Do animals suffer from mental disorders?

Did you ever wonder if your dog could be depressed or anxious? Although mental disorders seem to humans, science indicates that they also affect animals. Evidence suggests that the nervous system of animals and humans is not as different as we thought. For that reason, animals suffer from mental disorders, although in a different way as in humans.

Besides, The available data indicate that human beings play an important role in the alterations suffered by animals. For this reason, it is important to be aware of how we can affect them and what we should do about it.

Content

• Emotions in the animal kingdom
• What kind of mental disorders can animals suffer?
  • Post -traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
  • Pathological anxiety
  • Depression
• Schizophrenia in animals
• Animals suffer from mental disorders and human beings are responsible
  • References

Emotions in the animal kingdom

Human beings usually think that, as a species, we have a much more advanced and different organism from other animals. While we have a superior intelligence that allows us to adapt complexly to the environment, we are not entirely different. In the emotional field, humans seem a lot to the rest of the species.

In 2005, Panksepp (2005) published an article on affective consciousness in humans and animals. His study mentions that emotional consciousness is an inherent quality of all mammals species. This fact is revealed from experiments where specific brain regions with electricity and chemical signals were stimulated. The results show that these common areas in animals and humans are related to affective responses.

Starting from this base, it is not strange that, sometimes, we observe behaviors in animals that remind us of our own emotions. For example, when the owner of a pet goes on a trip for a few days, it can happen that the animal does not want to eat. If that happens, we usually say that he is "sad" or "depressed" by the absence of his caregiver.

Pets to overcome depression

In this way, if animals have emotional reactions similar to ours, then animals suffer from mental disorders too. However, The manifestations of these conditions in their behavior are different from ours. This is very important, since analyzing their disorders from a "human" vision, prevents us from seeing their problems clearly.

What kind of mental disorders can animals suffer?

Continuing with the above, animals experience several emotions such as anger, fear, joy, sadness, etc. Therefore, the repertoire of conditions they may present is also somewhat diverse. Next, we will see the most common alterations in non -human animal species.

Post -traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

The PTSD is a problem that arises due to the experience of a traumatic experience that threatened the patient's integrity. For example, sexual abuse is a common cause of posttraumatic stress among people. In summary, it is a situation that generates high levels of stress and leaves traces in the brain that affect future behavior.

Ferdowsian et al. (2011) published a study on affective disorders in chimpanzees. It was found that chimpanzees subjected to traumatic experiences such as maternal separation or laboratory experiments, showed PTSD symptoms. Typical features of depressive paintings were also found.

Pathological anxiety

Animals suffer from mental disorders as well as us and among the most common, is pathological anxiety. An investigation indicates that many disruptions in animal behavior are related to high levels of anxiety (OHL and Van der Staay, 2008).

For example, there are dogs that when their caregivers leave them alone, they begin to destroy furniture in the house. It is said that this destructive behavior is a manifestation of the separation anxiety that they experience. Bite and scratch furniture would be a mechanism to regulate the discomfort they feel.

In this same sense, it is said that animals require frequent physical and mental activity. Otherwise, all this accumulated energy begins to generate anxiety in them and destructive behaviors may appear. They may even hurt themselves, some animals develop habits such as excess or biting.

Depression

Depression is one of the most mentioned conditions when talking about animals suffering from mental disorders. In general, there is talk of "similar to depression" behaviors in animals that include low activity and inability to feel pleasure.

In a 2021 investigation, a review of the available evidence on animals was carried out. The conclusion was that, in effect, animals are able to experience clinical depression. However, more research is needed in order to delimit its characteristics and achieve a precise diagnosis (Maclellan et al., 2021)

Schizophrenia in animals

To date, there is no solid evidence that animals can suffer from psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia. Everything seems to point out that this alteration is exclusive to human beings and is related to our genetics.

A study on schizophrenia and its relationship with accelerated human regions was developed (HAR). HAR are regions of our chromosomes where evolution accelerated more than in other animal species. These areas of the human genome are associated with advanced abilities such as language and reasoning.

However, the work indicates that these regions are also responsible for regulating genes associated with schizophrenia. The conclusion is that our advanced intelligence and unique abilities had the cost of being more prone to bad brain function (Xu et al., 2015).

That's why, While animals suffer from mental disorders, schizophrenia is not one of them. Thanks to the fact that these regions are not developed in their genome.

Animals suffer from mental disorders and human beings are responsible

Most research that was cited before, mention that humans have great responsibility in animal mental health. Traffic of exotic animals, laboratory experiments, destruction of natural habitats, etc. All these are factors that generate high levels of stress in animals and are associated with human activity.

Similarly, having pets and not paying adequate attention, also causes anguish in them. For that reason, speaking that animals suffer from mental disorders, it is inevitable to point out human responsibility. It is essential that, as a society, let's reflect on the relationship we have with other species and the negative impact we cause.

References

• Ferdowsian, h. R., Durham, d. L., Kimwele, c., Kranendonk, g., Otali, e., Akugizibwe, t.,… & Johnson, C. M. (2011). Signs of Mood and Anxiety Disorders in Chimpanzees. Plos One, 6(6), E19855.
• Maclellan, a., Fureix, c., Polanco, a., & Mason, G. (2021). Can Animals Develop Depression? An overview and assume of 'depression-like'states. Behaviour, 158(14-15), 1303-1353.
• OHL, f., Arndt, s. S., & van der Staay, F. J. (2008). Pathological Anxiety in Animals. The Veterinary Journal, 175(1), 18-26.
• PANKSEPP, J. (2005). APFFECTIVE Consciousness: Emotional core Feelings in Animals and Humans. Conscionness and Cognition, 14(1), 30-80.
• Xu, k., Schadt, e. AND., Pollard, k. S., Roussos, p., & Dudley, J. T. (2015). Genomic and Network Patterns of Schizophrenia Genetic Variation in Human Evolutionary Accelerated Regions. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 32(5), 1148-160.