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“Separation/Abandonment/Isolation Trauma:” An
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 COMPARATIVE RESEARCH

"Separation/Abandonment/Isolation
Trauma:" An Application of Psychoanalytic
Developmental Theory to Understanding
its Impact on Both Chimpanzee
and Human Children
Linda A. Chernus

ABSTRACT. The first of a 2-part series, I utilize my experience working

in a sanctuary for abused chimpanzees as a microcosm for examining the
specific and unique impact of maternal loss and social isolation during
childhood. After reviewing the extant psychoanalytic literature, I discuss
the nature of the damage to the developing structure of the child's self

Linda A. Chernus, MSW, LISW, BCD, is Professor of Clinical Psychiatry

at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio. She has
published extensively in the areas of self psychology, the interface between
psychoanalysis and clinical social work, the integration of neurobiology with
psychoanalytic developmental theory, and alcoholism treatment.
Submitted for publication 8/14/2007; revised 3/6/2008 and 5/30/2008; accepted
9/11/2008.
Address correspondence to: Linda A. Chernus, 4201 Victory Parkway #915,
Cincinnati, OH 45229. (E-mail: chernul@ucmail.uc.edu).
Journal of Emotional Abuse, Vol. 8(4) 2008
© 2008 by The Haworth Press. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1080/10926790802480356 447
448 JOURNAL OE EMOTIONAL ABUSE

caused by such emotional abuse, which manifests itself in both specific

behavioral symptoms and chronic difficulties with affect regulation and
interpersonal relationships. I then describe my work with abused chimpan-
zees, explore how their early childhood experiences of separation from
mother and social isolation affected their development, and discuss the rel-
evance of these findings to emotionally abused and neglected children.

KEYWORDS. Self psychology, maternal loss, child neglect, recovery

In July 2005,1 worked for 4 days at MONA, a sanctuary for abandoned

and abused chimpanzees located in northem Spain. The 11 chimpanzees
living in this naturalistic, yet protected environment were all of the genus
and species Pan troglodytes, which shares between 98.6% and 99.4% of
its genes with Homo sapiens. This is not surprising, given that we
diverged from chimpanzees only a mere 4 to 6 million years ago,
whereas, for example, apes and monkeys diverged from one another
approximately 25 million years ago (Caccone & Powell, 1989). We now
know that all of the great apes demonstrate a capacity for rational thinking
and learning, which was previously believed to be unique to human
beings; that they are all extremely social; and that they exhibit many par-
allels with human beings in both normal and pathological psychosocial
development. However, this is most true of the species P. troglodytes,
given its highly evolved culture and its genetic endowment, both of which
are so similar to our own.
Because this was so powerfully confirmed by the my own experiences, it
is appropriate to consider the applicability of contemporary psychoanalytic

This study would not have been possible without the MONA staffs dedica-
tion to both rescuing and rehabilitating abused chimpanzees and disseminating
knowledge about them to the general public. I am grateful for the opportunity to
have worked with them. I would also like to dedicate this article to Pancho,
who was shot and killed by the Catalan police on October 20, 2007. According
to Valsera, many witnesses testified that Pancho was calm and displayed no
aggression after he and two other males escaped from MONA. However, despite
pleas from two MONA volunteers and others in the area, the police chose to
shoot him (C. Valsera, personal communication, January 2008). Valsera says
"We are also sickened by the Spanish media who have reported that Pancho
exhibited aggressive behavior, which is completely erroneous. We will miss our
friend and are shocked and disappointed that his life was taken so prematurely
and unnecessarily" {Primates, November 2007).
 Linda A. Chernus 449

theory regarding the developmental impact of childhood separation, aban-

donment, and isolation to this group of traumatized chimpanzees. I also
discuss the recovery process from my vantage point as a self psycholo-
gist, emphasizing factors that facilitate or impede it and the range of indi-
vidual differences in styles and subsequent capacities for recovery.
Exploration of trauma and recovery in chimpanzees may also provide us
with a deeper understanding of how human psychological development is
affected by premature maternal loss and isolation during early childhood.
Although some observations had been made prior to the pioneering
work of Jane Goodall, the naturalistic research conducted by Goodall and
her collaborators has conclusively demonstrated that chimpanzees
develop very strong mother-child bonds, which in their natural habitat
generally persist throughout life (Goodall, 1988). Given that chimpanzee
mothers in the wild usually reproduce only once every 5 or 6 years, the
"infant" remains in almost continual one-on-one, intimate physical and
emotional contact with the nursing mother for about 5 years. Because of
this lengthy period of dependency on mother, as well as their extremely
social and emotional nature, it is not surprising that chimpanzees would
exhibit behaviors in response to maternal abandonment, emotional abuse,
and isolation, which are similar to those that we find among emotionally
abused human children. Furthermore, Goodall has concluded from her
observations that the quality of parenting is the primary factor in the
emotional development of the chimpanzee infant and that it is highly
correlated with the quality of parenting that the female child will later
give to her own children. This is more fully explored in the second article
in this series, in which the literature corroborating what has been termed
the "intergenerational transmission of abuse and neglect" is reviewed (see
Chernus, 2008).

