[BibleBeliever]

Are there any instances of animals showing the classic symptons of mental illnesses we often see in people.

I know if you get a lion and put it in a small cage or pen it will become depressed, and similar situations with other animals, but what about normal animal life do we see any forms of madness, depression, paranoia and such like in wildlife or on farms?

I ask this because I want to know if the mental illnesses we are familier with in this day and age are biological or related to our environment. If biological then animals will suffer too.

Out in Kenya a few years ago I found out they claimed they had no issues with mental illness even amongst the poverty, aids sufferers, high infant mortality and near starvation that were aparant out in the country away from large cities.

But it's not a 20th (or 21st) cantury disease as it's well documented through history.

[Cedars]

Originally Posted by BibleBeliever

Are there any instances of animals showing the classic symptons of mental illnesses we often see in people.

I ask this because I want to know if the mental illnesses we are familier with in this day and age are biological or related to our environment. If biological then animals will suffer too.

Out in Kenya a few years ago I found out they claimed they had no issues with mental illness even amongst the poverty, aids sufferers, high infant mortality and near starvation that were aparant out in the country away from large cities.

It would be hard to compare 'classic symptoms' in animals vs people. The methods used to diagnosis in people being much more complex in part, due to the ability of people to communicate distress/complexity more easily than animals can. We are left with observing behaviors with animals. Personally, I have seen only one case of what I would classify as severe mental illness in a dog we owned and for that situation there was no option other than to put the dog down. If I had to classify the condition, it would be autistic or paranoid schizophrenic.

Now for wild animals the problem being the same as with people who suffer from great mental illnesses (paranoia, autism, schizophrenia). We tend to take enough care of our severly mentally ill to ensure their survival. In the wild, the animals usually wouldnt survive long enough to reproduce so a genetic factor would be marginal in its ablity to pass on the tendency to a degree that such a issue would become a dominate characteristic. But then one can look at the animals that do survive with conditions, if displayed in the human, could be considered a mental illness. The flight/startle reactions of deer to movement (for example) would not serve a human well, but keeps the deer better defended against being attacked.


Canine Autism
"canine autism" - Google Search

A more common disorder, Seperation Anxiety:

Pet Columns: Separation Anxiety: A Destructive Mental Illness

Canine Schizophrenia:

Schizophrenia Can Strike Your Pet

Forum examples of extreme behavior:
Chevy's story

agression.htm

Veterinary Information - Neurologic Diseases and Disorders of Dogs

To compare the instances of human vs animal is harder being as the most common method for resolving dehabilitating mental health issues in domestic animals is to spay/neuter the afflicted animal (thus no potential for genetic transmission) or to destroy the afflicted animal.

As far as the Kenya claim, have you searched for any reliable information to back up this statement as true?

[BibleBeliever]

Thanks for your answer it was very readable and I learned enough from it to see things in a better perspective, the point about Kenya was only an aside and I wouldn't know where to start in seeking out the truth. I just put it in to show how I tend to belive that mentall illness is often related more to the social climate (or at least our response to it) than to a chemical inballance, though I realise drugs can affect the way a mind works.

I just believe that doctors go for the easy option of perscribing drugs when there are practical ways to deal with some situations. (I'm thinking about my sister here who's dependant on perscribed drugs.)

I wondered about the animals because it may point to our over use of drugs, but your reply has got me off that track.