Most psychotherapists would agree that depression is anger and sadness that has been repressed. And it can lead to a state where the afflicted feel there is nothing they can do to change their situation. A hopelessness emerges.

    Another key characteristic is anxiety. But scientists have recently focused on a specific type of worry that is significantly linked to depression. This is anxiety about feeling anxiety. Here a person thinks that something catastrophic is going to happen if they allow themselves to feel anxious.

    The scientists had 94 above-average worriers take a variety of anxiety questionnaires and two tests for levels of depression. But they controlled for worry and generalized anxiety in order to isolate specific anxiety about feeling anxious. The research is published in the December issue of the Journal of Anxiety Disorders.

    The two dimensions of so-called anxiety sensitivity that are most strongly linked to depression are fear of loss of cognitive control and fear of revealing anxious symptoms in public. The other dimensions, fear of respiratory and cardiovascular symptoms showed no link to depression.

    The authors note that current depression therapies focus on depressive symptoms and not anxiety sensitivity. They suggest therapists might want to consider helping people change their perception of anxious emotion, to not see it in such a negative light.

    Of course, this reminds us of Franklin D. Roosevelt's sage words at his first inaugural address: "…let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself-nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance."

    恐懼本身的恐懼

    大多數心理治療師都認同抑郁癥是由于憤怒和悲傷被壓抑所致。對憤怒和悲傷的壓抑能導致患者感到他們對改變他們的處境無能為力，絕望也因此出現。

    抑郁癥的另外一個重要特點就是焦慮。不過科學家們目前把精力集中在研究一種與抑郁癥有顯著聯系的焦慮上。這就是對感到焦慮的焦慮。在這種情況下，人們認為如果他們感到焦慮的話，一些極其可怕的事情就要發生。

    科學家們讓94名焦慮患者（焦慮程度在平均水平以上）參加各種焦慮問卷調查，同時還讓他們參加兩種焦慮水平測試。不過為了找出感到焦慮而焦慮的特定類型，科學家們的研究控制在一定的擔憂類型和一般化的焦慮。該項研究發表在12月份的《焦慮綜合癥雜志》（Journal of Anxiety Disorders）上。

    與抑郁癥有很強關聯的所謂焦慮敏感的兩個方面是：害怕失去認知控制能力以及害怕在公眾場合透露出焦慮癥狀。呼吸和心血管癥狀方面的害怕屬于焦慮敏感的另外一方面，這與抑郁癥沒有聯系。

    該項研究的作者注意到，目前的抑郁癥治療集中在抑郁癥狀而不是焦慮敏感。他們建議，治療師也許想幫助人們改變他們對焦慮情緒的感受，不要過于消極地看待它們。

    當然，這讓我們想起富蘭克林·D·羅斯福在他第一次總統就職演說中的警言：：" ……我表明我堅定的信念：我們惟一不得不害怕的就是害怕本身-種莫明其妙的、喪失理智的、毫無根據的恐懼，它會把轉退為進所需的種種努力化為泡影。"

    Vocabulary:

    Anxious:焦慮的

    Depression:抑郁癥

    Psychotherapist:心理治療師

    Repressed: 壓制的；抑制的

    Afflict: 折磨；使痛苦

    Hopelessness: 絕望

    Emerge: 出現；浮出

    Characteristic: 特點

    Anxiety: 焦慮

    Specific: 特定的；具體的；獨特的

    Significantly: 顯著地

    Catastrophic: 災難性的

    Questionnaire: 問卷調查表

    Isolate: （使）隔離，孤立，脫離

    Cognitive: 認知的

    Reveal: 顯示；透露；揭示

    Symptom: 癥狀

    Respiratory: 呼吸的

    Cardiovascular: 心血管的

    Perception: 感知

    Negative: 負面的

    Sage: 睿智的，賢明的

    Inaugural: 就職的

    Assert: 明確肯定；斷言

    Paralyze: 使癱瘓；使不能正常工作

    Convert: 轉變

    Retreat: 失敗；退卻