Origins of Madness

Book excerpt: Origins of Madness: Psychopathology in Animal Life provides information pertinent to the abnormal behavior in animals and its bearing on human psychopathology. This book discusses the behavioral abnormalities of animals in the wild or under circumstances of confinement, as in circuses, laboratories, households, and zoos, where the abnormalities appear without intention. Organized into 11 sections encompassing 44 chapters, this book begins with an overview of psychosomatic studies in animals. This text then examines the two fundamental methods for producing experimental neuroses. Other chapters consider the practical implication of the basic parallelism between animal and human neuroses. This book discusses as well the emotional disorders responsible for the inability of psychoneurotic patients and experimentally neurotic animals to cope with real life situations as they happen. The final chapter deals with the method that produces a striking behavior abnormality in dogs. This book is a valuable resource for veterinarians and clinical psychologists.