Treatment of self-injurious behavior in a chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) (2004)

Izard, K., Langner, P.

Abstract

A socially housed male chimpanzee presented with lacerations on a forearm which required veterinary intervention. The animal's records documented a ten-year history of SIB. Fluoxetine (Prozac), an anti-depressant used to treat obsessive-compulsive behavior in humans, was ultimately prescribed, after therapeutic diazepam failed to decrease SIB. Fluoxetine treatment decreased the number of reported incidents of SIB from an average of two per month to 0.4 per month. Severe SIB requiring veterinary intervention only once in two years of fluoxetine treatment. In the year prior to fluoxetine therapy, veterinary intervention was needed on five occasions.