ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Ruby Wax - Comedian and Mental Health Activist
Ruby Wax is a loud, funny woman -- who spent much of her comedy career battling depression in silence. Now her work blends mental health advocacy and laughs.

Why you should listen

Winston Churchill called it "the Black Dog" -- a depression that settled over him and drained the flavor from life. Ruby Wax knows the Black Dog well; throughout the '80s and '90s, during a flourishing career as a brash comedian and interviewer in the UK, it trotted at her heels, even while she was interviewing the Duchess of York and sorting through Imelda Marcos' shoes.

After taking a timeout to learn how to manage the condition, Wax produced a stand-up comedy show called "Losing It" that directly addresses her mental health experiences, hilariously but powerfully. And she's started up a new social network called the Black Dog Tribe, which offers a community and support to people with depression. Meanwhile, she's working on her Master's in cognitive therapy.

Also, this year, Ruby was honored as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her mental health work.

As she says: "I've always said to myself, if you've got a disability, use it." Read our Q&A with >>

Ruby is also a visiting professor at The University of Surrey.

More profile about the speaker
Ruby Wax | Speaker | TED.com
TEDGlobal 2012

Ruby Wax: What's so funny about mental illness?

鲁比·怀克丝(Ruby Wax):精神疾病有什么可笑的?

Filmed:
2,813,839 views

身体疾病可博取同情,喜剧演员鲁比·怀克丝说到,除了那些大脑生病的。为什么会那样?活力四射幽默感十足的怀克丝,十年前被诊断出临床忧郁症,她敦促我们杜绝精神疾病的污名。
- Comedian and Mental Health Activist
Ruby Wax is a loud, funny woman -- who spent much of her comedy career battling depression in silence. Now her work blends mental health advocacy and laughs. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:15
One in four people suffer遭受 from some sort分类 of mental心理 illness疾病,
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每四个人中就有一人患有某种精神疾病
00:19
so if it was one, two, three, four, it's you, sir先生.
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如果说是一二三四 就是你了先生
00:24
You. Yeah. (Laughter笑声)
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对 是你(笑声)
00:25
With the weird奇怪的 teeth. And you next下一个 to him. (Laughter笑声)
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牙齿有点怪的那位 还有旁边那位(笑声)
00:29
You know who you are.
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你自己可清楚了
00:30
Actually其实, that whole整个 row isn't right. (Laughter笑声)
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事实上那一整排都不大正常(笑声)
00:32
That's not good. Hi你好. Yeah. Real真实 bad. Don't even look at me. (Laughter笑声)
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这不太好 是的 真的很糟糕 拜托别看着我 (笑声)
00:37
I am one of the one in four. Thank you.
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我就是四个人中的那一人 谢谢
00:42
I think I inherit继承 it from my mother母亲, who,
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我想我这病是从我妈妈那里遗传过来的
00:45
used to crawl爬行 around the house on all fours四肢.
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她常四肢着地在房子里四处爬动
00:48
She had two sponges海绵 in her hand, and then she had two
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她手里拿着两个海绵 还有两个
00:51
tied to her knees膝盖. My mother母亲 was completely全然 absorbent吸水. (Laughter笑声)
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绑在膝盖那里 我妈妈具有完全的吸水性(笑声)
00:56
And she would crawl爬行 around behind背后 me going,
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她会跟在我身后爬来爬去喊着
00:58
"Who brings带来 footprints脚印 into a building建造?!"
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“谁会把脚印带到屋子里!”
01:02
So that was kind of a clue线索 that things weren't right.
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这算是个线索 有点不太对劲
01:04
So before I start开始, I would like to thank
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在我开始之前 我想感谢
01:09
the makers制造商 of Lamotrigine拉莫三嗪, Sertraline舍曲林, and Reboxetine瑞波西汀,
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拉莫三嗪(Lamotrigine) 舍曲林(Sertraline) 帕罗西汀(Reboxetine)的制药商
01:14
because without those few少数 simple简单 chemicals化学制品, I would not be vertical垂直 today今天.
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因为如果没有这几种常用药物 我今天就不会站在这里
01:19
So how did it start开始?
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我的病是怎么开始的呢
01:24
My mental心理 illness疾病 -- well, I'm not even going to talk about my mental心理 illness疾病.
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我的精神疾病 我都根本不想谈论它
01:28
What am I going to talk about? Okay.
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那我谈些什么好呢 好吧
01:30
I always dreamt梦见 that, when I had my final最后 breakdown分解,
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我以前常常会想自己最终会在什么时候发病
