WASHINGTON - Some of the people who feel panicky about anthrax think nothing of speeding in their cars, which is infinitely riskier, a psychiatrist said Friday in another government attempt to calm the public.

Doctors and public health specialists sounded a drumbeat: Anthrax is not contagious. Very few people in the entire country have gotten sick with it. Proper antibiotic use will prevent those exposed to anthrax bacteria from getting sick, and there are plenty of antibiotics to go around.

The doctors and the FBI are dealing with "the bio in bioterrorism. Now we have to talk about the terror in bioterrorism," said Dr. Steven Hyman, mental health chief at the National Institutes of Health. "Anyone who says they have not experienced any fear is a very unusual person indeed."

One way to stem unnecessary fear is to make sure credible experts give the public the right information as soon as possible, said Charles Currie, acting administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

That's what health agencies are trying to do now, but information in the early days of the anthrax scare was scarce and often confusing. Even this week, politicians made frightening _ and wrong _ statements, such as falsely suggesting anthrax had spread throughout the Capitol's ventilation system.

Fear is psychologically normal, explained Hyman, a psychiatrist who heads NIH's National Institute of Mental Health. People naturally tend to inflate the risks of the unknown _ such as exotic diseases, like anthrax _ because they don't feel in control, he said. Yet they underestimate everyday risks, like the dangers of speeding, because they feel in control of those.

Plus, one uniquely human trait _ empathy _ makes us vulnerable. When we see someone on TV discussing anthrax exposure, "we tend in our imagination to empathize with that person," Hyman said. "We have to learn not to engage in catastrophic thinking, letting our imaginations run wild."

In times of fear, he added, the body produces hormones that can worsen the stress by, for example, enhancing bad memories.

Federal health agencies are taking steps to fight the panic _ and learn from it. Hyman's agency is seeking scientists for special pilot studies to learn about psychological responses to the Sept. 11 suicide hijackings and the subsequent anthrax attacks. So far, 24 proposals are being reviewed, and the agency is prepared to spend tens of thousands of dollars on each study it approves.

Currie's agency will hold a summit next week in Washington to educate emergency workers and health officials about how to handle emergencies calmly. For example, they'll be told to "communicate early and minimize false rumors," Currie said. "This will go a long way to helping undercut panic."

Hyman suggested some simple calming steps: Get information from accurate, authoritative sources. Get enough sleep. Eat normally. Re-establish daily routines.

"Anthrax is not contagious," Hyman said. "Panic is."

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On the Net:

National Institute of Mental Health: http://www.nimh.nih.gov

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration: http://www.samhsa.gov/