THE MEANING OE "TRAUMA"

Because the term trauma is so widely used, it is important that we have
some sort of working definition. I propose that trauma be considered most
broadly as an assault on the self. An event is said to be "traumatic," or
more precisely "traumatogenic," when it is such that almost everyone will
be somehow psychologically affected by it, although in a diversity of
ways and with a wide range of recovery outcomes. Some individuals will
become permanently disabled, whereas others may fully recover their
preexisting equilibrium or even achieve an enhanced, more adaptive level
450 JOURNAL OF EMOTIONAL ABUSE

of functioning as a result of the working through of their traumatic experi-

ences. Trauma refers not to an external event itself, but rather to its
internal and subjective meaning to the individual, one that in some way is
so difficult to integrate that it induces a fragmentation in the structure of
the self (Chemus, 2005). The healthier the self, whether from good
endowment, excellent parenting, or both, the less easily traumatized a
person will be and the more likely he or she will be to successfully
recover from traumatic experiences. However, a traumatogenic event, by
definition, is such that we would anticipate that everyone would react to it
with some sort of internal disorganization.
How we deal with such an event depends on its current meaning to us,
as well as on how well we have previously dealt with similar traumatic
experiences. The degree of internal disruption is related both to the mag-
nitude and general meaning of the event (from personal and idiosyncratic,
to catastrophic, to global) and to what the individual brings to it in terms
of his or her developmental phase, history of earlier trauma and recovery,
and preexisting personality structure. Often, however, a current traumatic
experience reactivates the meanings of eariier traumas and thereby stimu-
lates painful and disturbing memories, so that affects from past traumas
may come to be reexperienced in the present. In a sense, then, we can say
that responses to trauma fall along a continuum from one extreme, in
which traumatized individuals exhibit Stereotypie behavioral symptoms
and/or long-term problems with both relationships and affect regulation,
to the other extreme, in which the degree of internal disruption is minimal
and the person heals through normal daily activities, which include
empathie interpersonal interactions. The lesser and less global the
external trigger(s), the more significant will be the contribution of the
individual's past history and premorbid personality in determining his or
her responses to the current traumatogenic event.
When adults are traumatized, not only do their characterological
defenses fail to maintain an inner state of psychological integration but
they also experience changes on a neurological level concomitant with the
psychophysiological symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD),
especially with regard to the typical pattern of coexisting and/or alternat-
ing intrusive thoughts and psychic numbing. Although these desperate
defensive measures are intended to protect the fragile self from the full
impact of the meaning of the trauma, their global and highly charged nature
secondarily causes normal affects to lose their functions as signals, so that
only the extremes of the spectrum, psychic numbing or overwhelmingly
intense affect, are experienced (van der Kolk, 1993). Furthermore, given
 Linda A. Chernus 451

the vast array of potential physiological and psychological responses to

acute trauma, it is not surprising that there are so many different clinical
presentations among traumatized individuals, as well as such a diversity
of means through which they heal from what may externally look like the
same traumatogenic event (see Chemus, 2005).
When we explore the variable of preexisting functioning, it appears
that individuals with a strong sense of self, who are not especially frag-
mentation prone, will also be likely to have a relatively good capacity to
use a variety of selfobjects, including people and experiences, to heal
from the impact of traumatic experiences. As Omstein (2003) has under-
scored, recovery from trauma necessitates that we move beyond feelings
of numbness, so that we can gradually be more capable of tolerating our
psychological pain without becoming overwhelmed and thereby further
traumatized by it. This requires some prior degree of self-cohesion, which
results indirectly from our past histories of successfully utilizing avail-
able, empathically responsive selfobjects. Ironically, then, those of us
who are most powerfully affected by traumatizing experiences often have
the least capacity to utilize available selfobjects to aid in our recovery.
Recovery from trauma thus appears to be predicated on our capacity to
utilize selfobjects for healing, as well as on the availability of needed
selfobject functions, both in the form of empathically responsive people
and personally meaningful life experiences.

THE UNIQUE IMPACT OF TRAUMATIC EVENTS

DURING CHILDHOOD

It is important to recognize that traumatic experiences affect children

differently than adults, tn contrast to psychologically healthy adults,
where the permanent underlying structure of the self is not generally
affected by the meaning of the trauma, children may be particularly vul-
nerable to fragmentation of the self, depending on their developmental
phase and the degree to which the self has become consolidated. Further-
more, we now know that vulnerable stages in the child's psychosocial
development are grounded in specific biological processes that occur
during the maturation of the central nervous system (van der Kolk, 1987).
As a result of this neuropsychological vulnerability, dissociative and
other severe symptoms are often used as emergency measures in response
to acute trauma, thus further disrupting normal brain and nervous system
development. They may then become components in the structuralization
452 JOURNAL OF EMOTIONAL ABUSE

