外刊精读 |《经济学人》：真假精神病人：装疯的心理学家

　　Mad in craft

　　疯狂的艺术

　　The psychologist who pretended to be insane

　　装疯的心理学家

　　Susannah Cahalan grippingly explores an influential—but unreliable—experiment

　　苏珊娜•卡哈兰(Susannah Cahalan)带着沉重的心情探索了一个有影响力但不可靠的实验

　　1. IN 1973 DAVID ROSENHAN, an American psychologist, published a paper entitled “On Being Sane in Insane Places”. He had recruited seven volunteers to join him in feigning mental illness, to expose what he called the “undoubtedly counter-therapeutic” culture of his country’spsychiatric hospitals. The readiness with which the group’s sham symptoms were taken for the real thing seemed to show that even highly trained professionals could not accurately differentiate between the sick and the well.

　　1973年，美国心理学家大卫·罗森汉发表了一篇题为《论在精神错乱的地方保持清醒》的论文。他招募了七名志愿者和他一起假装精神疾病，以揭露他所说的美国精神病院“毫无疑问的反治疗”文化。这个小组的假症状被当成真症状的状况似乎表明，即使是训练有素的专业人士也无法准确区分真病人和假病人。

　　2. For at least a decade, a crusade against traditional psychiatry had been gathering pace. In common with the period’s civil-rights campaigners, the leaders of this movement disputed the power of institutions and their prescriptions about society’s norms. Rosenhan’s findings played a crucial part in reinforcing the charges of sceptics who believed that mainstream psychiatric practice was crudely repressive. Indeed, they sparked debate about the very definition of mental illness.

　　至少十年来，反对传统精神病学的运动一直在加速。与当时的民权活动家一样，这场运动的们也对制度的力量和社会的规范提出了质疑。罗森汉的发现在加强怀疑论者的指控方面起到了关键作用，怀疑论者认为主流的精神病学实践是粗暴的、压制性的。事实上，这引发了关于精神疾病定义的争论。

　　3. In “The Great Pretender” Susannah Cahalan provides a vivid account of Rosenhan’s “undercover mission”. Her interest in him began with her own experience of beingmisdiagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, when in fact she had an autoimmunedisease—as documented in her memoir “Brain on Fire” (2012). In her new book she recalls her delighted recognition as she read Rosenhan’s attack on the hubris that can blight psychiatry. Looking more closely at the man and his work seemed a way to sharpen her sense of the flaws in the profession’s diagnostic systems. Yet as she examined his notes and tried to track down his seven fellow “pseudopatients”, she began to have doubts about his methods.

　　在《伟大的伪装者》中，苏珊娜·卡哈兰生动地描述了罗森汉的“秘密任务”。她对他的兴趣始于她自己被误诊为精神分裂情感障碍的经历，而实际上她患有自身免疫性疾病——正如她的回忆录《着火的大脑》(2012)所记载的那样。在她的新书中，她回忆起当她读到罗森汉抨击傲慢，认为傲慢会破坏精神病专家的诊断时，她欣喜地承认了这一点。更仔细地研究这个男人和他的作品，似乎可以让她更加深刻地意识到这个行业诊断系统的缺陷。然而，当她检查他的笔记并试图找到他的七个“假病人”时，她开始怀疑他的方法。

　　4. Rosenhan (who died in 2012) was a gifted teacher, combining twinkly charisma with aflair for memorable anecdotes. But although he achieved academic eminence, holding chairs in both psychology and law at Stanford University, even his admirers acknowledged that he was slippery and given to drama. This was useful when he was trying to pass himself off as an ill man in need of psychiatric treatment. As Ms Cahalan reveals, however, his less enthusiastic colleagues thought he was “shady” and “avoided work like the plague”. His most severe critic, Robert Spitzer of Columbia University, bemoaned the sheer seductiveness of Rosenhan’s writings, opening a takedown with the remark that “Some foods taste delicious but leave a bad aftertaste.”

　　罗森汉(2012年去世)是一位很有天赋的老师，他既有令人难忘的奇闻轶事，又有闪耀的个人魅力。尽管他取得了学术成就，在斯坦福大学(Stanford University)担任心理学和法学教授，但就连他的崇拜者也承认，他很狡猾，是个戏精。当他试图伪装成一个需要精神病治疗的病人时，这很有用。然而，卡哈兰透露，他那些不那么崇拜他的同事认为他“靠不住”，“像躲避瘟疫一样逃避工作”。他最严厉的批评者，哥伦比亚大学的罗伯特·斯皮策(Robert Spitzer)，批评罗森汉著作中引导性的词汇，并谴责道“有些食物尝起来很美味，但留下的却是糟糕的余味”。

　　5. “The Great Pretender” is a sobering exercise in revisionism. It is also an impressive feat of investigative journalism—tenaciously conducted, appealingly written (despite the odd purple patch) and, when it focuses on Rosenhan’s story, as compelling as a detective novel. In the end Rosenhan emerges as an unpalatable symptom of a wider academic malaise.

