【课外精读】日本惊现“自杀潮”，女性精神危机引关注

　　【课外精读】日本惊现“自杀潮”，女性精神危机引关注   原文译文　*注：本文摘自11月29日CNN News

　　In Japan, more people died from suicide last month than from Covid in all of 2020. And women have been impacted most日本10月自杀人数超新冠死亡人数，女性受影响更严重

　　1. The first time, she was just 22 years old with a full-time job in publishing that didn't pay enough to cover her rent and grocery bills in Tokyo. "I was really poor," said Kobayashi, who spent three days unconscious in hospital after the incident. Now 43, Kobayashi has written books on her mental health struggles and has a steady job at an NGO. But the coronavirus is bringing back the stress she used to feel. "My salary was cut, and I cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel," she said. "I constantly feel a sense of crisis that I might fall back into poverty."

　　小林第一次自杀的时候，只有22岁，那时候她在一家出版社工作，但是她的工资没法支付她在东京的房租和日常开销。小林在医院昏迷了三天，她说：“我是真的穷。”如今，小林已经43岁了，她正在写作一本关于精神挣扎的书，在一家非政府组织有一份稳定的工作。但是，由于疫情，她还是感到了压力。她说，“我的工资少了，看不到希望。我经常有一种危机感，担心自己会再次陷入贫困。”

　　2. Experts have warned that the pandemic could lead to a mental health crisis. Mass unemployment, social isolation, and anxiety are taking their toll on people globally. In Japan, government statistics show suicide claimed more lives in October than Covid-19 has over the entire year to date. The monthly number of Japanese suicides rose to 2,153 in October, according to Japan's National Police Agency. As of Friday, Japan's total Covid-19 toll was 2,087, the health ministry said.

　　专家警告说，新冠疫情可能会导致精神健康危机。大规模失业、社交隔离和焦虑正对全球人民造成影响。在日本，政府统计数据显示，十月份自杀死亡人数超过新冠全年死亡人数。根据日本国家警察厅的数据，10月份日本自杀人数升至2153人。日本卫生部称，截至周五，日本新冠死亡人数为2,087人。

　　3. Japan is one of the few major economies to disclose timely suicide data -- the most recent national data for the US, for example, is from 2018. The Japanese data could give other countries insights into the impact of pandemic measures on mental health, and which groups are the most vulnerable.

　　日本是少数几个及时披露自杀数据的主要经济体之一。美国最新全国自杀数据是2018年的。日本的数据可能会对其他国家深入探索疫情对谨慎健康的影响有所启示，也会让人们了解哪个群体是最易受影响的群体。

　　4. “We didn't even have a lockdown, and the impact of Covid is very minimal compared to other countries ... but still we see this big increase in the number of suicides," said Michiko Ueda, an associate professor at Waseda University in Tokyo, and an expert on suicides. ”That suggests other countries might see a similar or even bigger increase in the number of suicides in the future."

　　东京早稻田大学副教授、自杀问题专家上田美智子表示：“我们都没有实施封锁，和其他国家相比，新冠对日本的影响微乎其微，但是我们的自杀人数仍在大幅增加。这表明，其他国家的自杀人数可能也会出现大幅增长。”

　　Covid's toll on women新冠对女性造成的伤害5. Japan has long struggled with one of the highest suicide rates in the world, according to the World Health Organization. In 2016, Japan had a suicide mortality rate of 18.5 per 100,000 people, second only to South Korea in the Western Pacific region.

　　根据世界卫生组织的数据，日本长期以来自杀率一直名列前茅。2016年，日本的自杀率为每10万人18.5人，在西太平洋地区排名第二，仅次于韩国。

　　6. While the reasons for Japan's high suicide rate are complex, long working hours, school pressure, social isolation and a cultural stigma around mental health issues have all been cited as contributing factors. But for the 10 years leading up to 2019, the number of suicides had been decreasing in Japan, falling to about 20,000 last year, according to the health ministry -- the lowest number since the country's health authorities started keeping records in 1978.

　　虽然日本自杀率高的原因很复杂，但工作时间长、学校压力、社交隔离以及对心理健康的文化污名都是导致高自杀率的原因。但根据日本卫生部的数据，在2019年之前的10年里，日本的自杀人数一直在减少，去年降至约2万人，这是自1978年日本卫生部门开始记录以来的最低水平。

　　7. The pandemic appears to have reversed that trend, and the rise in suicides has disproportionately affected women. Although they represent a smaller proportion of total suicides than men, the number of women taking their own lives is increasing. In October, suicides among women in Japan increased almost 83% compared to the same month the previous year. For comparison, male suicides rose almost 22% over the same time period.

　　疫情似乎扭转了这一趋势，自杀率的上升对女性的影响更大。尽管她们自杀人数低于低于男性，但女性自杀人数正在增加。10月份，日本女性自杀率比去年同期增加了近83%。相比之下，同期男性自杀率仅上升了近22%。

　　8. There are several potential reasons for this. Women make up a larger percentage of part-time workers in the hotel, food service and retail industries -- where layoffs have been deep. Kobayashi said many of her friends have been laid off. "Japan has been ignoring women," she said. "This is a society where the weakest people are cut off first when something bad happens."