of the traumatized self, leaving the child permanently more prone to frag-
mentation and/or regression.
In light of the powerful, long-term impact of trauma on the develop-
ment of the fabric of the child's physiologically and psychologically more
vulnerable self, we cannot fully understand recovery from trauma in
adults without also understanding its childhood antecedents. Much can be
learned from observing the responses of nonhuman primates, both those
at sanctuaries such as MONA and those studied in the primate literature,
which are comprehensively reviewed in a subsequent article (Chernus,
2008). Furthermore, several psychoanalytic theorists have increasingly
emphasized how emotional abuse in children can produce lifelong diffi-
culties with affect regulation, rendering the individual more vulnerable
than many other adults to fragmentation and other painful responses to
traumatogenic events (Dick, 2004; G. Dick, personal communication,
February 2006; van der Kolk, 1993).
We are increasingly recognizing that emotional abuse during child-
hood specifically affects the developing self of the child, often resulting
in dissociative and/or psychotic-like symptomatology and an inability to
form emotionally intimate, mutually growth-promoting relationships.
Perhaps it would be helpful to conceptualize the impact of emotional
abuse on the child as creating a pervasive form of "chronic developmental
trauma," one in which the child has to go to extraordinary lengths in order
to maintain a needed idealization of his or her parents. This is sometimes
manifested in symptoms that may appear psychotic, in light of the
"stretch" required in order to idealize severely disturbed and/or abusive
caretakers. Furthermore, because traumatic experiences affect both the
psychological structure of the child's developing personality and the phys-
iological structuralization of the entire nervous system, emotional child
abuse can also produce chronic developmental delays and/or distortions.
In my clinical experience, childhood emotional abuse can also lead to
ongoing dissociative symptoms, which may subsequently interfere with
the development of an integrated and cohesive sense of self by adoles-
cence. The child lacks the internal structures with which to integrate
traumatic affects and experiences and to successfully repel future assaults
on the self. In a sense, the child can be said to be experiencing traumatiza-
tion of the structure of the developing (and therefore especially vulnera-
ble) self, manifested by a propensity toward psychic fiooding and/or
dissociative symptoms, which in tum further interfere with the development
of an integrated, cohesive sense of self. As a result, such individuals become
adults exhibiting residual symptoms of childhood traumatization, including
 Linda A. Chernus 453

dissociation, an inner sense of deadness, nightmares, self-injurious behav-

iors, and an elevated incidence of substance abuse (Chernus, 2003). As
we shall see, similar behaviors were displayed by the chimpanzees
I observed, who had also experienced maternal loss, social isolation, and
other forms of emotional and physical abuse.
It is now generally accepted in the literature that children are trauma-
tized more readily, although differently, than adults. The Chowchilla
studies demonstrated that, 4 years after their traumatic bus incident, all of
the children still had some symptoms of PTSD, even though this particu-
lar traumatic experience did not involve betrayal by their caretakers (Terr,
1983). When caretakers are the perpetrators, however, the meaning of the
trauma is even more frightening and insidious, because the child's pri-
mary source of safety has itself become dangerous, generating a feeling of
massive betrayal and subsequent isolation in coping with the experience,
let alone recovering from its traumatic impact.
In examining another factor contributing to the uniqueness of child-
hood trauma, we find that traumatogenic experiences affect the child's
brain differently than the adult's (see Pynoos, Steinberg, & Goenjian,
1996). Traumatic experiences impair the brain's capacity to create an inte-
grated whole, just as they interfere with the psychological integration of the
self (van der Kolk, 1987). Thus, recent neurobiological findings increas-
ingly converge with the findings of psychoanalytic attachment theorists
about the importance of early relationships in the development of a healthy
and integrated self, one that can cope adequately with life's vicissitudes.
I agree with van der Kolk in his differentiation between (a) chronic
childhood experiences of poor affect attunement, which lead to disorga-
nized or disoriented attachment patterns and impaired capacity for affect
modulation in the child, and (b) experiences of distinct, isolated traumati-
zation, which tend to produce reactions to reminders of the trauma, with-
out necessarily deeply affecting the developing structure of the child's
self (van der Kolk, 1994). However, chronic abuse and neglect, especially
emotional abuse, are more common than isolated traumatic experiences
and can deeply affect ongoing psychological development even if the
child does not manifest obvious behavioral symptoms indicative of
traumatization, such as rocking, self-mutilation, and other Stereotypie
behaviors. This was noted in my observations at MONA, where all of the
formerly abused chimpanzees had initially displayed interpersonal
problems, although not all of them had exhibited specific Stereotypie
behavioral symptoms of traumatization upon their arrival at the recovery
center (C. Valsera, personal communication, July 2005).
454 JOURNAL OF EMOTIONAL ABUSE

In reviewing the psychoanalytic literature on child abuse and neglect,

we find some studies specifically addressing the impact of failure of
attachment, traumatic separation, and abandonment on the developing
psyche of the child. Abandonment can be conceptualized as a unique,
highly specific subtype of childhood emotional abuse, which powerfully
affects the structure of the child's self precisely because its development
requires a consistent and ongoing connection with a caregiver (van der
Kolk, 1987). Loss of contact, even more so than abuse by a parent who is
overly, albeit pathologically, involved with the child, deprives the child of
those mirroring and idealizing functions that are crucial to his or her feel-
ing safe and valued. This constitutes what I have called the "separation/
abandonment/isolation" syndrome.
Premature mother-child separation may also strongly affect the
mother, especially if she herself was similarly traumatized as a child.
A high percentage of mothers who commit filicide, that is, the murder of
their children, are either acutely psychotic at the time of the act or suffer-
ing from the long-term characterologic effects of their own emotionally
nonresponsive, abusive, and/or abandoning parents (Chemus, 1996). As a
result, they cannot tolerate their child's emotional pain, which threatens
their by now structuralized defenses against reexperiencing their own
painful childhood states. In many such instances, the murder of the child
represents an effort by the previously abused mother to squelch those
feelings in the child that resonate with her own intolerable affects. On a
conscious level, this is manifested by her frequently stated desire to spare
the child the pain she herself has experienced in her own life (Chemus,
1996).
van der Kolk (1993) has suggested that the biopsychosocial impact of
such developmental trauma during childhood can perhaps best be studied
in nonhuman primates, especially in regard to how it affects the adult's
capacity to cope with traumatic events and the quality of his or her long-
term relationships, van der Kolk has reviewed and summarized research
conducted with rhesus monkeys who had exhibited symptoms of trauma-
tization following separation from their mothers. They became more
aggressive and were subsequently much more likely to be abusive with
their own infants. Another study discussed by van der Kolk (1993) sug-
gested that infant macaques experienced stages of response to separations
from mother similar to those which have been conceptualized in
Bowlby's classic works on early childhood separation (Bowlby, 1969,
1973, 1977). They displayed a period of agitation and protest, followed
by a stage of withdrawal and despair, and eventually leading to a chronic
 Linda A. Chernus 455

state of total detachment. This literature is fully reviewed in a second arti-

cle (see Chemus, 2008); however, it is clear that psychoanalytic theorists
are beginning to recognize both the value and the validity of studying
nonhuman primates in order to more fully understand our own psycholog-
ical development.

