商业周刊:阻止自杀的药物(1)

A Drug to Stop Suicide

阻止自杀的药物

Amid a national epidemic¹, there may be hope: A fast-acting new drug based on ketamine

一种含有氯胺酮的速效新药，有望治疗自杀这种在全美蔓延的健康问题

By Cynthia Koons and Robert Langreth

辛西娅·昆斯和罗伯特·兰瑞思撰稿

Joe Wright has no doubt that ketamine saved his life.

乔·赖特毫不质疑是氯胺酮挽救了他的生命。

A 34-year-old high school teacher who writes poetry every day on a typewriter, Wright was plagued by suicidal impulses for years.

赖特是一名34岁的高中老师，每天都会敲着打字机写诗，他多年来一直饱受自杀冲动的困扰。

The thoughts started coming on when he was a high schooler himself, on Staten Island, N.Y., and intensified² during his first year of college.

他在纽约州的斯塔顿岛上高中时，自杀冲动就开始浮现。上大一时，这种想法变得更加强烈。

"It was an internal monologue³, emphatic⁴ on how pointless it is to exist," he says. "It's like being ambushed⁵ by your own brain."

他说：“那是一种内心独白，突显出存在的无意义感，像是被自己的大脑伏击一样。”

He first tried to kill himself by swallowing a bottle of sleeping pills the summer after his sophomore⁶ year.

大二后的那个夏天，他第一次吞下了一瓶安眠药企图自杀。

Years of treatment with Prozac, Zoloft, Wellbutrin, and other antidepressants followed, but the desire for an end was never fully⁷ resolved.

多年来，他一直服用百忧解、唑洛夫、韦布汀和其他抗抑郁药物进行治疗，但那种想结束生命的执念从未被真正解开。

He started cutting himself on his arms and legs with a pencil-sharpener blade. Sometimes he'd burn himself with cigarettes.

他开始用削笔刀在胳膊和腿上割伤自己，有时还会用香烟烫自己。

He remembers few details about his second and third suicide attempts. They were halfhearted; he drank himself into a stupor⁸ and once added Xanax into the mix.

他几乎记不清第二次和第三次自杀的细节，那两次他都心不在焉，一次他喝得神志不清，另一次他往酒里加了抗焦虑药赞安诺。

Wright decided⁹ to try again in 2016, this time using a cocktail¹⁰ of drugs he'd ground into a powder.

2016年，赖特决定再试一次，这次他把几种药物碾成粉末。

As he tells the story now, he was preparing to mix the powder into water and drink it when his dog jumped onto his lap.

而当他正准备把粉末混到水里喝下去时，他的狗跳到了他的腿上。

Suddenly he had a moment of clarity that shocked him into action. He started doing research and came upon a Columbia University study of a pharmaceutical¹¹ treatment for severe depression and suicidality.

突然间，他一下清醒过来，震惊的同时也让他行动起来。他开始探究，后来在哥伦比亚大学参与了一项医治严重抑郁症和自杀患者的药物治疗研究。

It involved an infusion¹² of ketamine, a decades-old anesthetic¹³ that's also an infamous¹⁴ party drug. He immediately volunteered.

治疗中要注射氯胺酮，这是一种很老的麻醉剂，也是派对上常使用的毒品。他当即自告奋勇做研究被试。

His first—and only—ketamine infusion made him feel dreamlike, goofy, and euphoric. He almost immediately started feeling more hopeful about life.

他第一次，也是唯一一次注射氯胺酮时，感觉像做梦一样，昏昏欲睡但心情愉悦，他几乎立刻感到对生活充满希望。

He was more receptive to therapy. Less than a year later, he married. Today he says his dark moods are remote and manageable. Suicidal thoughts are largely gone.

此后，他更愿意接受治疗。过了不到一年，他就结婚了。现在，他表示自己已经很少出现阴暗情绪，而且也能掌控那些情绪，基本上不再有自杀想法了。

"If they had told me how much it would affect me, I wouldn't have believed it," Wright says. "It is unconscionable that it is not already approved for suicidal patients."

赖特说：“如果他们告诉我这药会对我产生这么大的影响，我根本不会相信。这种药尚未被批准用于治疗自杀的患者，真是不合情理。”

1 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

2 intensified   

v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Violence intensified during the night. 在夜间暴力活动加剧了。
• The drought has intensified. 旱情加剧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 monologue   

n.长篇大论，（戏剧等中的）独白

参考例句：

• The comedian gave a long monologue of jokes.喜剧演员讲了一长段由笑话组成的独白。
• He went into a long monologue.他一个人滔滔不绝地讲话。

4 emphatic   

adj.强调的，着重的；无可置疑的，明显的

参考例句：

• Their reply was too emphatic for anyone to doubt them.他们的回答很坚决，不容有任何人怀疑。
• He was emphatic about the importance of being punctual.他强调严守时间的重要性。

5 ambushed   

v.埋伏( ambush的过去式和过去分词 )；埋伏着

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The military vehicles were ambushed. 军车遭到伏击。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 sophomore   

n.大学二年级生；adj.第二年的

参考例句：

• He is in his sophomore year.他在读二年级。
• I'm a college sophomore majoring in English.我是一名英语专业的大二学生。

7 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

8 stupor   

v.昏迷；不省人事

参考例句：

• As the whisky took effect, he gradually fell into a drunken stupor.随着威士忌酒力发作，他逐渐醉得不省人事。
• The noise of someone banging at the door roused her from her stupor.梆梆的敲门声把她从昏迷中唤醒了。

9 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

10 cocktail   

n.鸡尾酒；餐前开胃小吃；混合物

参考例句：

• We invited some foreign friends for a cocktail party.我们邀请了一些外国朋友参加鸡尾酒会。
• At a cocktail party in Hollywood,I was introduced to Charlie Chaplin.在好莱坞的一次鸡尾酒会上，人家把我介绍给查理·卓别林。

11 pharmaceutical   

adj.药学的，药物的；药用的，药剂师的

参考例句：

• She has donated money to establish a pharmaceutical laboratory.她捐款成立了一个药剂实验室。
• We are engaged in a legal tussle with a large pharmaceutical company.我们正同一家大制药公司闹法律纠纷。

12 infusion   

n.灌输

参考例句：

• Old families need an infusion of new blood from time to time.古老的家族需要不时地注入新鲜血液。
• Careful observation of the infusion site is necessary.必须仔细观察输液部位。

13 anesthetic   

n.麻醉剂，麻药；adj.麻醉的，失去知觉的

参考例句：

• He was given a general anesthetic.他被全身麻醉。
• He was still under the influence of the anesthetic.他仍处在麻醉状态。

14 infamous   

adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的

参考例句：

• He was infamous for his anti-feminist attitudes.他因反对女性主义而声名狼藉。
• I was shocked by her infamous behaviour.她的无耻行径令我震惊。