MELBOURNE – One spring evening in 1997, when I was a mental-health researcher at the Australian National University in Canberra, I was discussing with my wife, Betty Kitchener, a registered nurse who taught first-aid courses for the Red Cross in her spare time, the inadequacy of conventional first-aid training. Such courses typically neglect mental-health emergencies, leaving participants poorly equipped to help people who are struggling with suicidal thoughts, panic attacks, post-traumatic stress, the effects of alcohol or drug abuse, or a diminishing grip on reality.
墨尔本—1997年春天的一个傍晚，当时我还是堪培拉澳大利亚国立大学的一名心理健康研究员，我和我的妻子贝蒂·基齐纳（Betty Kitchener，她是一位注册护士，业余时间在红十字会教急救课程）讨论常规急救训练不足的问题。这些课程通常都忽略心理健康紧急状况，参与者很难帮助陷于自杀念头、无端恐惧、创伤后压力、酒精和药物滥用后果以及深感无力抓住现实而难以自拔的人。