MONA: A THERAPEUTIC COMMUNITY FOR RECOVERY

FROM SEPARATION/ABANDONMENT/ISOLATION
TRAUMA

Although several dozen sanctuaries for abused and neglected primates

exist throughout the worid, I was initially impressed with MONA because
of its philosophy of creating as natural an environment as possible, rather
than one in which the chimps would be encouraged to remain dependent
on human contact for their physical and emotional care. Furthermore, the
"architects" of MONA seem to have had a sophisticated and profound
understanding of the need for what I have called a "selfobject milieu," in
which the chimps could utilize the psychological strength and empathy of
one another to heal from their traumatic abuse.
Although the MONA foundation was established in the year 2000, its
origins go back to 1984, when a British couple, Simon and Peggy
Templer, created a small sanctuary in Catalonia, a province in northern
Spain, in order to "re-home" chimpanzees who had been stolen and used
illegally by beach photographers for the tourist trade (O. Feliu, personal
communication, July 2005). Although this project ended in 1996,
Dr. Olga Feliu, a veterinarian who had worked with the Templers, estab-
lished a permanent sanctuary with the aims of ending the exploitation of
primates held in captivity, educating the general public about primates,
and conducting research on the impact of their emotional abuse and pro-
cess of recovery. This was urgently needed because of the growing illegal
chimpanzee trade between West Africa and Spain during the 1970s and
1980s (O. Feliu, personal communication, July 2005). By 2001, the
sanctuary had been officially approved by Spanish customs officials as a
national center for the rescue and rehabilitation of illegally held primates,
and the first group, consisting of six chimpanzees who had been housed
together in the filthy truck bed of a former circus owner, arrived at
MONA.
Within the sanctuary, the chimpanzees were initially housed together,
but were soon physically separated into two units, one resembling a
456 JOURNAL OF EMOTIONAL ABUSE

family group and the other an all-male, "bachelor" group. In addition to

their inside living quarters, since 2004 the two groups have shared a 5,600
square meter outdoor area, divided in half by a wire fence, which is designed
to recreate as fully as possible their natural grassland habitat. Although
humans who are knowledgeable about chimpanzees control the environment
(e.g., by obtaining, preparing, and offering them carefully balanced nutri-
tion), the food is dispersed throughout their habitat so that they must forage
for it rather than be directly dependent on humans for obtaining it.
The staff at MONA has also learned how to group the animals so as to
promote healing. The family group functions much like an ideal human
family, with the youngsters receiving enriched nurturance because of the
positive emotional involvement of two adults, something nonexistent in
the wild, where fathers play no role in childcare and parents do not
maintain long-term relationships. Although a modification of their natural
lifestyles, the staff felt that its therapeutic benefit outweighed any
negative considerations (O. Feliu, personal communication, July 2005).
The adult male group functions somewhat like a college fraternity or
bachelor pad, with members generally supporting one another, yet at
times engaging in power struggles. Its structure provides a balance
between ongoing competition for alpha male status and the security of
knowing that your "brothers" will protect you from external danger.

THE MONA EXPERIENCE

In light of the previously mentioned information, I was delighted to

have an opportunity to work as a MONA volunteer during a period of
4 days. I hoped to observe the impact of premature separation from their
mothers and from their natural biopsychosocial environments, which was
probably further intensified by their subsequent prolonged social isolation
and physical confinement in small cages. My duties during those 4 days
were primarily to assist in food preparation, repair and maintenance of
their outdoor environment, and the cleaning of their cages. However, I
also had an opportunity to leam the basics of field research by carefully
observing the chimpanzees and recording my observations of their behav-
iors, especially their social interactions. I was then able to discuss my
observations with Dr. Feliu and other staff members, both formally and
over lengthy Spanish lunches, during which they would also reminisce
with one another about their experiences with the new arrivals and how
they adjusted to MONA.
 Linda A. Chernus 457

Although my observations appeared consistent with our psychoana-

lytic understanding of the impact of early childhood emotional abuse and
maternal loss in children, my findings are clearly on a small-scale, explor-
atory level and cannot be generalized to all chimpanzees in rescue sanctu-
aries, let alone to chimpanzees in the wild who have lost their mothers. In
addition, the relatively brief duration of my visit did not provide an
opportunity for some of the chimps to overcome their initial fearfulness in
response to a stranger, thus possibly affecting the behaviors I observed
when we were in close proximity. Furthermore, although gathering field
data is a rather straightforward, common sense process, given that I was a
novice and that so much was unfolding simultaneously in this large field,
my observations were clearly selective and necessarily subjective.

