科学家揭示了减缓焦虑发作的潜在技巧

科学家揭示了减缓焦虑发作的潜在技巧

In the last year, an estimated one-in-five adults living in the US will experience a form of anxiety, the effects of which can be debilitating for those who experience an anxiety attack characterized by sweaty palms, rapid breathing, trembling, and shaking that's then topped off by a surge of overwhelming panic.

去年,估计有五分之一的成年人生活在美国将经历一种焦虑,会让人感到非常虚弱的影响对于那些经历一个焦虑发作特点是手心出汗,快速的呼吸,然后是头部的颤抖,颤抖的压倒性的恐慌。

For the half of anxiety sufferers who do not find relief in traditional treatments such as cognitive behavioral therapy and antidepressants, scientists have revealed a possible way to slow down an anxiety attack: safety signals. When life events trigger the crushing fear associated with an anxiety attack, turning to a symbol or sound not associated with adverse effects can relieve anxiety by activating a different brain network in both mice and human subjects.

对于那些无法从认知行为疗法和抗抑郁药等传统疗法中得到缓解的焦虑患者，科学家们发现了一种减缓焦虑发作的可能方法:安全信号。当生活事件引发与焦虑发作相关的极度恐惧时，转向与副作用无关的符号或声音可以通过激活小鼠和人类的不同大脑网络来缓解焦虑。

“A safety signal could be a musical piece, a person, or even an item like a stuffed animal that represents the absence of threat,” said Paola Odriozola, a PhD candidate in psychology at Yale and co-first author, in a statement.

“安全信号可以是一件音乐作品，一个人，甚至是一个像填充玩具动物一样的物品，代表没有威胁，”耶鲁大学(Yale)心理学博士候选人、第一作者之一保拉·奥德里奥佐拉(Paola Odriozola)在一份声明中说。

Study participants were shown a shape associated with a threatening outcome, followed by both the threatening shape and a secondary non-threatening shape (For mice, researchers used different tones). Brain imaging revealed that a different neural network was activated than in exposure therapy, a treatment that gradually exposes a patient to a perceived threat in order to lessen the level of associated anxiety. The second shape, or “safety signal”, suppressed the subject’s fear compared to the threatening shape. In particular, the Yale University researchers found that the ventral hippocampus, a part of the brain that responds to perceived threats, was activated and may be key to inhibiting fear response in animals.

研究人员向参与者展示了一种与威胁性结果相关的形状，接着是威胁性形状和第二种不具威胁性的形状(对于老鼠，研究人员使用了不同的声调)。脑成像显示，激活的神经网络与暴露疗法不同。暴露疗法是指逐渐将患者暴露在可感知的威胁中，以减轻相关焦虑水平。第二种形状，或“安全信号”，与威胁性形状相比，能抑制受试者的恐惧。特别是，耶鲁大学的研究人员发现，大脑中对感知到的威胁做出反应的部分——腹侧海马体被激活了，这可能是抑制动物恐惧反应的关键。

Behavioral therapy gradually exposes patients to the source of their fear over time, eventually reteaching the brain to respond differently to once-perceived threats. For those who don’t respond to CBT, safety signals may be an effective method to reduce the threat response and prevent anxiety attacks in the future.

随着时间的推移，行为疗法逐渐让患者接触到恐惧的源头，最终重新教会大脑对曾经感知到的威胁做出不同的反应。对于那些对CBT没有反应的人来说，安全信号可能是一种减少威胁反应和预防未来焦虑发作的有效方法。

“Exposure-based therapy relies on fear extinction, and although a safety memory is formed during therapy, it is always competing with the previous threat memory,” explained Dylan Gee, assistant professor of psychology at Yale and co-senior author. “This competition makes current therapies subject to the relapse of fear – but there is never a threat memory associated with safety signals.”

耶鲁大学心理学助理教授迪伦·吉(Dylan Gee)解释说:“暴露疗法依赖于恐惧消退，尽管在治疗过程中形成了一种安全记忆，但它总是在与之前的威胁记忆竞争。”“这种竞争使得目前的治疗方法容易使恐惧复发——但从来没有与安全信号相关的威胁记忆。”

Importantly, the study was conducted with individuals who do not have anxiety disorders, leaving much to be studied in terms of how safety signals function in adults and children diagnosed with anxiety disorders, added Gee. Furthermore, safety signals in daily life may be more complex than during an experiment and may interfere at times with treatment or serve as a “crutch”.

重要的是，这项研究是在没有焦虑症的个体中进行的，对于安全信号在被诊断为焦虑症的成人和儿童中的作用，还有很多需要研究的地方，Gee补充说。此外，日常生活中的安全信号可能比实验中更复杂，有时可能干扰治疗或充当“拐杖”。

There is much more research needed to understand how, when, and for whom safety signals might be helpful, but we think that judiciously incorporating safety signals into treatment could be helpful for individuals who have not benefited sufficiently from existing interventions or at particular developmental stages, said Gee.

吉说:“需要进行更多的研究来了解安全信号如何、何时以及对谁有帮助，但是我们认为，明智地将安全信号纳入治疗可能对那些没有从现有干预措施或处于特定发展阶段的人有帮助。”

Regardless, the researchers write in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that their work presents a potential solution to enhance current treatments for anxiety disorders by targeting neural circuits through safety signaling.

无论如何，研究人员在《美国国家科学院院刊》(Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)杂志上撰文称，他们的工作提出了一种潜在的解决方案，可以通过安全信号传导瞄准神经回路，加强目前对焦虑症的治疗。