Depression may be harder to treat in people with high-status jobs than it is in people whose positions are on lower levels of the corporate ladder, a new study suggests.
最近有一项研究表明,职位越高的人相比于职位较低的人,更难以摆脱抑郁症的困扰。

Researchers studied how 650 people in Belgium, Italy, Israel and Austria responded to treatments for depression. About half (56 percent) of the 336 patients with high-status jobs didn’t experience fewer depressive symptoms after undergoing two rounds of different antidepressants and psychotherapy. About 40 percent of people with mid- to low-level jobs showed a poor response to the treatment, according to research presented last month at the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology Congress in Vienna.
研究人员研究了来自比利时,意大利,以色列和奥地利的650名患者的抑郁症治疗效果。在高职的336位抑郁症患者中,有大约一半(56%)的人表示:即使经过了2个疗程的不同抗抑郁症药物和心理治疗,也没有感受到抑郁的情绪有所缓解。在中低职位的人群中,大约40%的患者认为治疗无效。这些数据结果均来自上个月维也纳欧洲神经精神药理学会发布的研究。

Previous research and clinical trials have found that about one-third of people with depression generally don’t respond to their first antidepressant treatment. Some see their symptoms improve after a second round with a different type of antidepressant, but a considerable number of patients remain treatment-resistant.
通过初期的研究和临床试验,研究人员发现,有三分之一抑郁症患者首次服用抗抑郁药物的治疗作用不大。虽然一部分患者在第二个疗程时服用别的抗抑郁药物后症状有了改善,不过这些药物对相当一部分患者依然无效。

The finding that high-status occupations are linked with a poorer chance of recovery is somewhat surprising. Most studies have looked at the prevalence of depression in different social classes, consistently finding that depression is more common among people with lower socioeconomic status. The new study suggests that even if people in occupations with higher status and wages are less likely to develop depression, they may be harder to treat when they do.
对于研究发现了高职患者难以恢复的现象,在某种程度上是挺让人吃惊的。因为前人大多数的研究关注于不同社会阶级人群的抑郁症流行现象,大都一致地得出低收入水平人群更容易出现抑郁症的结论。而最新的研究发现,虽然高薪高职的人群患抑郁症的几率相对较低,但是一旦患上了抑郁症,他们想要摆脱的难度却更大。

“A number of variables may explain these findings,” co-author Siegfried Kasper, a psychiatrist at the Medical University of Vienna, said in a press statement. “There may be specific working environment demands and stressors; people may find it difficult to accept or cope with illness, or to continue with medication; or there may be other factors, related for example to cognitive, personality and behavioral differences.”
Siegfried Kasper是来自维也纳医科大学的精神病医生,也是本次的研究人员之一,他在发布的新闻稿中表示:“解释这些现象需要考虑多种变动的因素:某种特定的工作环境要求和压力源;人们可能对于疾病或治疗产生抗拒的心理;或者还有其他的因素,与认知相关的因素,与个人性格和行为差异相关等的因素。”

Carol Landau, a clinical professor of psychiatry and medicine at Brown University who wasn’t involved in the study, said she agrees that the stress of being a high executive could potentially explain the findings.
Carol Landau是美国布朗大学精神病理和药理的临床教授,她虽然没有参与本次研究,不过她也认为高职的压力也能作为解释这种现象的潜在因素。

“When you have a high-status job, you are probably more exposed to a lot more stress and responsibility,” she told The Huffington Post. “Although it seems to me that if you are a woman taking care of her children alone that may involve even more stress.”
“当你处于高职,你可能就要承受更多压力,承担更多责任。”她对《赫芬顿报》表示。“虽然对于我来说,照顾孩子的单亲妈妈的压力也许会更大。”

Sleep deprivation and personality traits may affect how people respond to treatment, Landau added.
睡眠不足和个人性格特征也有可能影响治疗的效果,Landau补充道。

“A lot of folks who are in high-status jobs are extremely perfectionistic,” she said. “Medication will help a lot of things ― your appetite, sleep, concentration, and rumination to a certain extent ― but it’s not going to affect being self-critical.”
她表示:“许多高职的朋友都是重度完美主义者。虽然药物可以治疗许多症状——胃口,睡眠,注意力,一定程度的反思能力,但对于吹毛求疵却一点都不管用。”

A perfectionistic executive may base his or her self-worth on how well business goals are met, meaning professional failures could take a personal toll.
一个完美主义的管理者会根据他/她的自我价值来评估工作目标的实现程度,这就意味着职业上的失败就会危及个人自尊。

“They’d get into self-criticism. They don’t say that ‘maybe I didn’t make that data point on dividend, but I’m still a good person overall,’” Landau said. “They are so focused on the perfectionism that they sort of lose the forest for the trees, and so they might respond poorly to any sense of failure.”
Landau表示:“他们可能会钻进自我挑刺的牛角尖,他们不会说‘虽然我的业绩不达标,但我还是很有能力的。’。他们十分追求完美,他们宁可为了一棵树放弃整片森林,所以他们可能会消极对待任何挫折。”

Sleep is another factor that often gets overlooked in research but could influence how well people respond to treatment, Landau said. One recent study in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry found that people who slept for two or more hours a night compared to their peers were twice as likely to respond to antidepressants.
Landau还表示,睡眠是另外一个容易在研究中忽视的重要因素,影响着人们对治疗的效果程度。《临床精神病学杂志》最近发表的一项研究发现,抗抑郁症药物对于晚上只睡2个多小时的人们更有效果,与他们的同龄人相比的话。

“I’m willing to guess executives get less sleep than other people,” Landau said.
“我推测管理者们比其他人睡得更少。”Landau表示道。

More research is needed to understand what factors truly drive the professional gap recovery. But for now, these findings suggest that clinicians may need to take into account the occupational level of their patients, the researchers said.
为了更深入探究影响职业人群抑郁症恢复情况差异的因素,还需要进行大量相关的研究。不过通过此项研究,现在医师们也应该考虑一下患者们的职业水平了,据研究人员表示。

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