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Re:The evolutionary origin of depression by tokenadult on Saturday June 27, 2009 @09:53PM (#677419)
Depression is not unique to humans.

What animal model of depression do you have in mind?

Re:The evolutionary origin of depression by mynameishere on Saturday June 27, 2009 @10:29PM (#677452)
Parrots and dogs will tear apart their environments (and sometimes their bodies) under certain circumstances, such as extended loneliness. Seems similar to human depression.
Re:The evolutionary origin of depression by wallflower on Sunday June 28, 2009 @12:22AM (#677502)
Yes, my housemate's dog has separation anxiety which is not good (but he was adopted from a shelter).

We hypothesize he gets all anxious because when we are leaving and locking him in his (reinforced) cage - he doesn't know if we'll ever return. Which is different from humans - as in we know that it is only a matter of time.

Re:The evolutionary origin of depression by joeyo on Sunday June 28, 2009 @02:06AM (#677557)
This review, and its references, are a little dated, so I presume that the animal models are much more sophisticated by now:

http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1440-1819.1990.tb00461.x