“Separation/Abandonment/Isolation Trauma:” What We Can Learn From Our Nonhuman Primate Relatives

ABSTRACT Building upon my prior work exploring the impact of childhood abandonment and isolation on chimpanzees and humans, this article discusses the relevance of nonhuman primate research to our understanding of this phenomenon in children. Both laboratory research and naturalistic studies have confirmed the strong commonalities in parenting between our 2 species and have reached similar conclusions regarding the long-term impact of maternal loss and subsequent isolation on nonhuman primates, conclusions that resonate fully with a self psychological understanding of how emotionally traumatized children are affected by such experiences. The article concludes with a discussion of what facilitates recovery and what we can learn from nonhuman primates about creating therapeutic environments for children who have been emotionally abused.