丽贝卡-斯佩里（Rebecca "Socked In" Sperry）在新英格兰的怀特山脉进行重新规划

遏制痛苦：研究心理健康与极限耐力运动之间的联系

Words by Maggie Slepian
The first several days of witnessing my partner, Jeff “Legend” Garmire, on his Colorado Trail record felt celebratory. It was like cheering for a team you knew was going to win. Each time Jeff passed our film crew’s locations, he was ahead of their estimated schedule and appeared almost flawlessly capable, like the compounding miles had no impact on him. The cameramen would report back to me with giddy excitement, tripping over their words and interrupting each other to tell me how strong and unaffected he looked.

As the days wore on and the miles accumulated, the record became less fun to watch. Jeff was slowing down, sometimes so much that the crew would sit for hours in their hidden locations, waiting to catch a few seconds of footage as he crested a ridgeline or gained a switchback. I’d wait in a nearby town with a pit in my stomach as the crew’s tentative return time came and went. Eventually they’d straggle back, each time more somberly. It wasn’t that Jeff was behind the record pace, it was that the crew was now witnessing someone push themselves beyond the limits of what a human body should be doing. To beat the unsupported record, Jeff was hiking for 22 hours at a time, covering more than 50 miles a day.

杰夫-"传奇"-加米尔（Jeff 'Legend' Garmire）在科罗拉多小径上创造了 FKT。照片：凯文-福克斯

这是我见过的最野蛮的耐力壮举。不可否认，他承受着巨大的痛苦，这完全是他自己的选择。"一位摄影师指着屏幕上的一个小点告诉我："杰夫的身体已经完全崩溃了。"但他还在坚持"



杰夫成功地打破了纪录，在一片欣慰和庆祝声中，我一直在回想这个问题，一直在想，他的身体承受着自我折磨，但他还在坚持。这不是一场受认可的超级马拉松，没有人付钱让他这么做。我们目睹的这一切似乎是最残酷的尝试，为了一个自我设定的目标而让自己的身体经受折磨。

在我的脑海中，下一个合乎逻辑的问题是：把自己逼到如此边缘的人是否会出现更严重的抑郁或焦虑症状？寻求这些努力的人是否因为某种感觉而这样做？他们是在一个较低的设定点上工作，因而更愿意承受痛苦，还是他们的思维方式不同，自然而然地倾向于寻求这些挑战？

总体而言，这些问题在很大程度上还没有答案。一些研究表明，是的，成绩优异的耐力运动员比普通人面临更多的心理健康问题。 2016 年 的一份 报告 发现，一组抽样调查的超级跑者患抑郁症和心理障碍的比例高于普通人群。一般人群的这一比例为 6.7%，而接受调查的超级跑者中有 20% 积极筛查出抑郁症状。

耐力神殿中的一些顶级人物--罗布-克拉尔（Rob Krarr）、尼基-金博尔（Nikki Kimball）--已经公开了他们与心理健康的深刻斗争。杰夫曾公开表示，他将继续与心理健康作斗争。尼基-金博尔（Nikki Kimball）在《寻找牵引力》（Finding Traction）一书中坦诚地讲述了自己的挣扎，她说抑郁症既是她取得超长距离跑成就的动力，也是她在最黑暗的时期幸存下来的 原因之一 。 2019 年《 Outside 》杂志的一篇 专题报道对 Krarr 的奋斗经历进行了详细介绍。

我们已经知道，户外活动和锻炼是积极和恢复心理健康的 关键因素 。我们现在要了解的是，我们认为最坚韧、最顽强的人的经历。

艾玛-霍顿（Emma Horton）是一名出色的超级长跑运动员，从她记事起，她就有过焦虑和抑郁的经历。她认为，运动可以缓解自由浮动的抑郁和焦虑，既可以作为一种替代，也可以分散注意力。

凯尔-蒂尔曼拍摄的艾玛-霍顿照片

照片：凯尔-蒂尔曼

"在（耐力赛事）中受苦是一种实实在在的体验，"霍顿说。"在现实生活中，有些痛苦的经历没有具体的起点和终点，没有训练计划，也没有从开始到结束的运作模式。"

在极限耐力挑战中，挣扎是分门别类的，是包含在内的。徒步者或跑步者精疲力竭或痛苦不堪是有明确原因的：他们已经跑了 60 英里，还剩下 40 英里。他们在 10 天冲刺中的第五天。他们落后于目标，不得不放弃睡眠。头脑中的黑暗空间和身体上的疼痛都来自一个精确的位置。痛苦是有因果关系的，因此是可以控制的。既有原因，也有结果。

