A display of psychotic symptoms in canines
Dogs are a type of animal. Humans are another. Yet the two have been companions for so long that pet owners start looking only for human symptoms in dogs before a trip to the vet. Such can be a problem in diagnosis of psychosis, as human symptoms, incoherent speech and usage of neologisms, are undemonstrable in canines.
Patients with psychosis demonstrate severed ties with reality. Accordingly, the DSM-5 criteria for diagnosis of a psychotic disorder are the following: hallucinations(sensory experiences that exist only in the mind) and delusions(abnormal beliefs), often accompanied by grossly disorganized behavior and catatonia, a neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by uncontrollable abnormal behavior, stupor, mutism, and immobility. Hallucinations are perhaps the most defining of these, with schizophrenics not hallucinating calming classical music but instead, severe emotional duress that tends to become more crass, vicious, and persuasive as the illness progresses. Such seems to take a different form in dogs. Instead of displaying distress over delusional aggressive barking, dogs with psychosis are more often seen chasing non-existent butterflies.
Unlike humans, dogs lack a complex cognition that, for example, enables philosophy. The brain thus inputs different types of false sensations among schizophrenic humans and canines. Common symptoms, however, are depressive/maniac bouts, a drastic loss of appetite, and hallucinations. Such are thought to be results of anterior cingulate cortex(a limbic structure that partakes in emotions, empathy, and judgment-making), amygdala(processes and encodes strong emotions such as fear and fury), and other brain region malfunctionings paired with epigenetic stimuli, environmental instigators of original gene foundation rewiring.
Man’s best friend gets it at their jobs by chasing frisbees and sniffing socks. But sometimes, a dog can seem much too preoccupied sniffing away at a fencepost or busy chasing an imaginary fly. Though taking a pet to a hospital for a check-up, no matter the fee, is a most caring form of affection as people say, it is the ‘person that makes the dog’ - schizophrenia is thought to be mainly epigenetic and can be prevented or at least alleviated by the owner. Believe it or not, love makes the greater good.
References
Adams, R., & David, A. S. (2007). Patterns of anterior cingulate activation in schizophrenia: a selective review. Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment, 3(1), 87–101. Retrieved March 28, 2022, from
Maeso, C., Sánchez-Masian, D., Ródenas, S., Font, C., Morales, C., Domínguez, E., Puig, J., Arévalo-Serrano, J., & Montoliu, P. (2022, January 1). Prevalence, distribution, and clinical associations of suspected postictal changes on brain magnetic resonance imaging in epileptic dogs. AVMA. Retrieved April 11, 2022, from
Ng, Daphne. (2020, June 30). A brief history of CRISPR-Cas9 genome-editing tools. Bitesize Bio. Retrieved April 11, 2022, from https://bitesizebio.com/47927/history-crispr/
When training isn't enough. (n.d.). Modern Dog magazine. Retrieved March 28, 2022, from
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