Dogs, Serotonin And Behavioral Medicine

The discovery that serotonin was a neurotransmitter gave great hopes for the possible treatment or cure of mental illness. Other such neurotransmitters have been found and offered similar hopes, and chemical analogues have been concocted by pharmaceutical companies.

Much of the creation of the “certified veterinary behaviorist” field in 1995 was a result of these hopes. Since then, from my observation, not much has been accomplished. Yes, some of the drug protocols have changed in the sense of new drugs. But the promised revolution hasn’t materialized. They have claimed the title, “behaviorist”, as if that now means more than it does, and often comes with a dose of a haughty attitude that isn't earned. The original behaviorists were followers of the school of behaviorism, the veterinary behaviorists just grabbed the term for themselves. Even the original behaviorism school of research has been discredited in many ways after the initial promises of their theories didn’t pan out as they expected. Science is never static and it isn't useful to claim to be all knowing. 

Just like the discovery of DNA by Watson and Crick seemed to promise the explanation of the origins of life and evolution... and failed... so the discovery of these neurotransmitters has not lived up to the initial hopes. Life processes are more complicated than what can be done in a test tube.

I rarely recommend drugs for behavioral issues anymore. Some places, shelters for example, hand out these drugs like they are candy, and people have been seriously injured as a result. Let the buyer beware.

I think I still have my original copy of “Clinical Behavioral Medicine For Small Animals” by Karen Overall (1997). I read that back around 1999 or 2000. If I still have it, it is collecting dust in one of my storage book bins. It is not useful to me anymore for the work that I do. There has been an updated version released, but I have not read it, so there may be useful protocols worth noting. I recommend reading the updated version, however. It is important to understand these biological mechanisms and to see what the most current research is indicating. No disrespect to Karen Overall: her work pointed me in the right direction at the time. I have other texts covering behavioral medicine, and those also have been very useful for my understanding, especially when they detail the experiments that have been done and the proposed analysis of the outcomes.

** Amazon affiliate link