Trans-species psychology is the field of psychology that states that humans and nonhuman animals share commonalities in cognition (thinking) and emotions (feelings). It was established by Gay A. Bradshaw, American ecologist and psychologist.Bradshaw, G.A. (2005). Elephant trauma and recovery: from human violence to trans-species psychology. Doctoral dissertation Pacifica Graduate Institute, Santa Barbara.
Trans-species psychology, often referred to as a "science of sentience", argues that existing scientific evidence points to a common model of brain, mind, and behavior for humans and nonhuman animals. Bradshaw claims the theory and data from neuroscience, ethology, and psychology, both current and dating back through the evolutionary biology research of Charles Darwin in the mid-1800s, shows that evolution conserves brain and mind across species.Bradshaw, G. A., & Schore, A. N. (2007). How Elephants are Opening Doors: Developmental Neuroethology, Attachment and Social Context. Ethology, 113(5), 426-436. Cantor, C. (2009). Post-traumatic stress disorder: evolutionary perspectives. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 43(11), 1038-1048. Humans and other animals share a common capacity to think, feel, and experience themselves and their lives. Some mammals have demonstrated the ability to experience empathy, culture, self-awareness, consciousness, psychological trauma, mourning rituals, and complex communication abilities.Bradshaw, G.A., Capaldo, T, Lindner, L & G. Grow. (2009). Developmental context effects on bicultural post-trauma self repair in Chimpanzees. Developmental Psychology, 45, 1376-1388.Poole, J.H and Moss, C. J. 2008. Elephant sociality and complexity: The scientific evidence.In: Elephants and Ethics: Toward a morality of Co-existence. C. Wemmer K. Christen (Eds.). Johns Hopkins University Press.Public Library of Science (2007, June 25). Human-like Altruism Shown In Chimpanzees. ScienceDaily. Retrieved January 9, 2012, from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070625085134.htmBates, L.A., Lee, P.C., Njiraini, N., Poole, J.H., Sayialel, K., Sayialel, S., Moss, C.J. Byrne, R.W. (2008). Do elephants show Empathy? Journal of Consciousness Studies, 15, No. 10-11, pp. 204-25.
The knowledge that nonhuman animals have the ability to think and feel in complex ways has also brought the understanding of their capacity to experience psychological trauma and suffering. Trans-species psychology seeks to prevent and treat trauma in all animals through increased scientific understanding.
The prefix trans is a Latin noun meaning "across" or "beyond", and it is used to describe the comparability of brain, mind, and behavior across animal species. In an interview, G.A. Bradshaw stated that the trans affixed to psychology "re-embeds humans within the larger matrix of the animal kingdom by erasing the 'and' between humans and animals that has been used to demarcate and reinforce the false notion that humans are substantively different cognitively and emotionally from other species".Bradshaw, G.A. 2010 interview. Animal Visions, Retrieved Nov. 2, 2011. (http://animalvisions.wordpress.com/2010/09/17/trans-species-living-an-interview-with-gay-bradshaw/)
Historical background: elephants suffering from PTSD In 2005, Bradshaw's research led her to the conclusion that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) existed in free-ranging elephant survivors of severely traumatic events, including mass culls (systematic killing), poaching, translocation, and other human attacks. Typically gentle and peaceful herbivores with complex social structures, tight-knit lifelong familial bonds, sophisticated cognitive capacities, and highly empathic responsiveness,Bates, L.A., Poole, J.H. & Byrne, R.W. (2008). Why study elephant cognition? Current Biology, Vol 18, No 13. traumatized elephants were displaying behavioral aberrations such as inter- and intra-species aggression, abnormal startle response, depression, and infant neglect.Slotow, R. et al. (2000). Nature, 408, 425–426. The unprecedented killing and assault of over 100 rhinoceroses by traumatized young bull elephants was documented in South Africa.Bradshaw, G. A., Schore, A. N., Brown, J. L., Poole, J. H., & Moss, C. J. (2005). Elephant breakdown. Nature, 433(7028), 807. Bradshaw integrated psychobiological and ethological principles, specifically the understanding that maternal and community loss lead to pathogenic right hemispheric neurological development, which often results in hyperaggression and socioemotional dysfunction. She found that violent human interference was leading to the breakdown of elephant culture and society, which was the focus of a report by Charles Siebert at the New York Times called An Elephant Crackup?. She also documented this in her book, Elephants on the Edge: What Animals Teach us about Humanity, which received multiple international awards and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and recommended as a book of the week on the Jean Feraca show, Jean Feraca recommendation. These findings and later studies confirming vertebrate commonalities led her to establish trans-species psychology as a theory and method for the study and care of animals (human-inclusive). She also established the non-profit organization, The Kerulos Center, which is dedicated to furthering scientific understanding and practical applications that promote animal well-being.
