讀莎士比亞可瞭解病人的心理狀態

Doctors should brush up on their Shakespeare to help improve their understanding of how the mind can affect the body, according to an unusual study.

作爲英國文藝復興時期偉大的劇作家、詩人，歐洲文藝復興時期人文主義文學的集大成者，莎士比亞倘若仍在世也未曾能預料到自己的作品會對解決病人心理問題起到獨特作用。據悉，一項獨特的研究表明：心理醫生應當重溫他們所讀過得莎士比亞的所有書籍，這對幫助他們更好地瞭解人的思想是如何影響其身體的。

Dr Kenneth Heaton said many doctors don't realise how many physical symptoms can be caused solely by psychological problems.

肯尼思.希頓博士曾經說過，許多醫生從未認識到有多少身體的症狀僅僅是由心理問題而引發的。

But the Bard's works help illustrate this link because he had such an 'exceptional awareness of bodily sensations'.

而巴德的作品將有助於闡釋人的心理與身體的這種關係，這也是因爲他對身體有這種獨特的感知力。

The former gastroenterologist and expert on 16th-century literature looked for descriptions of sensory ailments in all 42 of Shakespeare's major works.

約瑟夫（胃腸病學家、十六世紀文學專家），在莎士比亞的42部主要作品中都找到了有關感知性不適的描述。

He found dozens of examples when characters experienced psychosomatic symptoms - which was far more than in the writings of his contemporaries.

他發現很多有關病人所表現的症狀受其精神影響的例子，這遠比莎士比亞作品中的描述要多得多。

For instance Hamlet is shown suffering from fatigue as a result of grief, crying out: 'How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of this world!'

例如,哈姆雷特因過於悲傷而常在疲憊中煎熬，他呼喊道：“我生活的世界時多麼的萎靡、無趣、沉悶、無用啊！”Meanwhile, coldness is shown to be a symptom of shock, as when Juliet in Romeo and Juliet reveals: 'I have a faint cold fear that thrills through my veins.'

書中也闡述了冷酷是受驚後的表現，正如朱麗葉在《羅密歐與朱麗葉》中所表露的 ‘一種微弱寒冷的恐懼感透過我的靜脈傳遍全身。’

Shakespeare also describes emotional distress as blunting or heightening sensitivity to touch and pain.

莎士比亞也對悲痛情感進行了描述，有時直言不諱，有時也通過增強對觸覺及疼痛的敏感來表達。

'Shakespeare's perception that numbness and enhanced sensation can have a psychological origin seems not to have been shared by his contemporaries, none of whom included such phenomena in the works examined,' Dr Heaton, from Somerset said.

‘他認爲，麻木與情感的放大可能都受心理影響，而這種心理在同齡人當中可能沒有，而在所驗訖的作品中也未發現任何人有這種現象，’薩摩賽特的希頓博士寫道。

The playwright also refers to dizziness and vertigo in The Taming of the Shrew, while breathlessness is described in at least 11 instances including in Two Gentlemen of Verona. Disturbed hearing features in King Lear, Richard III and King John.

莎士比亞也曾在《馴悍記》中提到頭暈和眩暈；有關呼吸困難的描述至少也有十一例，如《維洛那兩紳士》所寫；還有幻聽，在《李爾王》、《理查德三世》、《國王約翰》中亦均有表述。

All of these symptoms can confuse doctors as they have no obvious physical cause.

在沒有任何明顯身體疾患時，病人的這些症狀會使醫生摸不清頭腦。

Commenting on his study published in Medical Humanities, Dr Heaton said: 'Many doctors are reluctant to attribute physical symptoms to emotional disturbance, and this results in delayed diagnosis, over-investigation, and inappropriate treatment.

巴德在就其發表在醫學人文學的研究成果時說：“許多醫生不願將身體症狀與情感因素聯繫起來，這往往會導致診斷延遲、診斷過重和治療不當。

'They could learn to be better doctors by studying Shakespeare. This is important because the so-called functional symptoms are the leading cause of general practitioner visits and of referrals to specialists.'

因此，醫生可以通過研究莎士比亞而變得更好。這之所以重要是因爲所謂的功能性症狀正是導致普通科醫生需要到處走訪，而專科醫生只需坐等轉介信的原因。