THE CHIMPANZEES A T MONA

Although all of these chimpanzees had been separated from their
mothers early in life, emotionally abused, kept in isolation, and subject to
a variety of other so-called humanizing experiences, my observations
confirmed both the parallels between the responses of humans and chimps
to early childhood abusive experiences and the similarities between them
in their capacity to utilize an empathically responsive peer environment
for recovery. The most commonly observed symptoms were rocking;
self-injurious behaviors, including hair-pulling, biting, and head-banging;
inappropriate and/or uncontrolled affect; and poor social skills. In addi-
tion, many exhibited extreme fearfulness and/or hyperaggressiveness,
behaviors also typical of chronically deprived and emotionally abused
children. Although the recovery process had fostered the development of
improved social skills in several of the chimpanzees by the time of my
visit, the information provided by the staff, both verbally (O. Feliu, per-
sonal communication, July 2005; C. Valsera, personal communication,
July 2005) and through their newsletters (Primates, 2002-2008),
indicated that all of them had exhibited at least some impairment in their
ability to initiate and sustain social interactions when they first arrived at
the sanctuary. Many of the 11 chimpanzees had also displayed reduced
levels of play and grooming, as compared to nonabused chimpanzees,
abnormal or absent sexual behavior, and an excessive dependence upon
humans (C. Valsera, personal communication, July 2005). My impression
was that their deprivation of maternal care had resulted in behaviors that
appear remarkably similar to those described in the self psychology
45« JOURNAL OF EMOTIONAL ABUSE

literature in infants and young children who did not receive adequate
maternal care, including preoccupation with the body and body products,
as well as Stereotypie behaviors providing needed self-stimulation and/or
self-soothing (e.g., see Beebe, Khoblauch, Rustin, & Sorter, 2005; Beebe
& Lachmann, 2002; Fraiberg, 1980).
In observing the individual chimpanzees, I considered several variables
accounting for their differences in both initial symptomatology and
capacity to utilize their selfobject milieu for recovery. These include
innate personality differences; the age of the chimpanzee when separated
from mother; the duration, nature, and severity of abuse and neglect; and
the sensitivity of caretakers in introducing them gradually to their "con-
specifics" and their new physical environment. I describe the histories
and discuss the behaviors of several of the chimpanzees, in order to
illustrate the range of both symptomatology and recovery exhibited by the
entire cohort. Unless otherwise noted, information about their
backgrounds has been obtained from Primates, the newsletter of the
MONA Foundation (2002-2008).

Romie
Romie, the only adult female at MONA, arrived with the initial group
of chimpanzees in February 2001. Bom in an African jungle, she was
separated from her mother as an infant, but was reportedly 28 years of age
when she was captured by a photographer from the Canary Islands. He
later sold her to a former circus owner in Valencia, Spain, who kept her
and eight other chimpanzees in his truck bed. Her life experience was
uniquely traumatic because, in addition to being separated from her
mother and isolated in a small cage, Romie had been used for many years
as a baby machine, producing many infants who were taken from her
shortly after birth to be sold and trained for the entertainment industry
(L. Docherty, personal communication, March 2(X)6). One would imagine
that these traumatic losses would have reactivated her own abandonment
affects from childhood and thus might interfere with her capacity to
become a mother to them. Yet her early introduction to her "adoptive"
children at MONA and her eventual reunion with own biological children
enabled her to very quickly "remember" mothering and overcome her
traumatization. She was thus able to bond deeply with them. In exploring
this more closely, however, 1 learned that when Romie first arrived, she
was very inactive, severely depressed, and fearful of humans (C. Valsera,
personal communication, July 2(X)5). Valsera described how Romie became
 Linda A. Chernus 459

much more physically active a few months after the arrival of the first
young chimps, whom she gradually adopted. She initially did not know
how to relate to them but was observed to learn very rapidly (C. Valsera,
personal communication, July 2005).
Following cataract surgery in 2003, Romie's relationships with her
male "co-parent" and her four children further improved. A few weeks
later, Juanito, age one, arrived at MONA, and Romie bonded with him
immediately. A few months later, Romie was reunited with two of her
biological children, Sara, age six, and Nico, age four, who arrived at
MONA in early 2004. She also bonded readily with them, but, perhaps
because of traumatic memory traces of having lost them, does not appear
to have recognized them as her own biological children (C. Valsera,
personal communication, July 2005).
Romie has also been able to establish an ongoing, mutually nurturing
relationship with an adult male chimpanzee, Toto. Although pair bonding
does not occur among chimpanzees in the wild, Romie's capacity to
engage in a long-term relationship with Toto has been extremely thera-
peutic for both, as well as generally enriching the therapeutic value of the
social environment for the five youngsters, who greatly enjoy playing
with Toto, as well as the extra attention they receive from two devoted
parents.
Another indication of Romie's traumatization was her reluctance to
explore the new, large outdoor area, which was constructed so that the
chimpanzees could enjoy a natural grassland habitat (O. Feliu, personal
communication, July 2(M)5). Romie was the last chimpanzee in the family
group to venture out, after standing for 4 months at the door leading to the
outdoor area. Once she did so, however, Feliu witnessed how Romie
seemed to enjoy it greatly and delight in the increased freedom of
movement it provided for her and her children (O. Feliu, personal
communication, July 2005).
In observing Romie, I noted that she is extremely affectionate, constantly
giving hugs and kisses to both her children and to Toto. She does not relate
much to humans, is very independent, and is keenly interested in everything
happening in her chimpanzee environment. I also noticed how closely she
watched while two of the youngsters used sticks to retrieve termites, and
how she later intervened in a conflict between her children. She has appar-
ently been able to recover almost completely from the many ways in which
she has been traumatized, so that she derives emotional comfort, strength,
and satisfaction primarily from her mothering relationships and her rela-
tionship with Toto, rather than from her human caregivers.
460 JOURNAL OF EMOTIONAL ABUSE