Species-common neuroanatomy and neuropsychology Cortical, limbic, and autonomic brain structures that govern emotion, consciousness, sense of self, and associated psychophysiological and behavioral traits (e.g., maternal behavior, facial recognition, moral development, play, sexual behavior, fear, aggression, affect regulation) are highly conserved evolutionarily.Northoff, G. and J. Panksepp, (2008).The trans-species concept of self and the subcortical-cortical midline system. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 12 (7), 259-264.Panksepp, J. (1998). Affective neuroscience: The foundations of human and animal emotions. New York: Oxford University Press.Bradshaw, G.A., and R. M. Sapolsky. (2006). Mirror, mirror. American Scientist, 94(6), 487-489. Importantly, the neurobiological structures and processes affected by trauma (i.e., cortical and subcortical areas of the right brain, including the right orbitofrontal cortex, anterior cingulate, amygdala, hippocampus, and posterior areas of the right hemisphere) are also conserved across species.Schore, A. N. (2002). Dysregulation of the right brain: a fundamental mechanism of traumatic attachment and the psychopathogenesis of posttraumatic stress disorder. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 36, 9-30.Schore, A.N. (2003). Affect dysregulation and disorders of the self. Mahwah, N.J.: Erhbaum. Similar to humans, animals experience complex emotions and are psychologically susceptible to stress and the effects of violence.Bradshaw, G.A., Capaldo, T, Lindner, L & G. Grow. (2008). Building an inner sanctuary: trauma induced symptoms in non-human great apes. Journal of Trauma & Dissociation. 9(1), 9-34.Bradshaw, G.A., Yenkosky, J. & McCarthy, E. (2009). Avian affective dysregulation: Psychiatric models and treatment for parrots in captivity. Proceedings of the Association of Avian Veterinarians. 28th Annual Conference, Minnesota. This understanding of the common neurobiology between all species, has provided the basis for the diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in multiple species other than humans.Bradshaw, G. A. (2009). Elephants on the edge: What animals teach us about humanity. New Haven, CT, US: Yale University Press; US.
Trans-species psychiatry Through trans-species psychology and psychiatry, diverse applications of psychotherapeutic approaches to animal trauma recovery (e.g.,horses;Muller-Paisner, V., & Bradshaw, G. A. (2010). Freud and the family horse: exploration into equine psychotherapy. Spring Journal, 83, 211-235. elephantsBuckley, C. and G. A. Bradshaw. (2010). The art of cultural brokerage: recreating the elephant-human relationship and community. Spring Journal, 83, 35-59.) are developing from existing knowledge of human mental health, with provisions for species culture, ethics, and diversity. For example, this research has been used to investigate Complex PTSD in chimpanzee biomedical survivors abused and traumatized and rescued into sanctuary. Chimpanzees who have been subjected to biomedical research often display symptoms consistent with a diagnosis of complex PTSD, a pervasive psychological disorder, common to human prisoners of war, genocide survivors, and victims of domestic violence. It is characterized by difficulties with severe mood dysregulation, impaired interpersonal functioning, loss of sense of safety and security, and disruption in the sense of self.van der Kolk, B.A., Roth, S., Pelcovitz, D., Sunday, S., & Spinazzola, J. (2005). "Disorders of extreme stress: the empirical foundation of a complex adaptation to trauma". Journal of Traumatic Stress 18, 389-399. As with humans who suffer from this condition, non-human primates have been documented to experience chronic affective instability, self-injurious behavior, repetitive movement stereotypies, difficulties with attachment, hypervigilance, and sleeping and eating disorders.Brüne, M., Brüne-Cohrs, U., McGrew, W.C., & Preuschoft, S. (2006). Psychopathology in great apes: concepts, treatment options and possible homologies to human psychiatric disorders. Neuroscience Biobehavior, Rev. 30, 1246-1259. Similar symptoms have been displayed in parrots in captivity who have experienced trauma. Significant similarities in the treatment needs of trauma survivors in animal sanctuaries and in human trauma recovery programs have been subsequently identified. Human and non-human animals need positive social bonding, a sense of safety, a healthy living environment, self-esteem, and an empathic caregiver presence to help overcome trauma.
Case study: Jeannie (the following is summarized from Bradshaw et al., 2008) Jeannie was a large female chimpanzee who was a meticulous groomer with a slow, intentional gait. She was born in 1975, and although few details are known about her early infancy, it is established that she experienced premature separation and weaning from her mother based on her species norms (prior to age 5) and was a research subject in four biomedical research laboratories for the majority of her life. She arrived into a sanctuary environment at age 22, where she lived until her death in 2007, at age 31. While being used as a biomedical research subject, she was housed in a 5' x 5' x 7' cage that was suspended from the ceiling. Although her species requires social bonds and interaction for health and well-being, she was housed alone. She received repeated invasive tests, which included over 200 "knock down" anesthetizations with a dart gun, repeated vaginal washes, infection with HIV, hepatitis B and C, rhinovirus, and multiple internal biopsies, including of the liver, cervix, and lymph nodes. Her records indicate that she experienced recurrent bouts of anorexia, resulting in severe weight loss. After seven years of biomedical experimentation at the fourth laboratory, the staff reported that Jeannie had a "nervous breakdown". She would alternate between dissociative "trance-like" states to severe anxiety and aggression. Upon seeing laboratory personnel or visitors dressed in white laboratory suits and masks, she would become so distressed that she would salivate excessively, urinate and defecate, and repeatedly bang her body against her cage. She also had seizure-like episodes, screaming, and self-injurious behavior. Psychotropic medication was administered in attempt to manage her symptoms.