　　有几个潜在的原因。在酒店、餐饮服务和零售业，女性在兼职员工中所占的比例更大，而这些行业的裁员情况一直很严重。小林说，她的很多朋友都被解雇了。她说，“日本一直忽视女性，这是一个最脆弱的人在坏事发生时最先被切断联系的社会。”

　　9. In a global study of more than 10,000 people, conducted by non-profit international aid organization CARE, 27% of women reported increased challenges with mental health during the pandemic, compared to 10% of men.

　　CARE是一个非营利国际援助组织，在其一项对1万多人进行的全球研究中，27%的女性称疫情期间，她们在精神健康方面面临的挑战增加，而男性的比例为10%。

　　10. Compounding those worries about income, women have been dealing with skyrocketing unpaid care burdens, according to the study. For those who keep their jobs, when children are sent home from school or childcare centers, it often falls to mothers to take on those responsibilities, as well as their normal work duties.

　　根据这项研究，女性一直在应对突增的无偿护理，这加剧了她们对收入的担忧。对于那些还有工作的人来说，当孩子从托儿所和学校回家之后，照顾孩子的任务往往就落在母亲身上，她们需要照顾孩子，还要工作。

　　Increased anxiety about the health and well-being of children has also put an extra burden on mothers during the pandemic.在疫情期间，对儿童健康和福祉的焦虑也给母亲们带来了额外的负担。11. Akari, a 35-year-old who did not want to use her real name, said she sought professional help this year when her premature son was hospitalized for six weeks. "I was pretty much worried 24 hours," Akari said. "I didn't have any mental illness history before, but I could see myself really, really anxious all the time." Her feelings got worse as the pandemic intensified, and she worried her son would get Covid-19. "I felt there was no hope, I felt like I always thought about the worst-case scenario," she said.

　　35岁的Akari（化名）说，今年她早产的儿子住院六周时，她寻求帮助了。Akari说：“我几乎24小时都在担心。我之前没有任何精神病史，但我能觉得自己一直非常非常焦虑。”随着疫情的加剧，她的情况更加恶化，她担心儿子会感染新冠肺炎。“我觉得没有希望了，总是会想起最坏的情况，”她说。

　　"A Place for You"你的一席之地12. In March, Koki Ozora, a 21-year-old university student, started a 24-hour mental health hotline called Anata no Ibasho (A Place for You). He said the hotline, a nonprofit funded by private donations, receives an average of over 200 calls a day, and that the vast majority of callers are women." They lost their jobs, and they need to raise their kids, but they didn't have any money," Ozora said. "So, they attempted suicide."

　　今年3月，21岁的大学生Koki Ozora开通了一条24小时在线的精神健康热线，叫做Anata no ibasho(A Place For You)。他说，这是私人资助的非营利性组织，他们平均每天会接到200多个电话，大部分都是女性打来的。Ozora 说“她们失业了，要养孩子，但是没钱，所以她们想要自杀。”

　　13. Most of the calls come through the night -- from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. The nonprofit's 600 volunteers live around the world in different timezones and are awake to answer them. But there aren't enough volunteers to keep up with the volume of messages, Ozora said.

　　很多电话都是晚上打进来的，一般是从十点开始到凌晨四点。该组织有600名志愿者，他们来自世界各地，来自不同时区，保持24小时在线接听电话。但是Ozora说，人手还是不够。

　　14. They prioritize the texts that are most urgent -- looking for keywords such as suicide or sexual abuse. He said they respond to 60% of texts within five minutes, and volunteers spend an average of 40 minutes with each person. Anonymously, over online messaging, people share their deepest struggles. Unlike most mental health hotlines in Japan, which take requests over the phone, says many people -- especially the younger generation -- are more comfortable asking for help via text.

　　通过搜索自杀或者性虐待等关键词，他们优先处理最紧急的留言。他说，他们会在5分钟内回复这些留言，平均来看，每个咨询者有40分钟的时间。通过在线信息，人们匿名分享了他们的挣扎。Ozora表示, 与日本大多数通过电话接受咨询的心理健康热线不同，许多人--尤其是年轻一代--更愿意通过短信寻求帮助。

　　15. In April, he said the most common messages were from mothers who were feeling stressed about raising their kids, with some confessing to thoughts of killing their own children. These days, he says messages from women about job losses and financial difficulties are common -- as well as domestic violence.

　　今年4月，他说，很多信息都是来自那些对抚养孩子感到压力的母亲，甚至有一些人承认有杀死自己孩子的想法。他说，这些天来，关于女性失业和经济困难的信息很常见，家庭暴力信息也很多。

　　16. "I've been accepting messages, like 'I'm being raped by my father' or 'My husband tried to kill me,'" Ozora said. "Women send these kinds of texts almost every day. And it's increasing." He added that the spike in messages is because of the pandemic. Before, there were more places to "escape," like schools, offices or friend's homes.

　　Ozora说：“我收到很多信息，有的说，“我爸侵犯了我”，有的说，“我的丈夫想谋杀我。”女性几乎每天都会发这样的信息，而且这些信息数量还在增加。”他补充说，这些信息大量增加是由于新冠疫情。以前，女性有更多的地方可以逃离，她们可以去学校，去办公室或者去朋友家，而今，她们都被困在了家里。