Waty
One of the youngest chimps adopted by Romie, Waty was bom in
1996, confiscated from a traveling circus by the Spanish authorities, and
kept illegally in an extremely small and dark cage, so small that she was
unable to stand up in it. Upon arrival at MONA, she was reportedly very
nervous and completely unable to interact with Romie and her new
brother. Bongo (O. Feliu, personal communication, July 2005). Dr. Feliu
also described her as having been very boisterous and restless, but noted
that she has become more relaxed since the arrival of the younger chimps.
During my visit, all of the workers at MONA referred to her as either a
"prima donna" or a "top model," because of her long, lean appearance,
her quick, agile behavior, and her provocative and exhibitionistic
behavior toward visitors. I also noted Waty's preferential treatment of
males over females, which had a distinctly flirtatious quality.
Despite Waty's somewhat hyperactive behavior, indicative of her prior
traumatization, it appears that the sensitivity of the MONA staff to
Waty's initially severe anxiety has been very helpful in her long-term
social adjustment. The staff decided to introduce her last to the other
chimps, providing her with an extended period of one-on-one contact
with her human caretakers, which served as a gradual transition to her
being able to relate to the other chimpanzees in the family group
(C. Valsera, personal communication, July 2005). As a result, despite her
initial difficulty interacting with any chimpanzees, Waty has actually
developed a close friendship with her sister, Sara, who is 1 year younger,
and has also gradually learned to identify with and emulate Romie, her
adopted mother (C. Valsera, personal communication, July 2005). She
has increasingly been able to make use of her relationships with the other
chimps to serve functions that have stabilized her fragmented self and
helped to reduced her anxiety.
Over the past several years, however, Waty's caretakers have recog-
nized that she becomes initially anxious and subsequently aggressive
toward new members of the group if they are introduced to her individu-
ally, as is customarily done (C. Valsera, personal communication, January
2008). Although individual introductions have generally been helpful to
the other chimps, the staff observed that Waty was only able to accept a
new group member if the new chimpanzee had first become integrated
with the other chimpanzees in the group (C. Valsera, personal communi-
cation, January 2008). This suggests that the social symptoms of her
previous traumatization continue, to some extent, so that a one-on-one
 Linda A. Chernus 461

introduction to a new chimpanzee provokes extreme anxiety and fear, to

which she responds aggressively. Perhaps it is precisely because Waty
has bonded so well with the family group as a whole that the new
chimpanzee is not a "stranger" if he or she has already become a part of
the group. This is a beautiful example of how the group can serve
selfobject functions for the traumatized individual as a source of twinship,
strength, and mirroring.
During my observations of Waty, it was difficult to follow her contin-
ual rapid movements. She outwardly appeared to be very self-confident in
relating to her peers, although somewhat aggressive in her behavior
toward humans. She would at times spit if we got too close to the fence,
an act that seemed to be both a means of creating distance between herself
and her caregivers and an expression of her playfulness, which she has
been increasingly displaying in numerous ways with her chimpanzee
family members (C. Valsera, personal communication, January 2008).
Although Waty appears to have made an adequate social adjustment,
she is clearly somewhat hyperactive and displays symptoms of anxiety
that are probably remnants of her prior traumatization. It is difficult to
differentiate this from what may indeed be in part her own individual
temperament, yet I sense that she has probably reached a plateau in her
recovery between my visit in 2005 and my more recent contacts with
MONA (C. Valsera, personal communication, January 2008).

Sara
In early 2004, 3 months after infant Juanito joined the family group, Sara,
age six, and her brother Nico, age four, arrived at MONA. Both were found
locked in a cramped, dirty cage in the home of the same former circus
owner who kept Romie and several of the other chimps in an old truck.
Romie's biological children, they had been separated from her soon after
birth to be "humanized," so that they could be more easily trained for use in
television commercials. When their situation became known to Spanish
authorities, a 3-year battle ensued, involving many foster home placements,
until they eventually arrived at MONA. Valsera (personal communication,
July 2005) recalled that Sara had three broken ribs and was in "very bad
shape physically." She was also psychologically traumatized from having
been repeatedly dressed in diapers to play the role of a baby in "The Martian
Chronicles" (C. Valsera, personal communication, July 2005).
Despite being biological siblings with close genetic ties as well as
victims of the same traumatic early life experiences, it is important to note
462 JOURNAL OE EMOTIONAL ABUSE