　　《伟大的伪装者》是修正主义中一篇发人深省的文章。它也是一项令人印象深刻的调查新闻的壮举——坚持不懈地进行，写得很有吸引力(尽管有一些奇怪的华丽辞藻)，当它聚焦于罗森汉的故事时，就像侦探小说一样引人入胜。最终，罗森汉成为了一个更广泛的学术弊病的典型之一。

　　6. Many of psychology’s most famous experiments have recently been discredited ordevalued, the author notes. Immense significance has been attached to Stanley Milgram’s shock tests and Philip Zimbardo’s Stanford prison experiment, yet later re-runs have failed to reproduce their findings. As Ms Cahalan laments, the feverish reports on the undermining of such theories are a gift to people who would like to discredit science itself.

　　作者指出，最近许多的心理学实验都遭到了质疑或贬低。斯坦利·米尔格拉姆(Stanley Milgram)的休克试验和菲利普·津巴多(Philip Zimbardo)的斯坦福监狱实验具有重大意义，但后来的二次实验未能重现他们的发现。正如卡哈伦女士所哀叹的那样，这些破坏这些科学理论的狂热报道，给了那些想要破坏科学本身名誉的人可乘之机。

　　精读解析

　　篇章结构

　　P1—P3：大卫·罗森汉的真假精神病人实验引发人们对于精神病的诊断系统以及精神病的定义的讨论，苏珊娜·卡哈兰在她的新书中追踪了罗汉森的实验并且对其提出了质疑。

　　P4—P5：关于罗汉森及其著作：虽然罗汉森有很多追随者，但是罗汉森的研究具有误导性，这是广泛的学术弊病中的一个症状。

　　P6：如今关于各种心理学实验的质疑或者贬低，给了科学贬低者可乘之机。（这其实是本文作者的一个态度，认为目前这些执着于揭露过去的心理实验的报道和书籍或许有所发现，但是修正过头了，对科学的发展并不利。）

　　今日重点单词

　　psychiatric /ˌsaɪkɪˈætrɪk/ adj. 精神病学的;治疗精神病的

　　【例句】

　　The course leads to a diploma in psychiatric nursing.

　　读完这门课程可以获得精神病护理文凭。

　　counter-therapeutic 反治疗的

　　feign /feɪn/ vt. 假装；装作；捏造；想象

　　【例句】

　　He looked at me with an astonishment that was certainly not feigned.

　　他非常惊讶地紧紧盯着我，显然不是在装假。

　　crusade /kruː'seɪd/ n. 改革运动；十字军东侵vi. 加入十字军；从事改革运动

　　【短语】

　　crusade againstv. 讨伐

　　【例句】

　　More heartening is the president's crusade against corruption.

　　总统的反贪污运动更加鼓舞人心。

　　blight /blaɪt/n. 枯萎病；荒芜vt. 使…枯萎；破坏

　　【例句】

　　And how disadvantage casts a sometimes irreparable blight over people's lives.

　　那种弱势有时会对人的生命带来无法弥补的摧残。

　　undercover /ʌndə'kʌvə/ adj. 暗中进行的;秘密做出的;私下的；做密探工作的

　　【例句】

　　he worked undercover in Northern Ireland.

　　他在北爱尔兰从事密探工作。

　　A federal judge upheld the undercover methods used in the case.

　　一位联邦法官主张在此案中使用秘密的方法。

　　misdiagnose /mɪs'daɪəgnəʊz/ v. 错误地诊断(或判断、断定)

　　【例句】

　　The problem with race medicine extends far beyond misdiagnosing patients.

　　种族药物的危害远不止对病人的误诊。

　　schizoaffective 情感性分裂的

　　【例句】

　　The cohort of their study included 69 subjects with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder, aged 18 to 60, and all on antipsychotic medications and stable.

　　他们的这组研究包括了69个具有精神分裂症或情感分裂性精神障碍的实验对象，年龄在18到60岁之间，都在服用抗精神病药物，且病情稳定。

　　autoimmune /ˌɔːtəʊɪ'mjuːn/ adj. 自身免疫的; 自体免疫的

　　【例句】

　　It also mimics various diseases such as chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, Parkinson's, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases.

