IT IS hard to know, when you are visiting the Rockies, whether you want more fervently to see a grizzly bear or not to see a grizzly bear. The Park Service understands this. At the entrance gate, they offer a factual pamphlet on the topic: “Bears and People.’’ We took two copies with relief.
It was full of drawings: baby grizzlies following mamas, solitary grizzles, grizzlies in streams, and one grizzly rearing up, his claws held in front of him in a kung fu gesture. It was also full of facts.
Much of it was written from the bear’s perspective. We think too much of ourselves in the urban world, and need to be lifted out of the center of the universe now and then. We don’t stop to consider that grizzly bears consume up to 35,000 calories daily, have the lowest reproductive rate of any mammals in North America, run as fast as racehorses, and roam territory as vast as Vancouver.
The back of the pamphlet, six fold-out pages, was devoted entirely to coping with a grizzly encounter. It began by distinguishing between an encounter and an attack. Knowing this guides response, just like diagnosis guides treatment. If you encounter a grizzly bear, you should handle it in the same way emergency psychiatry texts advise handling an acutely paranoid patient: leave distance, allow an escape route (for the bear), and speak firmly. “It’s difficult but important to remain calm,’’ the pamphlet says. Experts in all fields agree.
Then, to the heart of the matter. If you find yourself under a bear attack, you must distinguish between defensive and predatory behavior. When the bear views you as a threat to cubs or food, its attack is defensive. In that case, wisely play dead. “Remain still until you are sure the bear has left the area,’’ advises the pamphlet.
But if the bear is stalking and preemptive, the attack is predatory. Then you must never play dead; you must leap forward and fight back. “Do whatever it takes to let that bear know you are not easy prey,’’ the pamphlet reads.
Attacks of any sort, the park visitor is firmly assured, are rare. Predatory attacks are even rarer. But how are amateurs supposed to know the difference?
Here the pamphlet has an answer, blessedly specific. A fact is involved. If an attack lasts less than two minutes, it should be considered defensive. If it lasts more than two minutes, it has become predatory.
Imagine: the tourist, stopwatch in hand, face down on the pine needles, meticulously, obediently timing. He has done all his reading in advance, has the facts in mind, and is in the midst of his assessment. The necessary treatment will then become clear.
One wants to count on a fact, sometimes desperately. But facts like this tend to change. The cut-off for high blood pressure, which used to be 150/90, is now 135/85. We were once told to let babies cry themselves to sleep, then we were told to soothe them, and now we are supposed to let them cry again. Republicans become Democrats, Democrats become independents, men become women, women become men. It makes the head spin.
With a steadfast fact in hand, there seems less to worry about. But it may require patience and a stopwatch to figure out what it is worth.
Elissa Ely is a psychiatrist. 
