An Era of Suppressing Anxiety and Fear with Medication

Asahi Shimbun Morning Edition – April 17, 1999

A certain university professor was extremely cautious when it came to fire prevention and locking doors—so much so that no one could surpass him. One day, in the middle of a lecture, he suddenly became anxious about whether he had locked his house. He rushed home to check, confirmed that the front door was indeed closed, and returned—only to find that his lecture had long since ended. His extreme caution stemmed from childhood trauma: his house had once burned down completely, and after rebuilding, it was broken into by a burglar.

Being overly cautious is one thing, but when it reaches the point where a person can no longer function, even a highly intelligent individual can become socially maladjusted. This type of pathological behavior is known as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

The movie As Good as It Gets, which gained attention last year, featured Jack Nicholson as a famous romance novelist who was completely hopeless when it came to real-life romance. His character was a cynical, sharp-tongued, selfish, and widely disliked middle-aged man.

He suffered from an extreme fear of contamination—spending an hour in the shower, discarding bar soap after a single use, checking locks and switches five times each, and bringing his own spoon, fork, and knife to restaurants. He avoided contact with others on sidewalks, never stepped on pavement cracks, and wore gloves to touch doorknobs and other objects that others had handled.

One might call this meticulousness or cleanliness, but in reality, it stems from an intense fear of contamination and disease. On a deeper level, it can be interpreted as a fear of death.

Of course, no one is entirely free from the fear of death, and few people enjoy touching dirty objects. However, when the need for order and cleanliness becomes excessive, it turns counterproductive. OCD is a type of anxiety disorder. In addition to self-contained cases like this, there are also individuals who seek to involve others in their compulsions.

In the movie, there is a scene where Nicholson’s character realizes he cannot continue living this way and decides to take medication in order to pursue a proper romantic relationship. The drug he chooses is an SSRI (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor), which has been gaining attention since about a decade ago.

We have now entered an era where anxiety and compulsive behaviors can be managed through medication that affects the brain—without losing one’s humanity. While mind control may seem suspicious, this approach is known as stress management. It is a field that will likely attract great attention in the 21st century.