Animal Madness : How Anxious Dogs, Compulsive Parrots, and Elephants in Recovery Help Us Understand Ourselves

A science historian examines parallels between the ways humans and animals express feelings and experience mental decline, tracing her studies of emotionally disturbed animals and their caregivers to consider how their recoveries can inform the human medical community. For The First Time, A Historian Of Science Draws Evidence From Across The World To Show How Humans And Other Animals Are Astonishingly Similar When It Comes To Their Feelings And The Ways In Which They Lose Their Minds. For The First Time, A Historian Of Science Draws Evidence From Across The World To Show How Humans And Other Animals Are Astonishingly Similar When It Comes To Their Feelings And The Ways In Which They Lose Their Minds. Charles Darwin Developed His Evolutionary Theories By Looking At Physical Differences In Galapagos Finches And Fancy Pigeons. Alfred Russell Wallace Investigated A Range Of Creatures In The Malay Archipelago. Laurel Braitman Got Her Lessons Closer To Home--by Watching Her Dog. Oliver Snapped At Flies That Only He Could See, Ate Ziploc Bags, Towels, And Cartons Of Eggs. He Suffered Debilitating Separation Anxiety, Was Prone To Aggression, And May Even Have Attempted Suicide. Her Experience With Oliver Forced Laurel To Acknowledge A Form Of Continuity Between Humans And Other Animals That, First As A Biology Major And Later As A Phd Student At Mit, She'd Never Been Taught In School. Nonhuman Animals Can Lose Their Minds. And When They Do, It Often Looks A Lot Like Human Mental Illness. Thankfully, All Of Us Can Heal. As Laurel Spent Three Years Traveling The World In Search Of Emotionally Disturbed Animals And The People Who Care For Them, She Discovered Numerous Stories Of Recovery: Parrots That Learn How To Stop Plucking Their Feathers, Dogs That Cease Licking Their Tails Raw, Polar Bears That Stop Swimming In Compulsive Circles, And Great Apes That Benefit From The Help Of Human Psychiatrists. How Do These Animals Recover? The Same Way We Do: With Love, With Medicine, And Above All, With The Knowledge That Someone Understands Why We Suffer And What Can Make Us Feel Better. After All Of The Digging In The Archives Of Museums And Zoos, The Years Synthesizing Scientific Literature, And The Hours Observing Dog Parks, Wildlife Encounters, And Amusement Parks, Laurel Found That Understanding The Emotional Distress Of Animals Can Help Us Better Understand Ourselves-- The Tail Tip Of The Iceberg -- Proxies And Mirrors -- Diagnosing The Elephant -- If Juliet Were A Parrot -- Animal Pharm -- Family Therapy -- When The Devil Fish Forgive. Laurel Braitman. First Simon & Schuster Hardcover Edition June 2014--title Page Verso. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 289-360) And Index. "For the first time, a historian of science draws evidence from across the world to show how humans and other animals are astonishingly similar when it comes to their feelings and the ways in which they lose their minds. Charles Darwin developed his evolutionary theories by looking at physical differences in Galapagos finches and fancy pigeons. Alfred Russell Wallace investigated a range of creatures in the Malay Archipelago. Laurel Braitman got her lessons closer to home--by watching her dog. Oliver snapped at flies that only he could see, ate Ziploc bags, towels, and cartons of eggs. He suffered debilitating separation anxiety, was prone to aggression, and may even have attempted suicide. Her experience with Oliver forced Laurel to acknowledge a form of continuity between humans and other animals that, first as a biology major and later as a PhD student at MIT, she'd never been taught in school. Nonhuman animals can lose their minds. And when they do, it often looks a lot like human mental illness. Thankfully, all of us can heal. As Laurel spent three years traveling the world in search of emotionally disturbed animals and the people who care for them, she discovered numerous stories of recovery: parrots that learn how to stop plucking their feathers, dogs that cease licking their tails raw, polar bears that stop swimming in compulsive circles, and great apes that benefit from the help of human psychiatrists. How do these animals recover? The same way we do: with love, with medicine, and above all, with the knowledge that someone understands why we suffer and what can make us feel better. After all of the digging in the archives of museums and zoos, the years synthesizing scientific literature, and the hours observing dog parks, wildlife encounters, and amusement parks, Laurel found that understanding the emotional distress of animals can help us better understand ourselves"-- "For the first time, a historian of science draws evidence from across the world to show how humans and other animals are astonishingly similar when it comes to their feelings and the ways in which they lose their minds"-- "For the first time, a