特别广播英语第 67 课：Panic and Its Effects 恐怖症及其对各方面的影响-1

One afternoon while she was preparing dinner in her kitchen, Anne Peters, a 32-year-old American housewife, suddenly had severe pains in her chest accompanied by shortness of breath. 一位32刚的美国家庭妇女安妮 . 彼得斯，一有天下午正在厨房里做晚餐，突然她胸部剧痛，并发着呼吸短促。

Frightened by the thought that she was having a heart attack, Anne screamed for help. 安妮感到恐怖，因为她想到这可能是心脏病发作了，于是她尖叫着喊救命。

Her husband immediately rushed Anne to a nearby hospital where her pains were diagnosed as having been caused by panic, and not a heart attack.安妮的丈夫立即把她送到附近一家医院。在这家医院，她的胸痛被诊断是由恐怖症引起的，而不是心脏病发作。

More and more Americans nowadays are having panic attacks like the one experienced by Anne Peters. 现在不像以前了，有越来越多的美国人得了安妮o彼得斯所经历的这种恐怖症。

Benjamin Crocker, a psychologist at the University of Southern California, reveal that as many as ten million adult Americans have already experienced or will experience at least one panic attack in their lifetime. 据一位南加州大学的心理学家本杰明o克拉克披露的消息说，有多达一千万的美国成年人在一生中最低限度有过一次或将来准会有一次恐怖症发作的经历。

Moreover, studies conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health in the United States disclose that approximately 1.2 million adult individuals are currently suffering from severe and recurrent panic attacks. 此外，美国国立心理健康研究院所进行的反复调查研究的结果披露的资料说明，有近一百二十万美国成年人现在患有严重的反复发作的恐怖症。

These attacks may last for only a few minutes; some, however, continue for several hours. 这些恐怖症发作起来，有的只持续两三分钟，可是，也有的能持续好几个小时。

The symptoms of panic attacks bear such remarkable similarity to those of heart attacks that many victims believe that they are indeed having a heart attack. 这些恐怖症发作的种种症状与心脏病发作的那些症状有着十分明显的相似之处，以致有很多患者都认为他们确实是、真的是心脏病发作了。