ABSTRACT

Many acceptive and conceptive difficulties actually are proceptive in nature. In the case of a monkey with experimentally induced developmental deprivation, the animal can copulate, but approaching a mate is associated with fear

and ambivalence (Schwartz & Becklin, 1975). In the male monkey, this inhibition translates behaviorally into impulsive behavior, typically expressed by attacking mates violently. The female deprived similarly will bite her own body and cower. This model of differential effects of deprivation on male and female brains also holds true for humans (Stroufe, 1988). Stroufe found that avoidant boys were more likely to bully, lie, cheat, destroy things, brag, act cruelly, disrupt class, swear, tease, threaten, argue, and throw temper tantrums, whereas girls became depressed and blamed themselves. Early deprivation in both monkeys and humans (Putnam, 1997) is associated with definable biochemical changes in the brain and body that involve regulation of adrenal calechlamine, dopamine, and serotonin, as well as the opiate system, which seems to mediate and exacerbate dysfunctional responsiveness (cf. van der Kolk, 1989).