historian of science draws evidence from across the world to show how humans and other animals are astonishingly similar when it comes to their feelings and the ways in which they lose their minds. Charles Darwin developed his evolutionary theories by looking at physical differences in Galapagos finches and fancy pigeons. Alfred Russell Wallace investigated a range of creatures in the Malay Archipelago. Laurel Braitman got her lessons closer to home--by watching her dog. Oliver snapped at flies that only he could see, ate Ziploc bags, towels, and cartons of eggs. He suffered debilitating separation anxiety, was prone to aggression, and may even have attempted suicide. Her experience with Oliver forced Laurel to acknowledge a form of continuity between humans and other animals that, first as a biology major and later as a PhD student at MIT, she'd never been taught in school. Nonhuman animals can lose their minds. And when they do, it often looks a lot like human mental illness. Thankfully, all of us can heal. As Laurel spent three years traveling the world in search of emotionally disturbed animals and the people who care for them, she discovered numerous stories of recovery: parrots that learn how to stop plucking their feathers, dogs that cease licking their tails raw, polar bears that stop swimming in compulsive circles, and great apes that benefit from the help of human psychiatrists. How do these animals recover? The same way we do: with love, with medicine, and above all, with the knowledge that someone understands why we suffer and what can make us feel better. After all of the digging in the archives of museums and zoos, the years synthesizing scientific literature, and the hours observing dog parks, wildlife encounters, and amusement parks, Laurel found that understanding the emotional distress of animals can help us better understand ourselves."--Publisher information "For the first time, a historian of science draws evidence from across the world to show how humans and other animals are astonishingly similar when it comes to their feelings and the ways in which they lose their minds. Charles Darwin developed his evolutionary theories by looking at physical differences in Galapagos finches and fancy pigeons. Alfred Russell Wallace investigated a range of creatures in the Malay Archipelago. Laurel Braitman got her lessons closer to home--by watching her dog. Oliver snapped at flies that only he could see, ate Ziploc bags, towels, and cartons of eggs. He suffered debilitating separation anxiety, was prone to aggression, and may even have attempted suicide. Her experience with Oliver forced Laurel to acknowledge a form of continuity between humans and other animals that, first as a biology major and later as a PhD student at MIT, she'd never been taught in school. Nonhuman animals can lose their minds. And when they do, it often looks a lot like human mental illness. Thankfully, all of us can heal. As Laurel spent three years traveling the world in search of emotionally disturbed animals and the people who care for them, she discovered numerous stories of recovery: parrots that learn how to stop plucking their feathers, dogs that cease licking their tails raw, polar bears that stop swimming in compulsive circles, and great apes that benefit from the help of human psychiatrists. How do these animals recover? The same way we do: with love, with medicine, and above all, with the knowledge that someone understands why we suffer and what can make us feel better. After all of the digging in the archives of museums and zoos, the years synthesizing scientific literature, and the hours observing dog parks, wildlife encounters, and amusement parks, Laurel found that understanding the emotional distress of animals can help us better understand ourselves"-- Provided by publisher **"Science Friday" Summer Reading Pick** ** Discover magazine Top 5 Summer Reads** ** People magazine Best Summer Reads** "A lovely, big-hearted book...brimming with compassion and the tales of the many, many humans who devote their days to making animals well" ( The New York Times ). Have you ever wondered if your dog might be a bit depressed? How about heartbroken or homesick? Animal Madness takes these questions seriously, exploring the topic of mental health and recovery in the animal kingdom and turning up lessons that Publishers Weekly calls "Illuminating...Braitman's delightful balance of humor and poignancy brings each case of life....[ Animal Madness 's] continuous dose of hope should prove medicinal for humans and animals alike." Susan Orlean calls Animal Madness "a marvelous, smart, eloquent book—as much about human emotion as it is about animals and their inner lives." It is "a gem...that can teach us much about the wildness of our own minds" ( Psychology Today ). The tail tip of the iceberg Proxies and mirrors Diagnosing the elephant If Juliet were a parrot Animal pharm Family therapy Epilogue: when the devil fish forgive.