照片：Kyle Tilleman

"身体上的疼痛和疲惫是训练中非常直接的事情，"她说。"身体疼痛或精疲力竭的程度是有限度的。

丽贝卡-斯佩里（Rebecca Sperry）在徒步旅行界被称为"Socked In" ，她在精神健康受到严重挑战的时期发现了新英格兰徒步旅行的挑战性和朴素之美，自此之后，她的娱乐生活就围绕着一种坚韧不拔的动力展开，一年四季都独自一人在山间奔跑。

斯佩里的精神健康史包括数十年来与确诊的恐慌症打交道，这种恐慌症伴随着焦虑和各种恐惧症。去年，丽贝卡接受了 "单年红线 "的极限挑战。这意味着她要徒步走完《白山指南》中的所有山路，最终大约要走 1800 条。红线是新英格兰地区的一项特殊活动，通常是人们花费一生的时间来完成的。

"我追求单年红线这样的挑战，是为了在精神上鞭策自己。我想看看自己能把事情做到什么程度，"斯佩里谈到挑战时说。"我一次又一次地惊讶于自己的心理承受能力。

对运动员心理健康的深入研究仍然相对有限，研究 结果也不一致。大部分对话都来自于个人故事，最近则是关于心理健康斗争的公开讨论。越来越多的工作--包括传闻和实证--开始揭示运动员心理健康这一过去的禁忌话题，但这只是一个相对较新的话题。

Elite athletes are looked up to, idolized at a certain level. They embody a fierceness and untouchable quality that sheds the potential for weakness, which has created an aura around them that doesn’t leave space for personality traits and struggles that could be perceived as “weak.”

The ability to push through intense physical challenges isn’t limited to people who have experienced dark periods of mental health, but having fought through those times and come out on the other side can assist in present athletic challenges. “Taking on extreme things is my way of throwing up the middle finger to my panic disorder,” Sperry says. “It’s a way to say ‘you're not going to rule my life anymore.’ ”

Whether it’s a coping mechanism, a predisposition to put themselves through intense challenges, or an ability to “suffer better,” Rebecca believes that ”taking on physical challenges helps athletes process things, gives them something positive to work towards and shows them how strong they are both physically and mentally.”

An endurance event within a specified time frame—an FKT, a single-year redline, an ultramarathon—takes an incredible toll on your body. There is pain and heightened levels of sensation and suffering. But in this suffering, there is also accomplishment, and the entire experience is contained.

“Suffering is a tangible experience in endurance,” says Horton. “Conversely, there are painful experiences in life that don’t have a start and finish, a training plan, mode of operations. Those are the greater struggles of just being a person.”

In their challenges in the mountains, athletes are solving a problem of their own desire and creation. Their singular focus is a drive to reach the finish line, whether it’s crossing off trails in a book, clocking hundreds of miles under a certain time, crossing under a banner at the end of a race.

Endurance athletes are regarded in such a way that their willingness to discuss their experiences means less people feel alone in a struggle experienced by so many. This is just the start of a conversation surrounding the subject, and with more openness from athletes and the trickle-down effect into all tiers of the endurance world, the stigma is letting up.

The more we talk about these things, the less taboo the discussions become, and the more can be understood about the ways people deal with struggles and process their own internal challenges.

If you or someone you know is struggling, please reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline '1-800-273-TALK (8255)' or text TALK to 741741, the texting hotline.

About the Author
Maggie Slepian is a full-time freelance writer based in Bozeman, Montana. She is the co-founder of BackpackingRoutes.com, and is tentatively planning four thru-hikes for 2021... in the name of website research. Follow her on Instagram here, and find writing clips and contact info at Maggieslepian.com

资料来源

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Doherty S, Hannigan B, Campbell MJ."精英男运动员职业生涯中的抑郁体验"。 Front Psychol.

Pearson DG, Craig T. "The great outdoors?探索自然环境对心理健康的益处" ，《心理学前沿 》（2014 年）

Cook, Joshua J. "The Relationship Between Mental Health and Ultra-Running： ScholarWorks-UARK. (2018)

Buck K、Spitler J、Reed A、Khodaee M.《超级马拉松运动员的心理属性》，《荒野与环境医学》。(2017)