當分手變成抑鬱,會發生什麼?
Truthfully, I don't remember how I've gotten through most of my breakups. That's because they made me so depressed that I spent them watching TV and essentially becoming the filling of a Snuggie-and-couch sandwich. It just so happens that forgetting these particularly low moments of my life is one coping mechanism my brain has chosen to keep me going. But that doesn't necessarily mean it's a healthy one. And, unfortunately, that's why those of us who deal with depression have to be prepared to take a few extra precautions when it comes to breakups.
說真的，我不大記得分手後都是怎麼度過的。那是因爲分手後的我十分難受，大部分的時間都是看劇，最終成了垃圾沙發三明治的中間餡兒。事情就這樣發生了，忘記我人生中最低谷的時刻是大腦選擇的讓我繼續前行的解決機制。但並不是說這種方法就一定健康。不幸的是，這也就是爲什麼抑鬱症人士在分手時必須採取額外預防措施的原因。"It's normal to be sad after the end of a relationship, have a bit of an empty feeling, and question yourself," says Michael Brustein, PsyD, a clinical psychologist in New York City. "But, ultimately, although you're sad, you still have your sense of self intact and feel lovable - you're able to maintain the hope and belief that there will be somebody else."
"分手後難過是很正常的，你會感覺空虛、會質疑自己，"紐約市臨牀心理學家邁克爾·布魯斯汀心理學博士說道。"但最終，儘管你很傷心，你仍會感覺自我完整，感覺自己很討人喜歡--你會心存希望，相信總有那麼一個人在等着你。"However, those darker feelings of depression can easily overlap with our usual sentiments after the end of a relationship. "Some of the hallmark features of depression are feelings of helplessness and worthlessness and a loss of hope for the future," says Chloe Carmichael, PhD, a psychologist in New York City.
然而，戀情結束後，抑鬱症的黑暗念頭很容易就會蓋過我們的正常情感。"抑鬱症的一些典型特徵就是感覺無助、沒有價值、失去對未來的希望，"紐約市心理學博士克洛伊·卡邁克爾說道。
It's the worthlessness in particular that Dr. Carmichael says has a lot of potential for fueling depression: "When somebody literally abandons you," she says, "sometimes the message that we hear is 'I didn't value you enough to have you in my life.' That can be a hit on your self-worth."
卡邁克爾博士說，尤其是無價值感很有可能導致抑鬱。"當某人真的拋棄你了，"她說道，"有時候我們從中得出的信息就是'我配不上你，所以你纔會離開我。'這可能會打擊你的自我價值。"
Along with other major emotional life events (e.g. losing your job or the death of a loved one) breakups can absolutely trigger depressive episodes - especially if you've experienced an episode before. But it's not always easy to tell where a sense of loss ends and actual depression begins.
再加上其它重大的感情事件（例如：失去了工作或摯愛之人的離世），分手絕對可以觸發抑鬱症發作--尤其是之前你已發作過一次時。但知道失落感何時停止以及抑鬱症何時開始並不總是那麼容易的。If you feel your sadness morph into a more all-encompassing hopelessness, Dr. Brustein says that's definitely a sign that you may be heading down a more serious road. "If you start to feel defective as a result of the breakup - you start judging your entire sense of self based on the breakup - that's a sign that it's leading to significant distress," he says.
如果你感覺自己的悲傷已演變爲一種包羅萬象的絕望時，布魯斯汀博士說，這絕對是你正在走上一條更嚴重道路的跡象。"如果分手後你感覺自己有缺陷--你開始基於這次分手判斷整個自我--這就是導致極度痛苦的跡象，"他說道。
