van Oosten Jonas C P, Ploeger Annemie, Sterck Elisabeth H M
Animal Behaviour and Cognition, Department of Biology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands.
Developmental Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
PeerJ. 2025 Jan 7;13:e18766. doi: 10.7717/peerj.18766. eCollection 2025.
Major depressive disorder (depression) is a highly heterogenous human mental disorder that may have equivalents in non-human animals. Research into non-human depression teaches us about human depression and can contribute to enhance welfare of non-human animals. Here, we narratively review how signs of depression in non-human primates (NHPs) can be observed based on symptoms of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). Furthermore, we propose diagnostic criteria of NHP depression and we review reports on signs of depression in NHPs. We diagnose an NHP with depression when it shows a core sign (depressed mood or anhedonia) alongside at least three other DSM-5-derived signs of depression. Results show that four out of six observable signs of depression are present in NHPs, occasionally lasting for months. However, only a group of six NHPs in one study met our proposed criteria for a diagnosis of depression. We call for more research into the co-occurrence of depressive symptoms in individual NHPs to establish the prevalence of depression in NHPs.
重度抑郁症是一种高度异质性的人类精神障碍，在非人类动物中可能也存在类似情况。对非人类抑郁症的研究有助于我们了解人类抑郁症，并能促进非人类动物福利的提升。在此，我们通过叙述性综述，探讨如何基于《精神疾病诊断与统计手册》（DSM - 5）的症状来观察非人类灵长类动物（NHP）的抑郁迹象。此外，我们提出了NHP抑郁症的诊断标准，并回顾了关于NHP抑郁迹象的报告。当一只NHP出现核心症状（情绪低落或快感缺乏）以及至少其他三种源自DSM - 5的抑郁迹象时，我们将诊断其患有抑郁症。结果表明，NHP中可观察到的六种抑郁迹象中有四种存在，有时会持续数月。然而，在一项研究中只有一组六只NHP符合我们提出的抑郁症诊断标准。我们呼吁对个体NHP中抑郁症状的共现情况进行更多研究，以确定NHP中抑郁症的患病率。
