人们通常认为，成天跟小动物们打交道的人心态会普遍比较好。可最近美国公布的一项数据却显示，美国兽医的自杀率高于全国平均水平。
让我们来看《华盛顿邮报》对这一现象所做的报道。
▲兽医自杀成为日益严峻的问题(via The Washington Post)
报道开头总结到，导致兽医自杀的原因来自多方面，包括经济、社会等因素。
Pushed to the brink by mounting debt, compassion and social media attacks from angry pet owners, veterinarians are committing suicide at rates higher than the general population, often killing themselves with ds meant for their patients.
由于负债累累、同情疲劳和来自愤怒的宠物主人在社交媒体上的攻击，兽医的自杀率高于普通大众，他们常常使用治疗患病动物的药物来自杀。
On Jan. 1, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the first study to ever examine veterinarian mortality rates in America. The results were grim: Between 1979 and 2015, male and female veterinarians committed suicide
between 2 to 3.5 times more often than the national average,respectively.
当地时间1月1日，美国疾病控制与预防中心发布了第一份针对美国兽医死亡率的研究报告。这项研究的结果非常严峻：在1979年到2015年之间，男性和女性兽医的自杀案例分别是全国平均数的2倍和3.5倍。
These findings not only reflect a higher suicide rate among all veterinarians but also suggest that women in the field are more likely to take their own lives, which starkly contrasts trends within the general population.
这些研究结果不仅反映了所有兽医的自杀率普遍偏高，而且还反映了在这一领域的女性更容易自杀，与普通群众的自杀趋势形成鲜明对比。
Considering the profession is becoming increasingly female-dominated (more than 60 percent of U.S. veterinarians and 80 percent of veterinary students are now female), the study’s authors suggested this trend could foreshadow even more veterinarian suicides in the years to come.
考虑到这个职业越来越倾向于以女性为主导(超过60%的美国兽医以及80%的兽医专业学生是女性)，研究者暗示这种趋势可能预示了未来几年会有更多兽医自杀。
Additional research, including a 2015 CDC study that found
1 in 6 veterinarians have considered suicide,have shaken the veterinary world to its core, exposing a growing crisis that few knew of and others had sought to ignore.
除了这份最新的研究报告，美国疾病控制与预防中心在2015年发布过的一项研究报告显示，每6个兽医中就有1人考虑过自杀。当时这个研究结果彻底震动了整个兽医界，暴露出这个少有人了解以及一些人选择忽略的日益严峻的危机。
▲Suicides among veterinarians become a growing problem
Veterinarian Robin Stamey and Gracie, her toy poodle. (Charlotte Kesl for The Washington Post)
导致这种现象的原因有哪些呢？
出人意料的是，兽医在美国是医学界竞争最激烈的领域之一。
One of the most competitive medical fields— veterinary school acceptance rates are comparable with medical school acceptance rates, but prospective vets are often asked to complete more prerequisite undergraduate courses — it’s a profession that attracts intelligent, driven people who, above all else, want to help and treat animals.
兽医是医学界竞争最激烈的领域之一，兽医学校的录取率与医学院不相上下。而准兽医们还常被要求完成更多必修的本科课程，是一个吸引聪明的、有主观能动性的人的职业，而且更重要的是，他们想要帮助和救治动物。
▲Suicides among veterinarians become a growing problem
人们选择当兽医并不是为了名气、权力或者高收入。而是被向往从事这一行业的热情所驱动，这就导致了他们从事这一工作所面临的问题被忽略。兽医领域充满了心理健康方面的危机。而最大的两个问题就是金钱和死亡。
根据《华盛顿邮报》的报道，
美国兽医学校的学费相当昂贵。平均每个兽医学生毕业时会负债14.3万美元或者更多。每5个毕业生中就有1人负债达到20万美元。而兽医的起薪大约在每年6.7万美元，跟不上兽医学生学费的涨幅。
考虑到一边还债，一边还要买房、成家、或者开设自己的诊所，许多兽医
每周工作超过50个小时。他们还被迫打第二份工。
With little reprieve from a high-stress work environment that seldom provides an opportunity to take a break, eat lunch or go to the bathroom, many people’s work-life balances begin to suffer.
在高压的工作环境下工作很少能得到缓解，几乎很少有机会休息、吃午餐或者上厕所，许多人无法在工作和生活间取得平衡。
Another key driver of this suicide crisis: Veterinarians are consistently asked to act as animal undertakers. Euthanizing their clients can cause what a recent study referred to as
ethical conflict and moral distress,which arises when vets are forced to put aside their expert opinions and accept pet owners’ decisions about if and when to put their animals down.
此外，另一个导致自杀危机的驱动因素是，兽医常常被要求充当动物照看者的角色。对他们的客户实施安乐死可能导致伦理冲突和道德困境，这一困境常常迫使他们抛开他们作为专家的意见，接受宠物主人关于是否以及何时对他们的动物实施安乐死的决定。
▲Suicides among veterinarians become a growing problem
尽管最近各方已经在努力着手解决兽医的自杀问题，大多数从事这一领域工作的人承认这才刚开了个头。
It’s going to take time to understand the spectrum of factors fueling this phenomenon and gauge the success of still-developing prevention strategies.
了解助长这种现象的各种因素需要时间，衡量仍在制定过程中的预防策略成功与否也需要时间。
▲Suicides among veterinarians become a growing problem
但文中一位受采访的兽医表示，她看到了希望，因为这个问题已经引起了人们的注意。