Psychological Distress in Chimpanzees Rescued From Laboratories

Abstract

The United States is one of the last countries allowing invasive research on chimpanzees. Biomedical research on chimpanzees commonly involves maternal deprivation, social isolation, intensive confinement, and repetitive invasive procedures. These physically harmful and psychologically traumatic experiences cause many chimpanzees to develop symptoms of psychopathology that persist even after relocation from laboratories to sanctuaries. Through semistructured interviews with chimpanzee caregivers, direct behavioral observations, and consultation of laboratory records, we were interested in qualitatively analyzing symptoms of psychological distress in a sample of 253 chimpanzees rescued from biomedical research now residing at an accredited chimpanzee sanctuary. We present the results of this analysis and include an illustrative case study of one rescued chimpanzee who engages in self-injurious behaviors and meets modified Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder. We discuss our results in light of recent policy changes regarding the use of chimpanzees in biomedical research in the United States and their implications for those involved in the rescue and rehabilitation of chimpanzees from biomedical research.

KEYWORDS:

• posttraumatic stress disorder
• complex posttraumatic stress disorder
• self-injurious behaviors
• psychological distress
• chimpanzees

Notes

1. Research at STC is permitted only under limited circumstances. Such research must be observational, must be noninvasive, and must demonstrate that it is of direct benefit to chimpanzees before approval by the leadership of STC is granted.

2. Since the time this research was conducted, the American Psychiatric Association has published revised criteria for PTSD. Although the revised criteria were not used in the original caregiver interviews, Seve also meets these revised criteria set out in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition.

3. Survey data gathered from the two caregivers in charge of each family group revealed that 82.3% of chimpanzees go outside frequently (i.e., multiple times a day), 13.5% go outside occasionally (i.e., once a day or every other day), 4% go outside infrequently (i.e., from once every other day to a few times a month), and less than 1% have never been seen going outside. Interrater reliability, as measured by Cohen’s kappa, was significant (p < .0001).

4. A Freedom of Information Act request was made to the NIH and the CDC for Seve’s records. The information reported here was obtained from those requests and from records obtained from STC.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by a Marymount University Faculty Development Grant awarded to Stacy M. Lopresti-Goodman and a Marymount University Discover Summer Undergraduate Research Grant awarded to Stacy M. Lopresti-Goodman and Chelsea Ritter.