LATEST UPDATES: Tracking COVID-19 | Vaccines | Racial Justice
How Animals With Mental Illness Can Help Humans Heal
Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Credit: Animalmadness.com
Above: Author Laurel Braitman points her camera at a baby elephant.
You might have seen the story last week, the rescuers of an elephant chained and abused for 50 years in India said tears flooded down the animal's face when he was taken to safety.
Not everyone believes stories like that but a growing consensus on animal behavior is leaning toward the theory that animals have complex emotional lives — not that much different from our own.
Among the kinds of emotions displayed by animals can be depression, anxiety and self-harm — some of the very traits that might be diagnosed in humans as mental illness.
A new book takes its cue from the problems of one disturbed dog, and examines what the emotional problems of animals can teach us about ourselves.
FEATURED PODCAST

Want more KPBS news?
Find us on Twitter and Facebook, or sign up for our newsletters. + Subscribe to our podcasts
To view PDF documents, Download Acrobat Reader.