VOA慢速英語:延長暴露療法可以幫助受性侵少女

延長暴露療法可以幫助受性侵少女

From VOA Learning English, this is the Health Report.

這里是美國之音慢速英語健康報道。

Mental health experts often use a treatment called "prolonged exposure therapy" to help soldiers returning from battle, it is considered the first step in treating soldiers who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder(PTSD). Now, researchers have found the treatment can also help adolescent girls who were sexually abused as children.

心理健康專家經(jīng)常使用延長暴露療法(簡稱PET)幫助從戰(zhàn)場下來的士兵，它被認為是治療患上創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙(簡稱PTSD)的士兵的第一步。現(xiàn)在研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，這種療法也可以幫助兒童時期遭遇性侵的少女。

In prolonged exposure therapy - or PET - patients are asked to remember and then talk about the feelings and thoughts that cause them to suffer. They do this until these memories are no longer painful. The desensitizing method can provide help to soldiers who developed emotional problems because of a wartime experiences.

在延長暴露療法中，患者被要求回憶然后談論讓他們痛苦的感受或想法，直到這些回憶不再那么痛苦。這種脫敏療法可以幫助因為戰(zhàn)爭經(jīng)歷患上情緒問題的士兵。

Post-traumatic stress disorder is not limited to military veterans. It is also seen in young women who were sexually abused or raped when they were children.

創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙并不局限于退伍軍人，它也常見于兒童時被性侵或強奸的年輕女性中。

Edna Foa is a clinical psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania, she helped to develop prolonged exposure therapy for PTSD. She says young women who were abused at an earlier age often get what she calls supportive counseling, but she says that kind of treatment usually helps them for only a short period of time.

埃德娜·福艾(Edna Foa)是賓夕法尼亞大學的一位臨床心理學家。她幫助制定了延長暴露療法。她說，年幼時遭遇性侵的年輕女性通常會得到她所謂的支持輔導，但她表示那類療法只能在很短時間內(nèi)幫助她們。

"It kind of reduces the pain in the short run; but in the long run, it actually maintains the symptoms and actually generates chronic post-traumatic stress disorder," said Foa.

福艾說，“它只能在短期內(nèi)減少痛苦，但從長遠看，它實際上維持了該癥狀，并且產(chǎn)生慢性創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙。”

Doctor Foa says teenages who receive supportive counseling may avoid situations that bring back memories of their abuse. She believes PET can offer the abused girls a cure that lasts longer. She says it gives them the skills they need to face the memories of their abuse.

福艾博士表示，接受支持輔導的青少年可以避免被喚起受侵記憶。她認為延長暴露療法能夠為受侵女孩提供一個持續(xù)時間更長的治療。她說，這種療法能為她們提供直面受侵記憶所需的技能。

Doctor Foa and her team are mended the PET program to meet the emotional maturity level of young people, then they compared it to supportive counseling in a group of sixty sexually abused girls. All the girls suffered from PTSD and was 13 to 18 years of age. Each girl got 14 sessions of either PET or supportive counseling. Each meeting lasted about 60 to 90 minutes.

福艾博士和她的團隊改進了延長暴露療法以滿足年輕人的情感成熟度水平，然后通過60名被性侵女孩將它與支持輔導進行比較。所有患上創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙的女孩的年齡都在13到18歲之間。每個女孩得到了延長暴露療法或支持輔導的14次治療，每次治療持續(xù)60到90分鐘。

Doctor Foa says, during treatment, those who received PET had a larger decrease in PTSD symptoms and depression, compared to the other girls. They also had a greater improvement in the quality of life.

福艾博士表示，在治療過程中，與其她女孩相比，接受延長暴露療法的女孩在創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙癥狀和抑郁上都降低了很多，她們的生活質(zhì)量也有了很大改善。

"Most of the girls who received prolonged exposure actually lost the diagnosis of PTSD and really did very well even a year after, because we followed them for up to a year after the treatment," said Foa.

福艾說，“接受延長暴露的多數(shù)女孩竟然失去了創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙的癥狀，即使是在一年后也都表現(xiàn)很好。因為我們在治療后跟蹤調(diào)查了她們長達一年時間。”

Doc Foa says social workers in community mental health centers can be trained in prolonged exposure therapy in just four days.

福艾博士表示，社區(qū)心理健康中心的社工可以在短短四天內(nèi)得到延長暴露療法的培訓。