Post Traumatic Stress Disorder In Elephants

MAHATI GARIMELLA

It’s a common saying that elephants never forget. However, a closer look into these giant creatures, would reveal that their memory is not the only impressive aspect of their intelligence. Apart from being able to pass the mirror self-recognition test, they can perform complex cognitive tasks like numeracy, tool use, and problem solving; further, just like humans, they too have the capacity to experience intense grief, empathy, and other emotions. Recent research is now suggesting that, elephants share with humans psychobiological structures and processes, which make them vulnerable to developing ailments like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).  In 2015, psychologist G. A. Bradshaw and her colleagues published an article titled “Elephant Breakdown”, highlighting the psychologically vulnerable state of elephants due to human interference.

PTSD is serious mental condition caused after being exposed to a psychologically distressing, event, outside the range of usual experience, which makes one experience intense fear, terror, and helplessness. Elephants, like humans, are mammalian species which form strong family relations, and have a complex social life. They are reared in extended families, which are headed by older females. However, human interference through violent activities like illegal poaching and habitat destruction, has been disrupting their healthy patterns of social attachment.

The article highlights the importance of early mother-infant interactions for the healthy development of self-regulatory structures located in the right hemisphere of the brain. Trauma, could cause a long lasting dysfunction in right-brain, making one vulnerable to PTSD and violent behaviour in adulthood. Bradshaw et al., claim that severe harm to the attachment bonding process, like maternal separation, or deprivation, can disturb the psychobiological and neurochemical regulation in the developing brain. Further, the lack of compensatory social structures, such as older generations, can also hinder recovery. Today, a number of elephants are showing symptoms, which are usually associated with human PTSD: abnormal startle responses, asocial behaviour, and unpredictable aggression.

In a few areas, 90% of the male elephant deaths were caused by other young males of their own species. In another incident, a group of orphaned adolescents, who as infants had witnessed the slaughtering of their family members, went on a killing rampage against rhinoceroses. Through the aforementioned examples we can clearly observe that these animals are showing externalising behaviours - disruptive behaviours directed towards one’s environment. Further, a  few of the observed symptoms (anti-social behaviour) also indicate the presence of internalising behaviours - negative behaviours focused inward. A few captivated elephants, unable to effectively cope with environmental stressors, have displayed other internalising behaviours like self-mutilation (biting their ears or tusking their legs) as well. Such negative alterations in one’s mood and behaviours, provide a strong indication of an underlying pathology.

The diathesis-stress model of abnormal behavior, can help us gain some further insight into the development of PTSD in elephants. According to the theory, apart from a diathesis, (a relatively distal necessary or contributory cause, which is not altogether sufficient to cause a disorder), a more proximal undesirable event (the stressor), might also be required to cause the disorder. Now, while separation from their families can be viewed as a diathesis, the elephant’s subjection to constant physical abuse, and solitary confinement, serve as further intense stressors - ultimately causing the disorder. Additionally, in some cases, the diathesis (separation from family) could itself could be strong enough for the elephant to develop PTSD; thus, other stressors (like physical abuse) only aggravate and worsen their condition.

Taking the elephants away from their natural social environment, also robs them of protective factors, which could have aided them in coping with their stress. For hundreds of years, humans have been capturing elephants for purposes like logging, entertainment (weddings, circuses), religious practices, etc. Circus elephants are chained up, transported in trucks, and trained using physically abusive methods. In fact, insensitive treatment like, constant beatings, being chained to the floor, are true of all captivated elephants. It is important to note that, a family history of mental disorders is also one of the factors which make one vulnerable to developing PTSD. Thus, through such violent, and insensitive interference, we are negatively affecting the species, by making even the future generations prone to developing mental ailments. With an increase in awareness regarding this subject, it is our responsibility as humans to provide a healthy and sensitive environment for the preservation of these magnificent creatures.