01:34
it would be because I had a deep Kafkaesque卡夫卡
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可能因为我有深深的卡夫卡式
01:37
existentialist存在主义 revelation启示,
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存在主义的启示
01:39
or that maybe Cate凯特 Blanchett布兰切特 would play me and she would win赢得 an Oscar奥斯卡 for it. (Laughter笑声)
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或可能是凯特•布兰切特扮演了我的角色并赢了奥斯卡(笑声)
01:44
But that's not what happened发生. I had my breakdown分解
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但这些都没发生 我发病的时候
01:47
during my daughter's女儿的 sports体育 day.
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正是我女儿的运动会日
01:49
There were all the parents父母 sitting坐在 in a parking停車處 lot
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所有家长都坐在停车场
01:53
eating food餐饮 out of the back of their car汽车 -- only the English英语 --
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在车背上吃着食物 只是英国人
01:57
eating their sausages香肠. They loved喜爱 their sausages香肠. (Laughter笑声)
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吃着他们的香肠 他们可喜欢他们的香肠了(笑声)
02:03
Lord and Lady淑女 Rigor严格 Mortis僵直 were nibbling on the tarmac停机坪,
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大家都在讲些闲话和八卦
02:07
and then the gun went off and all the girliesgirlies started开始 running赛跑,
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突然枪声响了 所有的女孩都跑了起来
02:10
and all the mummies木乃伊 went, "Run! Run Chlamydia衣原体! Run!" (Laughter笑声)
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所有的妈妈都喊着 “快跑!快跑Chlamydia(人名 谐音衣原体)!快跑!”(笑声)
02:15
"Run like the wind, VerucaVeruca! Run!"
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“像风一样跑 Veruca(人名)! 快跑!”
02:19
And all the girliesgirlies, girliesgirlies running赛跑, running赛跑, running赛跑,
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所有的女孩都在跑啊跑啊跑啊
02:21
everybody每个人 except for my daughter女儿, who was just standing常设
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所有人除了我的女儿 她就站着
02:24
at the starting开始 line线, just waving挥手,
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在起跑线的地方 光顾着挥手
02:27
because she didn't know she was supposed应该 to run.
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因为她不知道她应该跑起来
02:30
So I took to my bed for about a month, and when I woke醒来 up
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我因此卧床一个月 当我醒来的时候
02:34
I found发现 I was institutionalized制度化, and when I saw the other inmates囚犯,
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我发现自己住院了 看到其他病人的时候
02:38
I realized实现 that I had found发现 my people, my tribe部落. (Laughter笑声)
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我意识到我找到自己的同类了 我的群落(笑声)
02:43
Because they became成为 my only friends朋友, they became成为 my friends朋友,
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因为他们成了我唯一的朋友 他们成了我的朋友
02:46
because very few少数 people that I knew知道 -- Well, I wasn't
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因为我本来就认识不多人 而我也没有
02:49
sent发送 a lot of cards or flowers花卉. I mean, if I had had a broken破碎 leg
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收到很多问候卡或鲜花 我的意思是 如果我是摔断了腿
02:53
or I was with child儿童 I would have been inundated淹没,
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或者我有了孩子我也许就被大家的关心所掩埋了
02:55
but all I got was a couple一对 phone电话 calls电话 telling告诉 me to perk额外津贴 up.
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但我只接到了几通电话叫我振作
02:59
Perk额外津贴 up.
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振作
03:00
Because I didn't think of that. (Laughter笑声)
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因为我没想过要振作呢(笑声)
03:05
(Laughter笑声) (Applause掌声)
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(笑声)(掌声)
03:08
Because, you know, the one thing, one thing that you get with this disease疾病,
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因为有一样东西 得了这种病你会得到它
03:13
this one comes with a package, is you get a real真实 sense of shame耻辱,
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这是整套附送的 就是你会感到很羞耻
03:16
because your friends朋友 go, "Oh come on, show显示 me the lump,
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因为你的朋友们会说 “来 给我看看肿块
03:19
show显示 me the x-raysx射线," and of course课程 you've got nothing to show显示,
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给我看看X光片” 当然你什么都没有可以拿来展示的
03:21
so you're, like, really disgusted厌恶的 with yourself你自己 because you're thinking思维,
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你就会变得很厌恶自己因为你觉得
03:24
"I'm not being存在 carpet-bombed地毯式轰炸. I don't live生活 in a township."
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“没有很多人来看望我 我不是在城镇里生活”
03:27
So you start开始 to hear these abusive滥用的 voices声音, but you don't hear one abusive滥用的 voice语音,
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你开始听到很多谩骂声 不是一声两声