both how differently Sara and Nico were affected by their traumatic expe-
riences and how differently they have subsequently been able to utilize
the therapeutic environment at MONA. Sara, more than any of the other
chimps at MONA, has continued to exhibit many of the classic symptoms
we find in children who have been abandoned, isolated, and emotionally
abused. Since her arrival at MONA, she has been observed to rock almost
constantly and to engage in a variety of other Stereotypie behaviors,
including repetitive head and arm movements (C. Valsera, personal com-
munication, July 2005). Furthermore, Dr. Feliu (personal communication,
July 2005) believes that Sara has never recognized Romie as her
biological mother.
Despite the severity of these symptoms, however, Sara reportedly
adjusted quickly to the family group and has developed and maintained
stable relationships within it (C. Valsera, personal communication, July
2005). She has also responded more positively than her brother Nico to
the therapeutic environment in the important process of being able to
gradually shift her allegiance from people to her fellow chimpanzees
(L. Docherty, personal communication, March 2006).
It appears that Sara has made excellent use of the selfobject compo-
nents in her therapeutic environment to recover from the social symptoms
of her prior traumatization, yet she still continues to rock and display
other Stereotypie behaviors. This suggests that chimpanzees may respond
differentially to the therapeutic environment in different areas of their
symptomatology, which in part may be based on their preexisting func-
tioning and innate endowment. It is also possible that the behavioral
symptoms of Sara's traumatization may have become so internalized that
they continue despite the tremendous improvement in her social skills
and, more specifically, her capacity to utilize chimpanzees, rather than
humans to serve needed selfobject functions. This is consistent with
some of the laboratory research studies, which have found that persevera-
tive and Stereotypie behaviors may continue long after the cessation of the
abuse, despite reportedly significant improvement in social functioning
(see Novak & Sackett, 2006; Pazol & Bloomsmith, 1993; Spijkerman,
Dienske, van Hooff, & Jens, 1994).

Nico
Nico has had much more difficulty than Sara adjusting to his new
chimpanzee family and has continued to remain much more dependent
than Sara on human contact for meeting his emotional and social needs.
 Linda A. Chernus 463

Eight months after his arrival at MONA, Nico was still responded to
aggressively by Waty and Toto, and was not fully accepted into the group
(C. Valsera, personal communication, July 2005). By the time of my visit
in 2005, however, Nico appeared to be integrated into the family group
and was treated well by his peers and his adoptive "father."
In addition to Nico's initially poor social adjustment, he began biting
his left hand a few days after he arrived at MONA. This behavior was
interpreted by staff as a form of both self- soothing and self-mutilation.
They also regarded this dangerous behavior as a means of attracting their
attention, so the decision was made to set up a 24-hour human watch to
try to intercept it, as well as to provide the needed emotional responsive-
ness underlying this symptom. However, not only did this decision
reinforce Nico's tendency to rely on humans rather than his fellow
chimpanzees, but it apparently was not fully successful in preventing
Nico from further harming himself. He began biting the little finger on his
left hand so severely that the joints became damaged and the finger was
eventually amputated.
Nico's self-mutilatory behaviors also exacerbated the social difficulties
he initially experienced during the process of introduction into the family
group (L. Docherty, personal communication, March 2006). He had been
kept isolated for many months in order for his wounds to heal, and only
thereafter was he introduced to his new family. Nevertheless, despite
careful planning, Nico became so agitated during this process that he
required sedation with Haldol and Mellaril. This had been completely
discontinued by the time of my visit, however.
During my observations of Nico, I noted that although he isolated him-
self from his family members far more than Sara, they nevertheless
seemed to like him and attempt to include him in their group activities.
Their behavior also suggested to me that they intuitively and empathically
sensed Nico's physical and emotional vulnerability and thus felt protec-
tive of him. The responses of his family members to his return from a visit
to the veterinarian were touchingly poignant. They were both overjoyed
and protective of Nico, jumping up and down, patting and grooming him,
and giving him hugs and kisses.
The many contrasts between Nico's and Sara's adjustment suggest to
us the role of individual differences in how chimpanzees respond to early
childhood emotional trauma and isolation. Although Sara, more than any
of the other chimps I observed, displays severe and apparently ongoing
rocking behaviors indicative of severe traumatization, she has neverthe-
less been able to transfer her allegiance from humans to her chimpanzee
464 JOURNAL OF EMOTIONAL ABUSE

family and has surprised the staff with how well she has been able to
adjust socially. The other chimpanzees appear to accept her, despite her
rocking and other Stereotypie behaviors. Nico, too, has displayed classic
symptoms of having been traumatized, especially in the form of self-
mutilation; however, his social adjustment has been more marginal that
Sara's and he has not been as successful as she in transferring his source
of selfobject need-meeting from humans to his fellow chimpanzees.
Although we cannot fully assess the many factors contributing to the
differences in their relative adjustments, this suggests that individual,
idiosyncratic factors play a significant role in how traumatization is inter-
nally experienced, the symptoms generated by it, and the process of
recovery from it.

Pancho
Pancho, a large male residing in the all-male group, was 12 years of
age when he arrived at MONA in March 2001 (C. Valsera, personal com-
munication, July 2005). He had been a television star when very young
and was one of the chimpanzees living in the truck bed in Valencia,
Spain. When he arrived at MONA, Pancho was in very poor health,
as described by staff (O. Feliu, personal communication, July 2005;
C. Valsera, personal communication, July 2005) and as seen in his
photographs. Because of malnutrition, he had very little hair on his body.
He also engaged in pulling out what little bit of hair remained on his head.
Furthermore, Pancho was noted to initially behave in an extremely com-
pliant, obsequious manner toward his human caretakers, as if he were
extremely fearful of punishment (C. Valsera, personal communication,
July 2005).
As he became more comfortable with his human and chimpanzee envi-
ronment, however, Pancho gradually developed into a very likable and
caring chimpanzee who was noted to be protective and empathie toward
his peers (C. Valsera, personal communication, July 2005). Yet he
remained very interested in both his human caretakers and visitors,
enjoyed talking and communicating with them, and generally received
positive responses from them. Valsera and the other staff noted how
Pancho said hello and goodbye to his caretakers every day and how
skillful he was in communicating his feelings and needs to them. He was
also very sensitive to how staff members felt about him, crying with joy
on one occasion when they prepared a special treat for him (C. Valsera,
personal communication, July 2005).
 Linda A. Chernus 465

