety. That suggests training for the parents might be as effective as therapy for the kids.

ALBANO: This is much needed research to tell us what to help parents do to break the cycle of anxiety that perpetuates⁹ in kids even with the best of treatments.

CHEN: Things have changed a lot for Joseph. He's become more confident and doesn't have any of the anxieties that once kept him up at night.

JESSICA CALISE: We're so proud of him and everything that he's accomplished¹⁰ through this.

CHEN: New fears come up from time to time for Joseph. But with support from his parents, he says he's learning to face those on his own, too.

JOSEPH: I think I'll be OK. I'll just listen to my mom's words.

CHEN: Yeah.

JOSEPH: And then I'll just try and do it.

CHEN: What if she's not there?

JOSEPH: I'll just think about what she said, and then I'll just do it.

CHEN: And Chris and Jessica Calise say that the process also changed them.

CHRIS CALISE: The way I was brought up was - get over it. You know, you're fine.

CHEN: Yeah.

CHRIS CALISE: You know, suck it up. But then it - through this process, I've learned that there's other ways to do it.

JESSICA CALISE: It's just that - I think it made us better parents quite honestly.

CHEN: For NPR News, I'm Angus Chen.

(SOUNDBITE OF ETHEREAL GUST'S "KEEP BREATHING")

1 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

2 disorders   

n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 )；凌乱；骚乱；（身心、机能）失调

参考例句：

• Reports of anorexia and other eating disorders are on the increase. 据报告，厌食症和其他饮食方面的功能紊乱发生率正在不断增长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The announcement led to violent civil disorders. 这项宣布引起剧烈的骚乱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 nightmares   

n.噩梦( nightmare的名词复数 )；可怕的事情，无法摆脱的恐惧

参考例句：

• He still has nightmares about the accident. 他仍然做噩梦梦见这场事故。
• Art thou not afraid of nightmares and hideous dreams?\" 你难道不怕睡魇和凶梦吗？” 来自英汉文学 - 红字

5 embedded   

a.扎牢的

参考例句：

• an operation to remove glass that was embedded in his leg 取出扎入他腿部玻璃的手术
• He has embedded his name in the minds of millions of people. 他的名字铭刻在数百万人民心中。

6 acknowledge   

vt.承认...的权威，告知，收到，报偿

参考例句：

• With so much evidence against him he had to acknowledge his error.在这么多的证据面前，他不得不承认错误。
• It is ungracious of me not to acknowledge your help.你大力帮助而我尚未表示谢意，十分失礼。

7 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

8 diagnosed   

诊断( diagnose的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Some foetal malformations cannot be diagnosed until late in pregnancy. 有些胎儿的畸形部位得等到妊娠后期才能诊断出来。
• He diagnosed the trouble that caused the engine to knock. 他找出了引擎咔咔响的毛病所在。

9 perpetuates   

n.使永存，使人记住不忘( perpetuate的名词复数 )；使永久化，使持久化，使持续

参考例句：

• Giving these events a lot of media coverage merely perpetuates the problem. 媒体大量地报道这些事件只会使问题持续下去。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Lack of water perpetuates poverty, increases the risk of political instability, and affects global prosperity. 水资源短缺导致贫穷，使政局不稳，且影响全球的繁荣。 来自互联网

10 accomplished   

adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的

参考例句：

• Thanks to your help,we accomplished the task ahead of schedule.亏得你们帮忙,我们才提前完成了任务。
• Removal of excess heat is accomplished by means of a radiator.通过散热器完成多余热量的排出。