03:31
you hear about a thousand -- 100,000 abusive滥用的 voices声音,
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你能听到近千个万个谩骂声
03:33
like if the Devil魔鬼 had Tourette's秽语, that's what it would sound声音 like.
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就像恶魔患了抽动症 听起来就像那样
03:37
But we all know in here, you know, there is no Devil魔鬼,
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但我们在座的都知道 并没有恶魔
03:40
there are no voices声音 in your head.
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你的头脑中并没有声音
03:42
You know that when you have those abusive滥用的 voices声音,
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当你听到那些谩骂声时
03:44
all those little neurons神经元 get together一起 and in that little gap间隙
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所有那些小神经元会聚在一起 在那个小小的狭缝
03:47
you get a real真实 toxic有毒的 "I want to kill myself" kind of chemical化学,
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你就会产生“我真想杀了自己”有毒的化学物质
03:50
and if you have that over and over again on a loop循环 tape胶带,
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如果这种情况屡次发生
03:53
you might威力 have yourself你自己 depression萧条.
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你可能会让自己得抑郁症
03:55
Oh, and that's not even the tip小费 of the iceberg冰山.
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那还不到冰山一角
03:58
If you get a little baby宝宝, and you abuse滥用 it verbally口头,
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如果你有一个小婴儿 你常口头辱骂它
04:01
its little brain sends发送 out chemicals化学制品 that are so destructive有害
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它的小脑袋会发出非常具有破坏性的化学物质
04:05
that the little part部分 of its brain that can tell good from bad just doesn't grow增长,
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以致它脑袋里面分辨美好事物的部分不再生长了
04:09
so you might威力 have yourself你自己 a homegrown自产自销 psychotic精神病.
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你就自己培养了一个精神病者
04:12
If a soldier士兵 sees看到 his friend朋友 blown up, his brain goes into
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如果一个士兵看到他的朋友被炸了 他的大脑会进入
04:15
such这样 high alarm报警 that he can't actually其实 put the experience经验 into words,
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高度警戒状态以致他无法把所经历的东西用语言表达出来
04:19
so he just feels感觉 the horror恐怖 over and over again.
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他只是一次又一次地感受到恐惧
04:22
So here's这里的 my question. My question is, how come
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那么我有一个问题 我的问题就是 为什么
04:24
when people have mental心理 damage损伤, it's always an active活性 imagination想像力?
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人们有精神创伤的时候 总被认为是主动想象造成的
04:28
How come every一切 other organ器官 in your body身体 can get sick生病
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为什么其它身体器官生病时
04:31
and you get sympathy同情, except the brain?
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你会得到同情 而大脑除外呢
04:34
I'd like to talk a little bit more about the brain,
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我想谈多一些关于大脑的东西
04:37
because I know you like that here at TEDTED,
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因为我知道TED在座的各位喜欢听
04:39
so if you just give me a minute分钟 here, okay.
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请给我一点时间好吗
04:42
Okay, let me just say, there's some good news新闻.
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我就这么说吧 有些好消息
04:44
There is some good news新闻. First of all, let me say,
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有些好消息 首先 我想说
04:47
we've我们已经 come a long, long way.
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我们一路走来经历了很多
04:50
We started开始 off as a teeny蝇头, teeny蝇头 little one-celled单细胞 amoeba阿米巴,
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我们从非常非常小的单细胞变形虫
04:54
tiny, just sticking症结 onto a rock, and now, voila, the brain.
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很小的 贴在一块石头上 现在 看啊 到了大脑
04:58
Here we go. (Laughter笑声)
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我们开始吧 (笑声)
05:00
This little baby宝宝 has a lot of horsepower马力.
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这小东西有很大马力
05:03
It comes completely全然 conscious意识. It's got state-of-the-art最先进的 lobes.
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它是有完整意识的 它有新生的脑叶
05:07
We've我们已经 got the occipital枕骨 lobe so we can actually其实 see the world世界.
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因为有枕叶所以我们能看到世界
05:11
We got the temporal lobe so we can actually其实 hear the world世界.
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因为有颞叶所以我们能听到世界上的声音
05:13
Here we've我们已经 got a little bit of long-term长期 memory记忆,
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这里是我们有长期记忆的部分
05:15
