中文导读 孤独常被看作一种来了又走的低落情绪，但一项大型英国研究提示，它可能还与一种严重的精神疾病有关。研究者跟踪了近 49 万名成年人，发现常感孤独的人日后被诊断为双相情感障碍的比例明显更高。文章先介绍这一发现和双相情感障碍是什么，再说明研究如何收集数据、主要数字是多少；接着解释研究者怎样检验“是不是疾病早已开始”，以及脑部扫描看到了什么；最后交代研究的局限和作者的谨慎结论。阅读时可留意 even after、however、but not all of it 等表达如何限定结论，以及 suggests、may、cannot show 如何区分“关联”与“因果”。
正文 Many people think of loneliness as a sad feeling that comes and goes . A large British study suggests that it may also be linked to a serious mental illness Researchers from the University of Hong Kong and Monash University in Australia found that adults who often felt lonely were later diagnosed with bipolar disorder at almost three times the rate of other people . The study appeared this month in the journal Psychological Medicine
本段译文 许多人把孤独看作一种来了又走的悲伤感受。一项英国大型研究表明，它也可能与一种严重的精神疾病有关。来自香港大学和澳大利亚莫纳什大学的研究者发现，常感孤独的成年人后来被诊断为双相情感障碍的比例几乎是其他人的三倍。这项研究于本月发表在《心理医学》期刊上。
Bipolar disorder is a long-term condition . People who have it go through periods of deep sadness and periods of unusually high mood and energy . To study a possible link with loneliness , the team used the UK Biobank , a health project that collected information from people across Britain between 2006 and 2010. They followed 491,472 adults aged 38 to 73 who did not have the illness at the start . Each person answered one simple question : did they often feel lonely
本段译文 双相情感障碍是一种长期疾病。患者会经历深度悲伤的时期，也会经历情绪和精力异常高涨的时期。为了研究它与孤独之间可能存在的联系，研究团队使用了英国生物银行的数据。这是一个在 2006 年至 2010 年间收集全英各地人们信息的健康项目。研究者跟踪了 491,472 名 38 至 73 岁、在研究开始时没有患这种疾病的成年人。每个人都回答了一个简单的问题：你是否经常感到孤独？
About 18.5 percent said yes . Over an average of about 13 years , 1,316 people were diagnosed with bipolar disorder . Even after the researchers considered age , income education smoking , drinking and genetic risk , the lonely group still received new diagnoses about 2.8 times as often .
本段译文 约 18.5% 的人回答“是”。在平均约 13 年的时间里，有 1,316 人被诊断为双相情感障碍。即使研究者考虑了年龄、收入、教育、吸烟、饮酒和遗传风险，孤独组获得新诊断的频率仍约为其他人的 2.8 倍。
But could the illness have already been starting ? The team checked this in two ways . When they left out people who were diagnosed in the first two years , the result hardly changed . However , when they also considered early signs of depression and anxiety , the difference became much smaller , at about 1.7 times . This suggests that early distress explains part of the link , but not all of it .
本段译文 但会不会是疾病早已开始了呢？研究团队用两种方法检验了这一点。当他们排除在前两年内被诊断的人时，结果几乎没有变化。然而，当他们还考虑了抑郁和焦虑的早期迹象时，差距就小了很多，约为 1.7 倍。这表明，早期的心理困扰能解释这种联系的一部分，但不是全部。
The study also looked at brain scans from 62,750 people . Those who felt lonely had less grey matter especially in areas connected with emotions and with understanding other people . These differences were wider among people with a higher genetic risk of bipolar disorder . However , each person was scanned only once , so the scans cannot show whether loneliness changes the brain or whether brain differences make people lonelier
本段译文 这项研究还分析了 62,750 人的脑部扫描。感到孤独的人灰质较少，尤其是在与情绪以及理解他人有关的脑区。在双相情感障碍遗传风险较高的人中，这些差异的范围更广。不过，每个人只接受了一次扫描，因此这些扫描无法说明是孤独改变了大脑，还是大脑的差异让人更加孤独。
The researchers are careful about their conclusion . Loneliness was measured only once , so nobody knows whether it lasted for weeks or for years . Only about 5.5 percent of the people invited to the UK Biobank took part , and most participants were white . So the authors describe their result as a strong link rather than proof of cause . Still , they argue that reducing loneliness could help protect mental health . Because loneliness is hard to change , they say support should fit each person’s situation
本段译文 研究者对结论很谨慎。孤独感只测量了一次，所以没人知道它持续了几周还是几年。受邀参加英国生物银行的人中只有约 5.5% 参与，而且大多数参与者是白人。因此，作者把研究结果描述为一种很强的关联，而不是因果关系的证明。尽管如此，他们认为减少孤独可能有助于保护心理健康。由于孤独很难改变，他们表示，支持措施应当适合每个人的具体情况。
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