美国国家公共电台 NPR Another Mass Shooting? 'Compassion Fatigue' Is A Natural Reaction

 

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

This mass shooting in California happened 11 days after the one at a synagogue in Pittsburgh. And in the time between those two incidents, there were several other mass shootings that barely made headlines. As heartbreaking as these tragedies are, psychologists say that when they happen so often, we may become numb¹ to their impact. NPR's Rhitu Chatterjee reports.

RHITU CHATTERJEE, BYLINE²: When Ginger³ Ellenbecker first heard about the shooting in California this week, she says...

GINGER ELLENBECKER: My immediate⁴ reaction was, another one - here's another one.

CHATTERJEE: She's a high school teacher in Lawrence, Kan. She says she did feel sad. It's just that...

ELLENBECKER: I'm not very surprised when it does happen anymore.

CHATTERJEE: A lot of other people feel the same way. Roger Chui is a software developer in Lexington, Ky.

ROGER CHUI: Hear about it on the news and you're like - oh, well, happened again, I guess. Looking back on it, it's kind of sad that that's kind of how desensitized we are now.

CHATTERJEE: It turns out that desensitization, the numbing⁵ of emotions when we've seen or heard of one shooting after another - that's a natural response. Charles Figley, a psychologist at Tulane University, says there's even a term for it - compassion⁶ fatigue⁷.

CHARLES FIGLEY: Compassion fatigue is the fatigue of providing compassion and empathy.

CHATTERJEE: He says thinking too much about traumatic events can make people too anxious or depressed⁹ to function in their daily lives. That can happen when people see suffering across the world or, in the case of these shootings, closer to home.

FIGLEY: We, of course, think about ourselves being in such a place in which someone would suddenly burst in and shoot things up. But if we think about that too much, then it deteriorates¹⁰ our sense of confidence and our sense of trust and our sense of safety.

CHATTERJEE: Figley and other researchers have seen this in professionals who work in human services - doctors, nurses, social workers, people who deal every day with the struggles and tragedies of other people, he says, initially¹¹, people in these professions have what's called secondary trauma⁸.

FIGLEY: Over time, there is a buildup of this kind or secondary trauma or vicarious trauma that leads to compassion fatigue or dysfunction, if you will.

CHATTERJEE: He says, in the long run, it helps protect us by allowing us to stay present and emotionally engaged with our family and friends. Another reason why people might find themselves feeling numb after a while is because the emotional circuitry in our brains is bad with numbers.

PAUL SLOVIC: It's a very sophisticated system, the feeling system. But it's innumerate. The feeling system can't add, and it can't multiply.

CHATTERJEE: Paul Slovic is a psychologist at the University of Oregon. And he studied whether and how human beings respond to big humanitarian¹² tragedies, like famine or genocide or war. He says people care most when they hear about a single individual - say, one victim of a mass shooting or the drowned Syrian boy whose body washed up on a beach in Turkey.

SLOVIC: Especially if they're identified and you see their face and their name, something about them - gets the strongest response.

CHATTERJEE: For 16-year-old Audrey Cho of Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich., news of mass shootings, especially school shootings, really worry her.

AUDREY CHO: It's hard not to think - well, this could happen to me.

CHATTERJEE: But she consciously tries to not let it overwhelm her.

CHO: This is something very serious. But you can't allow this to be so detrimental¹³ that, like, you never leave your house or something like that because that's impossible.

CHATTERJEE: Rhitu Chatterjee, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF TYCHO'S "MELANINE")

1 numb   

adj.麻木的，失去感觉的；v.使麻木

参考例句：

• His fingers were numb with cold.他的手冻得发麻。
• Numb with cold,we urged the weary horses forward.我们冻得发僵，催着疲惫的马继续往前走。

2 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。

3 ginger   

n.姜，精力，淡赤黄色；adj.淡赤黄色的；vt.使活泼，使有生气

参考例句：

• There is no ginger in the young man.这个年轻人没有精神。
• Ginger shall be hot in the mouth.生姜吃到嘴里总是辣的。

4 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

5 numbing   

adj.使麻木的，使失去感觉的v.使麻木，使麻痹( numb的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Watching television had a numbing effect on his mind. 看电视使他头脑麻木。
• It was numbing work, requiring patience and dedication. 这是一种令人麻木的工作，需要有耐心和忘我精神。 来自辞典例句

6 compassion   

n.同情，怜悯

参考例句：

• He could not help having compassion for the poor creature.他情不自禁地怜悯起那个可怜的人来。
• Her heart was filled with compassion for the motherless children.她对于没有母亲的孩子们充满了怜悯心。

7 fatigue   

n.疲劳，劳累

参考例句：

• The old lady can't bear the fatigue of a long journey.这位老妇人不能忍受长途旅行的疲劳。
• I have got over my weakness and fatigue.我已从虚弱和疲劳中恢复过来了。

8 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

9 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。

10 deteriorates   

恶化，变坏( deteriorate的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• After a few years' planting, the quality of the potato crop deteriorates. 土豆种了几年之后就会退化。
• Virus activity deteriorates in plasma stored at room temperature. 在室温下储藏的血浆中病毒活动逐渐衰退。

11 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

12 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

13 detrimental   

adj.损害的，造成伤害的

参考例句：

• We know that heat treatment is detrimental to milk.我们知道加热对牛奶是不利的。
• He wouldn't accept that smoking was detrimental to health.他不相信吸烟有害健康。