lengths to avoid certain situations.

以避免某些情況。

If a situation cannot be avoided, they experience severe distress, panic attacks or even fainting.

如果不能避免某種情況，他們就會出現嚴重的痛苦、驚恐發作或甚至暈倒。

Phobias are less prevalent among children and older people, and more common among teenagers,

恐懼症在兒童和老年人中的發病率較低，在青少年中更為常見。

and especially girls.

特別是女孩。

They run in families or can be the result of a traumatic experience early in life.

它們是家族遺傳的，或者可能是生命早期創傷經歷的結果。

Phobias can be categorized into 3 types.

恐懼症可分為3種類型。

A social phobia is when we fear others, especially their judgment.

社交恐懼症是指我們害怕別人，特別是他們的判斷。

Agoraphobia is the fear of a situation we perceive to be unsafe or difficult to escape.

恐高症是對我們認為不安全或難以逃脫的情況的恐懼。

Specific phobias include fears of certain things, or situations, such as heights, or

具體的恐懼症包括對某些事物或情況的恐懼，如高度，或

injuries and seeing blood.

受傷和看到血。

Some phobias are especially complicated — such as the famous case of the Button Boy.

有些恐懼症特別複雜--比如著名的 "鈕釦男孩 "案例。

It was a normal day at kindergarten when a 6 year old boy ran out of buttons to paste

那是在幼兒園的一個普通日子，一個6歲的男孩跑出鈕釦來粘貼

on his poster board and was asked to come to the front of the class to get some more.

在他的海報板上，他被要求到教室前面去拿更多的東西。

When he reached for the bowl, his hand slipped and all the buttons fell on him.

當他伸手去拿碗時，他的手滑了一下，所有的鈕釦都掉在他身上。

For the boy this was a deeply traumatic event.

對這個男孩來說，這是一個深深的創傷性事件。

Not long after, he didn't want to dress himself anymore.

沒過多久，他就不想再給自己穿衣服了。

He began to have difficulty concentrating in class due to an excessive preoccupation

由於過度關注，他開始在課堂上難以集中注意力

with not touching his school uniform.

與不碰他的校服。

And eventually, he started avoiding people just to stay away from their buttons!

最後，他開始躲避人們，只是為了遠離他們的鈕釦!

Life became so difficult that 4 years after the incident the boy and his mother decided

生活變得如此艱難，以至於事件發生4年後，男孩和他的母親決定

to seek professional help.

以尋求專業幫助。

The psychiatrists Lissette Saavedra and Wendy Silverman who studied the case were able to

研究該案的精神病學家利塞特-薩維德拉和溫迪-西爾弗曼能夠

rule out obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), which is often confused with a phobia, and

排除經常與恐懼症混淆的強迫症（OCD），以及

concluded that the boy must have developed a specific phobia for buttons.

結論是，這個男孩一定是對鈕釦產生了一種特殊的恐懼症。

To treat the boy, the doctors invited the mother and son to be part of a research project.

為了治療這個男孩，醫生邀請這對母子成為一個研究項目的一部分。

To assess the child's progress throughout the treatment, they used a Feelings Thermometer,

為了評估孩子在整個治療過程中的進展，他們使用了一個感覺溫度計。

allowing the boy to grade each interaction from 1, feeling happy, to 9, feeling angry.

讓男孩給每次互動打分，從1分（感到高興）到9分（感到憤怒）。

Big, brass jeans buttons hardly bothered the boy, but small, clear, plastic ones horrified

大的、黃銅的牛仔褲鈕釦幾乎不會影響到這個男孩，但小的、透明的、塑膠的鈕釦卻讓他感到害怕。

him.

他。

After the boy's feelings were better understood, the doctors selected a treatment method.

在更好地理解這個男孩的感受後，醫生們選擇了一種治療方法。

First they tried behavioral exposure therapy, a form of classical conditioning

他們首先嚐試了行為暴露療法，這是一種古典條件反射的形式。

Whenever the boy touched a button successfully, he was rewarded.