Despite these many positive personality traits, Pancho nevertheless had

remained very fearful, even after 4 years at MONA. I noted that he would
run away at the sight of a tiny snail on the ground and that his timidity
predisposed him to be scapegoated by the other males. It was also clear
that Pancho was obsessed with food, probably related to his having been
rewarded and punished by his previous caretakers through the giving and
withholding of food. It is also possible that his relatively lengthy period of
abuse, in comparison with most of the other chimps at MONA, may have
contributed to the fairly strong persistence of these trauma-related
symptoms in Pancho. This may also be a factor in his relative failure to
shift his primary attachment from humans to his fellow chimpanzees,
despite his seemingly well-developed capacity for empathy towards his
fellow chimpanzees.
I was impressed with Pancho's problem-solving abilities. For example,
when we gave the chimps a frozen "dessert" we had prepared, containing
pieces of fruit within a large block of ice, Pancho was impatient to get to
the fruit. His solution was to take running water, which was available to
the chimps in the outdoor area, pour it over the ice, and thereby accelerate
the melting process.

DISCUSSION

The chimps who were affected by separation/abandonment/isolation

trauma utilized a variety of what self psychologists refer to as selfobjects
in order to recover from the long-term consequences of their prior abuse.
They displayed a range of symptoms and atypical behaviors, which
appeared to be related to several different factors, including innate
endowment, the nature and extent of the abuse, and the degree to which
they had contact with peers and mother surrogates during the period of
their abuse. Furthermore, parallel to this range of symptoms, they
displayed a range of styles of recovery.
Given the complexity of chimpanzee behavior and their capacity for
empathy, it should come as no surprise that my observations of the
chimpanzees at MONA are so congruent with the human literature on the
impact of maternal loss and isolation on young children. In addition,
however, as reviewed in a second article, these observations also fit with
the growing body of research regarding the impact of abandonment,
separation, and isolation in chimpanzees and other nonhuman primates
raised in laboratory settings, as well as several naturalistic studies of
466 JOURNAL OF EMOTIONAL ABUSE

chimpanzee behavior (see Coe, 1990; Goodall, 1986,1988; Nishida et al.,

2003). Although their symptoms are similar to those displayed by the
chimps at MONA, the consensus of the literature about laboratory-raised
chimps is that they also do not respond with a single, predictable pattern
of abnormal behavior to deprivation of matemal care and restrictive
rearing. Although rocking and self-clasping are the most commonly
observed stereotypes among restrictively reared chimpanzees, each
individual appears to develop his or her own idiosyncratic expression of
psychological disturbance (Davenport & Rogers, 1970; Walsh, Bramblett, &
Alford, 1982).
My observations of the chimpanzees at MONA are also congruent with
a growing theme in both the human trauma and the nonhuman primate
literature, namely the importance of the factor of social isolation follow-
ing premature loss of mothering. It appears that isolation following mater-
nal loss may indeed be the single most pathogenic factor leading to
Stereotypie behavioral symptoms and social maladjustment, a factor that
was prominent in the histories of all of the MONA chimpanzees. This
lends even further credence to the importance of the selfobject environ-
ment for recovery from such abuse, because it appears to be primarily
through the gradual intemalization of peer-based selfobject functioning
that both humans and chimpanzees can gradually recover from the
damage to the structure of the developing self caused by matemal
abandonment, early childhood emotional abuse, and isolation. Through
the development of healthy peer interactions in as natural a setting as pos-
sible, the chimpanzees at MONA have been able to improve in both their
Stereotypie behavioral symptoms of traumatization and their capacity for
gratifying peer interactions. They are confirming what van der Kolk
(1993, 1994) has said about human children by demonstrating that the
pathogenic effects of matemal loss and isolation can gradually be at least
partially reversed, if they are integrated into a social structure where they
can receive nurturance, sharing with peers, and learning from older
generations.
In conclusion, my work with the chimpanzees at MONA, victims of
separation/abandonment/isolation trauma, has convinced me that they
experience the same traumatic responses as have been described first by
Bowlby (1969, 1973, 1977) and subsequently by van der Kolk (1987,
1993, 1994) and others. The syndrome of separation/abandonment/
isolation trauma constitutes a unique and specific form of severe trau-
matic stress, which is traumatic by definition because both the nonhuman
primate and the human infant need the caretaker and others for not only
 Linda A. Chernus 467

their physical survival but also and especially their biopsychosocial

development and maturation (see van der Kolk & Fisher, 1994).
The implications of these findings for our work with abandoned and/or
otherwise emotionally abused children are enormous. We must be cogni-
zant of the broad range of symptomatology that may be displayed as a
result of such traumatic life experiences, as well as understanding the
specific meaning of symptomatic behaviors for each individual child. In
addition to individualizing our work with them, however, treatment pro-
grams should also provide a social structure within which the emotionally
traumatized child can obtain needed selfobject functions from both peers
and caretaking figures. In this way, internalization of these functions can
gradually lead to some amelioration of symptoms indicative of prior
traumatization. The goal of such an enriched environment would be to
facilitate the resumption of the growth and development of the child's
self. Ideally, this will gradually lead to the development of enhanced self-
cohesion. It is hoped that a natural process of growth can be resumed in
such a setting, one that can to a greater or lesser extent repair the damage
to the structure of the child's self.

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