　　它还能模仿多种疾病，如慢性疲劳综合，征纤维肌痛、帕金森病、狼疮类风湿性关节炎和其他自身免疫性疾病。

　　hubris /'hjuːbrɪs/ n. 骄傲自大,自恃

　　【例句】

　　Above all, it is testimony to the hubris of politicians.

　　最重要的是，它证明了政客们的傲慢自大。

　　pseudo-patient 假病人

　　given to 惯于…；倾向于；给予

　　【例句】

　　Perhaps this was everyone's Thanksgiving, not for the material things given to us but for the chance, in whatever small way, to give to others.

　　也许过感恩节的真义并不在于收受他人给予我们的有形物质，而是借此机会回馈他人，无论是如何微小的付出。

　　charisma /kə'rɪzmə/ n. 神授的能力；非凡的领导力；魅力

　　【例句】

　　His charisma and folksy advice have earned him cult-like status among the country's entrepreneurs.

　　他的魅力和接地气的建议让他在中国企业家中享有神一般的地位。

　　flair /fleə/ n. 天资;天分；眼光;才华

　　【例句】

　　she had a flair for languages.

　　她有语言天赋。

　　bemoan /bɪ'məʊn/ vt. 惋惜；为…恸哭

　　【例句】

　　You can celebrate or bemoan these accomplishments.

　　你可以庆祝或者是惋惜这些成就。

　　seductive /sɪ'dʌktɪv/ adj. 诱惑的,诱人的,勾引人的,富有魅力的

　　【例句】

　　Seductive, witty and intelligent, Manet was also financially independent.

　　马内本人迷人、诙谐、睿智，经济也比较宽裕。

　　aftertaste /'ɑːftəteɪst/ n. 回味,余韵

　　【例句】

　　As the most popular basketballer in China, Yao deserves people’s aftertaste and summary for what he did accomplish.

　　作为中国比较受欢迎的篮球运动员，姚明的诸多成就的确值得我们每一个人回味与总结。

　　tenacious /tɪ'neɪʃəs/ adj. 粘牢的, 粘住的, 抓牢的；紧握的, 不放松的, 坚决的

　　【例句】

　　At other times they capture it with a tenacious glue that paralyzes its movements.

　　或者使用强力的雀胶，使它们粘上不能动。

　　purple patch 词藻华丽的段落

　　【例句】

　　He verges on whimsy at times, and there are purple patches: A russet moon rose tonight, its reflection in the shattered lake ice like a blood-red Host on a wounded altar.

　　他总会萌生些奇妙的念头，附上辞藻华丽的句子：今夜，一轮黄褐色明月升起，倒影在破冰的湖面，就像那破败祭坛上血红的圣人。

　　unpalatable /ʌn'pælətəb(ə)l/ adj. 味道差的,不好吃的

　　【例句】

　　Meanwhile, the neck fluids are unpalatable to birds, but don't bother ants.

　　同时，蛾子颈部分泌的液体会让鸟类难以忍受，但是却不会令蚂蚁感到困扰。

　　malaise /mæ'leɪz/ n. 不舒服；心神不安

　　【例句】

　　Others think the West's true malaise is not mechanical but moral: a love of money, markets and material things.

　　其他人则认为西方国家并不是运转出现问题，而是道德出现问题：永无止境地追求财富，市场和物质，这才是问题。

　　discredit /dɪs'kredɪt/ vt. 使不相信, 使怀疑;败坏…的名声；拒绝相信, 不相信, 怀疑n. 丧失信誉, 丧失名誉

　　【例句】

　　Although the last two papers I've written were widely discredited.

　　虽然我上两份论文被广泛地批评过。

　　devalue /diː'væljuː/ vt. 使贬值；降低…的价值

　　【例句】

　　The president, meanwhile, said China would not boost its trade competitiveness by devaluing its currency.

　　同时他补充说明，中国不会通过贬值货币来提高贸易竞争力。

　　lament /lə'ment/ n. 挽歌；恸哭；悲痛之情vi. 悲叹；悔恨；哀悼

　　【短语】

　　lament overv. 哀悼

　　【例句】

　　We all lamented the death of our friend.

　　我们都为朋友之死而悲痛。

　　feverish /'fiːv(ə)rɪʃ/ adj. 发热的；极度兴奋的

　　【例句】

　　He looked feverish and ill, and had a bad cough.

　　他像是得了病，在发烧，咳嗽得也很厉害。

　　undermine /ʌndə'maɪn/ vt. 在某物下挖洞或挖通道; 侵蚀…的基础；暗中破坏; 逐渐削弱

　　【例句】

　　My father's health was undermined by drink.

　　我爸爸的健康逐渐为酒所损害。