Primate models of anxiety. Longitudinal perspectives.

In summary, VFD subjects appear to have sustained long-term behavioral and biologic sequelae following disruption of normative maternal-infant attachment patterns. The sequelae are primarily manifest as stable anxiety or affective traits and, from a biologic perspective, are most analogous to recent data that have emerged from studies of patients with PTSD. Multiple abnormalities are observed of systems directly involved in affect regulation. Further studies are required to clarify the pathologic ontogeny of the VFD condition and its potential relevance to human psychopathology.