so, you know that night you want to forget忘记, when you got really drunk? Bye-bye再见! Gone. (Laughter笑声)
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你很想忘记某天晚上真的喝醉了 拜拜 忘记了(笑声)
05:20
So actually其实, it's filled填充 with 100 billion十亿 neurons神经元
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事实上 大脑有1000亿个神经元
05:23
just zizzingzizzing away, electrically transmitting发射 information信息,
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带电吱吱吱地传导着信息
05:27
zizzingzizzing, zizzingzizzing. I'm going to give you a little side view视图 here.
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吱吱吱吱 我来给你们看看一些侧观
05:29
I don't know if you can get that here. (Laughter笑声)
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我不知道你们能不能看清楚(笑声)
05:33
So, zizzingzizzing away, and so — (Laughter笑声) —
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吱吱 那么(笑声)
05:37
And for every一切 one — I know, I drew德鲁 this myself. Thank you.
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对每个 这是我自己画 谢谢
05:41
For every一切 one single neuron神经元, you can actually其实 have
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对每一个神经元来说 你事实上可以
05:44
from 10,000 to 100,000 different不同 connections连接
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有1万到10万种不同的连接
05:48
or dendrites树突 or whatever随你 you want to call it, and every一切 time
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或神经树突或不管你怎么叫 每一次
05:51
you learn学习 something, or you have an experience经验,
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你学到东西或经历了一些事
05:54
that bush衬套 grows成长, you know, that bush衬套 of information信息.
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树突就会成长 就是信息的树突
05:56
Can you imagine想像, every一切 human人的 being存在 is carrying携带
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你可以想象么 每个人都有
05:59
that equipment设备, even Paris巴黎 Hilton希尔顿? (Laughter笑声)
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那样的装备 甚至是帕丽斯·希尔顿(笑声)
06:04
Go figure数字.
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想想看
06:06
But I got a little bad news新闻 for you folks乡亲. I got some bad news新闻.
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我这里也有些坏消息想对你们说 我有些坏消息
06:09
This isn't for the one in four. This is for the four in four.
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比例不是四分之一 而是四分之四
06:12
We are not equipped装备 for the 21stST century世纪.
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我们还没准备好过21世纪
06:16
Evolution演化 did not prepare准备 us for this. We just don't have the bandwidth带宽,
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进化并没有帮我们做好准备 我们没有相关的连接
06:20
and for people who say, oh, they're having a nice不错 day,
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对于那些人说他们过了美好的一天
06:23
they're perfectly完美 fine, they're more insane than the rest休息 of us.
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说他们过得非常好 他们比我们其他人还要疯狂
06:26
Because I'll show显示 you where there might威力 be a few少数 glitches毛刺
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因为我会给你们看哪里会有些
06:29
in evolution演化. Okay, let me just explain说明 this to you.
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进化的故障 好 让我解释给你们听
06:31
When we were ancient man — (Laughter笑声) —
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当我们是古人的时候(笑声)
06:35
millions百万 of years年份 ago, and we suddenly突然 felt threatened受威胁
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几百万年以前 我们突然受到
06:39
by a predator捕食者, okay? — (Laughter笑声) —
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捕食者的威胁 好吗 (笑声)
06:42
we would — Thank you. I drew德鲁 these myself. (Laughter笑声)
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我们会 谢谢 我自己画的(笑声)
06:45
Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. (Applause掌声)
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非常感谢 谢谢 谢谢 (掌声)
06:49
Thank you. Anyway无论如何, we would fill up with our own拥有 adrenaline肾上腺素
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谢谢 不管怎么说 我们会激增自己的肾上腺素
06:53
and our own拥有 cortisol皮质醇, and then we'd星期三 kill or be killed杀害,
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和提脂醇 然后我们会展开杀戮或被杀
06:56
we'd星期三 eat or we'd星期三 be eaten吃过, and then suddenly突然 we'd星期三 de-fuel解燃料,
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我们会进食或被食 我们会瞬间发泄出这些化学物质
06:59
and we'd星期三 go back to normal正常. Okay.
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然后我们回到正常 好的
07:01
So the problem问题 is, nowadays如今, with modern现代 man— (Laughter笑声) —
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问题是 现在的现代人(笑声)
07:06
when we feel in danger危险, we still fill up with our own拥有 chemical化学
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当我们感到危险时 我们依然激增身体的化学物质
07:10
but because we can't kill traffic交通 wardens协管员 — (Laughter笑声) —
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但因为我们不能杀掉交通管制员(笑声)
