You've heard of the placebo effect.
你可能听说过安慰剂效应。

But are you aware of the nocebo effect, in which the human body has a negative physical reaction to a suggestive harm?
但你知道“反安慰剂效应”吗？它指的是，人的身体在被暗示一个潜在伤害之后，能产生一个负面的生理反应。

If someone gives you a cup of sugar water without telling you that it's sugar water and instead tells you that it's something that will make you vomit, chances are high that you're actually gonna vomit.
如果有人给你一杯糖水，却不告诉你这是糖水，而是告诉你这个东西会让你呕吐，你喝了以后很有可能就会真的呕吐。

Your mind has the power to create its own physical reality.
你的身体有能力创造它自己的生理现实。

Why do we yawn when we see others yawn?
为什么我们看见别人打哈欠的时候也会打哈欠？

Throughout history, there have been incidents: the dancing plague of 1518, the Tanganyika laughter epidemic, the Hindu milk miracle.
纵览历史可以发现很多这样的案例：1518年的舞蹈瘟疫、坦噶尼喀的笑声传染病、印度的牛奶奇迹。

Some believe they are stress response.
有些人相信这是一些对压力产生的反映。

But psychologists call it a conversion disorder, in which the body converts a mental stress to a set of physical symptoms, such as a spasm.
但心理学家则把它称之为“转换障碍”。它指的是：身体会把心理上的压力转化为一系列的生理症状，比如痉挛。

And like any disorder, it can be contagious.
而且，它就像所有的紊乱一样，可能会传染。

These kinds of collective behavior is not limited to human beings.
这种集体性的行为并非只有人类才有。

What we know is that in certain communities, under certain circumstances, an involuntary physical symptom developed by one person can become viral and spread from person to person until the entire community is affected.
而据我们所知，在一些特定的群体里、在一些特定的条件下，一个人发展出的这种无意识生理症状可能会像病毒一样在人群之间传播，直到整个群体最终都被影响到。

So my question to you is: If the idea of illness can become illness, what else about our reality is actually a disorder?
所以，我想问你的问题是：如果生病的想法本身就可能变成生病的事实，那我们的现实生活中会不会还有其它的东西其实只不过是一种紊乱呢？

Sometimes you are not as weak as you think you are.
有时候你并没有自己以为的那么弱小。

Sometimes you are not as dumb as you think you are.
有时候你并没有自己以为的那么笨。

To some extend, you yourself can actually decide your own reality.
从某种程度来说，你实际上有能力决定自己的现实。

So don't give up on fighting. Don't give up on having hope.
所以不要放弃奋斗。不要放弃抱有希望。

 

（翻译：能猫）