Many of the drugs and pharmaceuticals humans consume are not processed by our bodies and enter waterways via the toilet.
This is why scientists have found amounts of caffeine, antidepressants, antibiotics, and other pharmaceuticals in aquatic habitats.
To find out what happens to fish when they swim in this medicinal soup, researchers gave 730 Atlantic salmon in Sweden a dose of the anti-anxiety medicine clobazam and then observed them as they tried to get through a dam.
The fish on anti-anxiety medication traveled through two hydropower dams more quickly, and a higher percentage of the medicated fish ultimately reached the sea, overcoming the obstacles more efficiently.
Atlantic salmon are apparently experiencing high levels of anxiety, and medication apparently helps.
Astounding.
This isn’t to say we should be medicating Atlantic salmon, even if it makes them better at swimming upstream. Messing with nature in a chemical way never seems wise.
But I know that medication for anxiety can be enormously helpful to humans. I have seen the positive effects of anti-anxiety medication in friends, students, and loved ones. I don’t quite understand it because, unlike those people, and perhaps the Atlantic salmon, I almost never experience anxiety and therefore don’t really understand it well, probably for a few reasons:
I’m a relentless, almost oppressively optimistic person who genuinely believes that most things turn out well in the end.
I’m constantly aware that I was once homeless, jailed, and tried for a crime I did not commit. I was the victim of a violent crime that had left me with a lifetime of PTSD. I once went headfirst through the windshield of a car and required CPR to restore my life. Anonymous cowards once attempted to destroy my career through conspiracy and unprecedented libel.
I survived all these things. Almost every day seems excellent by comparison.
I also maintain a constant, purposeful historical perspective. Though times may seem fraught with peril and injustice, I know that we are still better off than Americans who lived through the Civil War, the Great Depression, and World War II. We’re still better off than Americans drafted to fight in Vietnam in a time of social upheaval and stagflation. We’re still better off than any black American who lived through slavery and Jim Crow.
I remember the fear, sadness, and anger of 9/11 and remind myself that today, despite its outrages and political monstrosities, is still better than that day.
Elysha says I’m also the best compartmentalizer she’s ever known, and my therapist has said the same thing. When there is a problem that might produce anxiety in me, I can conveniently put it away until it needs to be addressed.
I suspect this isn’t something that people can learn to do. You can either ignore a problem until the time is right or not.
My high level of self-confidence also makes me believe that I can ultimately solve all problems, which often makes anxiety seem almost silly.
I also don’t use drugs or consume alcohol, which have been linked to increased levels of anxiety.
I exercise daily, which is known to reduce anxiety.
All of these things are exceptionally helpful to reducing and even eliminating anxiety, and many of these strategies are doable by people who want to reduce their own anxiety, but most important, I suspect, is this:
My brain is simply not primed for anxiety. Some people possess imbalances in neurotransmitters like serotonin, which can produce anxiety. Others are genetically predisposed to anxiety. I also don’t suffer from conditions like obsessive-compulsive disorder, which can cause anxiety. My brain, at least until now, does not cause me to experience anxiety on a biological or chemical level.
Lucky me.
It also means you can’t remove anxiety from people simply by telling them to look at the bright side of life. You can’t sing “Tomorrow” from Annie and expect it to change a person’s disposition. You can’t tell them to “Buck up!” or “Stop worrying” and expect change.
This is like asking a one-legged person to climb stairs faster. For some people, it can’t be done.
People could do things like exercise, meditate, and stop using drugs and alcohol, and for some, that might help, but for many, it’s simply a matter of brain chemistry.
Perhaps the case for the Atlantic salmon, too, who I assume are incapable of optimism, compartmentalization, historical perspectives, personal reflection, or self-confidence.
A fish’s brain is not capable of complex thought.
