来源：《今日心理学》
原文刊登日期：2020年12月26日
By paying more attention to the things you get right in life, you can become more emotionally resilient and focused in spite of your struggle with anxiety or depression, according to a recent study published by the University of California, Berkley in the online journal eLife. The study looked at the decision-making abilities of more than 300 adult men and women with major depressive disorder or generalized anxiety disorder.
根据加州大学伯克利分校在网络期刊eLife上发表的一项最新研究，通过更多地关注你在生活中做对的事情，你可以变得更有情绪韧性，更专注，尽管你正在与焦虑或抑郁作斗争。这项研究调查了300多名患有重度抑郁症或广泛性焦虑症的成年男性和女性的决策能力。
Specifically, the researchers looked at the study participant’s probabilistic decision making, when current decisions are based on the results of previous actions. Often, people don’t even realize that previous decisions are informing the decisions they make in the moment.
具体而言，研究人员观察了受试者的概率决策，即当前决策基于先前行动的结果。通常，人们甚至没有意识到以前的决定正在影响他们现在所做的决定。
The researchers found that participants with symptoms of depression or anxiety, such as feeling bad about themselves, constant worrying, or lack of motivation, had more difficulty adjusting to changes in a computerized test simulating a chaotic or rapidly changing situation than did participants who had few or no symptoms of anxiety or depression, who tended to be more emotionally resilient to rapid change. These participants were able to quickly adjust to changing situations and base their decisions on what to do next on actions they had taken in the past to achieve the best possible outcome under the circumstances.
研究人员发现，有抑郁或焦虑症状的参与者，如自我感觉不好、持续担忧或缺乏动力，比没有或很少有焦虑或抑郁症状的参与者更难适应计算机测试中模拟混乱或快速变化的情况，健康参与者往往在情绪上更能适应快速变化。健康参与者能够迅速适应变化的情况，并根据他们在过去所采取的行动来决定下一步该做什么，以在当前情况下实现最佳可能的结果。
In both a laboratory setting and an online crowdsourcing platform, participants were given the task of choosing between two shapes or two different colored shapes. If they chose the “right” shape or color, they received a monetary reward but if they chose the “wrong” shape or color, they lost money or received a harmless electrical shock. Sometimes, participants were able to predict which shape or color would give a positive result, but at other times it became more difficult and confusing. Those with obvious symptoms of anxiety and depression had a harder time making good decisions under the duress of changing circumstances than emotionally resilient participants, who were better able to adapt to less stable situations.
在实验室环境和在线众包平台上，参与者被要求在两个形状或两个不同颜色的形状之间进行选择。如果他们选择了“正确”的形状或颜色，他们会得到金钱奖励，但如果他们选择了“错误”的形状或颜色，他们就会失去金钱或受到无害的电击。有时，参与者能够预测哪种形状或颜色会带来积极的结果，但在其他时候，这变得更加困难和令人困惑。那些有明显焦虑和抑郁症状的人，在环境变化的压力下，比有情绪韧性的参与者更难做出正确的决定，后者更能适应不太稳定的环境。
People who are clinically anxious or depressed often fixate on past mistakes in decision making that resulted in poor or negative outcomes, while those who are more emotionally resilient generally focus on what worked for them in the past. This decision-making skill, the authors conclude, may help them learn to make good decisions that render positive results henceforth.
临床焦虑或抑郁的人经常关注过去在做决定时犯下的错误，这些错误导致了糟糕或负面的结果，而情绪韧性更强的人通常关注的是过去对他们有用的事情。作者总结说，这种决策技巧可以帮助他们学会做出好的决定，从而带来积极的结果。
They suggest that people with clinical depression or anxiety may benefit from treatment such as cognitive behavioral therapy, where a trained psychologist can help them improve their decision-making skills and confidence in their decisions by redirecting their focus to previous successes rather than previous failures. We learn more from positive results than negative, the study authors suggest, and that can increase our ability to adjust and adapt to a rapidly changing and uncertain world.
他们认为，患有临床抑郁症或焦虑症的人可能会从认知行为疗法等治疗中受益。在认知行为疗法中，训练有素的心理医生可以帮助他们提高决策技能，并通过将注意力转向以往的成功而不是以往的失败，来提高他们对决策的信心。该研究的作者表示，我们从积极的结果中学到的比消极的结果更多，这可以提高我们调整和适应一个快速变化和不确定的世界的能力。