07:15
or eat estate房地产 agents代理, the fuel汽油 just stays入住 in our body身体
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或吃掉地产经纪人 这些物质一直在我们的身体里面
07:19
over and over, so we're in a constant不变 state of alarm报警,
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反反复复地 所以我们一直处在持续警惕的状态
07:22
a constant不变 state. And here's这里的 another另一个 thing that happened发生.
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一个持续的状态 然后发生了另一件事
07:24
About 150,000 years年份 ago, when language语言 came来了 online线上,
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大概15万年前 语言开始形成
07:27
we started开始 to put words to this constant不变 emergency,
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我们开始把这种持续警惕的状态用语言表达出来
07:29
so it wasn't just, "Oh my God, there's a saber-toothed剑齿 tiger,"
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不止是 “我的天啊 有只剑齿虎”
07:32
which哪一个 could be, it was suddenly突然, "Oh my God, I didn't send发送 the email电子邮件. Oh my God, my thighs大腿 are too fat脂肪.
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它可以突然是 “我的天 我没发邮件 我的天 我的大腿好粗
07:36
Oh my God, everybody每个人 can see I'm stupid. I didn't get invited邀请 to the Christmas圣诞 party派对!"
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我的天啊 每个人都知道我犯蠢了 我没被邀请去圣诞派对!”
07:40
So you've got this nagging唠叨 loop循环 tape胶带 that goes
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你不停地有这唠叨的卷带放着
07:42
over and over again that drives驱动器 you insane, so,
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一遍又一遍地把你逼疯了 那么
07:45
you see what the problem问题 is? What once一旦 made制作 you safe安全
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你看到问题所在了吗 曾经让你感到安全的东西
07:48
now drives驱动器 you insane.
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现在正把你逼疯
07:50
I'm sorry to be the bearer来人 of bad news新闻, but somebody has to be.
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我很抱歉做了坏消息的信者 但有人得告诉你
07:53
Your pets宠物 are happier幸福 than you are. (Laughter笑声)
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你的宠物比你更快乐 (笑声)
07:59
(Applause掌声)
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(掌声)
08:02
So kitty猫咪 cat, meow, happy快乐 happy快乐 happy快乐, human人的 beings众生, screwed. (Laughter笑声)
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小猫咪 喵 快乐快乐快乐 人类 完蛋了 (笑声)
08:07
Completely全然 and utterly完全 -- so, screwed.
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完完全全 彻彻底底地 完蛋了
08:09
But my point is, if we don't talk about this stuff东东,
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我认为 如果我们不谈论这些问题
08:12
and we don't learn学习 how to deal合同 with our lives生活, it's not going
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如果我们不学会处理我们的生活 那就不会再是
08:14
to be one in four. It's going to be four in four
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四个中一个有问题 而是四个里面全都有问题
08:16
who are really, really going to get ill生病 in the upstairs楼上 department.
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他们真的会生病住进高层病房
08:20
And while we're at it, can we please stop the stigma柱头?
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如果真的发生了 我们可不可以不再冠以污名
08:22
Thank you. (Applause掌声)
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谢谢(掌声)
08:29
(Applause掌声) Thank you.
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(掌声)谢谢
Translated by Ben Peng
Reviewed by Yuguo Zhang

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Ruby Wax - Comedian and Mental Health Activist
Ruby Wax is a loud, funny woman -- who spent much of her comedy career battling depression in silence. Now her work blends mental health advocacy and laughs.

Why you should listen

Winston Churchill called it "the Black Dog" -- a depression that settled over him and drained the flavor from life. Ruby Wax knows the Black Dog well; throughout the '80s and '90s, during a flourishing career as a brash comedian and interviewer in the UK, it trotted at her heels, even while she was interviewing the Duchess of York and sorting through Imelda Marcos' shoes.

After taking a timeout to learn how to manage the condition, Wax produced a stand-up comedy show called "Losing It" that directly addresses her mental health experiences, hilariously but powerfully. And she's started up a new social network called the Black Dog Tribe, which offers a community and support to people with depression. Meanwhile, she's working on her Master's in cognitive therapy.

Also, this year, Ruby was honored as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her mental health work.

As she says: "I've always said to myself, if you've got a disability, use it." Read our Q&A with >>

Ruby is also a visiting professor at The University of Surrey.

More profile about the speaker
Ruby Wax | Speaker | TED.com