每當男孩成功觸摸到一個按鈕，他就會得到獎勵。

They then repeated the process in various forms.

然後他們以各種形式重複這一過程。

After 4 sessions, the boy completed all tasks and he was able to interact with way more

經過4次治療，這個男孩完成了所有的任務，他能夠與更多的人互動。

buttons than before. However, he felt more distressed about buttons than ever.

比以前更多的鈕釦。然而，他對鈕釦感到比以往更苦惱。

When the doctors talked to the boy again he revealed that he found buttons disgusting

當醫生再次與男孩交談時，他透露說他發現鈕釦很噁心

and that they emitted a bad smell. And so they wondered: did the exposure therapy

並說他們發出了一種不好的氣味。於是他們想知道：暴露療法是否

reduce his fear, but increase his feeling of disgust?

減少他的恐懼，但增加他的厭惡感？

Next, they tried Imagery Exposure Therapy. For the seven sessions that followed, the

接下來，他們嘗試了想象暴露療法。在隨後的七個療程中，他們

boy was prompted to just visualize buttons falling on him and imagine how they looked,

男孩被提示只是想象鈕釦落在他身上，並想象它們的樣子。

felt, and smelled.

感覺到了，也聞到了。

This time the boy's self-reported levels of distress reduced dramatically.

這一次，男孩自我報告的痛苦程度大大降低。

Even 12-months after the therapy the boy reported minimal fear of buttons.

即使在治療12個月後，這個男孩也報告說對鈕釦的恐懼很小。

So why did the first treatment fail, while the second one worked?

那麼，為什麼第一次治療失敗，而第二次治療成功？

The first treatment changed the minds' expectations of what harmless buttons may trigger —classical

第一種治療方法改變了人們對無害按鈕可能引發的預期--經典的

conditioning. The second therapy changed the mind's evaluation of buttons themselves

調理。第二種療法改變了心靈對按鈕本身的評價

– that they aren't actually that disgusting.

- 他們實際上並不那麼令人厭惡。

In technical terms, expectancy-learning failed, but evaluative learning, succeeded.

從技術上講，期望性學習失敗了，但評價性學習卻成功了。

But treatment of a phobia may take many forms. Social- and agoraphobia are often treated

但對恐懼症的治療可以採取多種形式。社交恐懼症和廣場恐懼症經常被治療。

with counseling or even medication.

通過諮詢甚至是藥物治療。

Specific phobias are often treated by systematic desensitization, today often with the help

特定的恐懼症通常通過系統脫敏來治療，今天常常藉助於

of virtual reality.

的虛擬現實。

Humor is another serious therapy that often works.

幽默是另一種通常有效的嚴肅療法。

Activities that elicit humor with the feared situation, can help reduce disgust, anxiety

在恐懼的情況下引起幽默感的活動，可以幫助減少厭惡、焦慮的情緒。

or whatever other uncovered feelings may be the cause of our phobia.

或任何其他未被發現的感覺可能是我們恐懼症的原因。

What's your experience with phobia? Have you ever had one that you were able to overcome?

你對恐懼症有什麼經驗？你是否曾有過能夠克服的恐懼症？

And if so, how did you do it? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

如果是這樣，你是如何做到的？在下面的評論中分享你的想法。

This and all other Sprouts' videos are licensed under the Creative Commons. That means teachers

這段視頻和所有其他Sprouts的視頻都在創作共用協議下獲得許可。這意味著教師

from all around the world can use them in classrooms, online courses or

世界各地的人都可以在教室、在線課程或其他場合使用它們。

to start projects - and today, thousands already do!

來啟動項目--而今天，成千上萬的人已經開始這樣做了!

To learn how it works and download this video without Ads or background music, checkout

要了解它是如何工作的，並下載這個沒有廣告或背景音樂的視頻，請查看

our website or read the description below.

我們的網站或閱讀下面的描述。

If you want to support our mission and help change education

如果你想支持我們的使命並幫助改變教育

visit our Patreon - that's patreon.com/sprouts.

請訪問我們的PATREON - 即patreon.com/sprouts。