Am J Psychiatry 1976; 133:1279-1285
Copyright © 1976 by American Psychiatric Association
Social rehabilitation of separation-induced depressive disorders in monkeys
SJ Suomi, R Delizio and HF Harlow
The authors studied a group of four monkeys reared together, repeatedly
separated from each other, and then exposed to another group of four
monkeys reared in surrogate-peer groups who acted as therapists. The study
group was compared with the therapist monkeys, a group exposed to the same
separations but not to the therapist monkeys, a control group that
experienced no separations, and two additional groups of stimulus animals.
The authors' findings indicate that monkeys showing depressive begaviors
after repeated separations can be returned to age-appropriate social
performance through repeated exposure to socially active age- mates.
