Laurel Braitman

Author of “Animal Madness: How Anxious Dogs, Compulsive Parrots, and Elephants in Recovery Help Us Understand Ourselves.”

Contact: Website

Laurel Braitman studies the phenomena of mental illness in nonhuman animals. She believes that the shared experiences of certain mental disorders and emotional states--from the diagnosis of trichotillomania (or compulsive hair-plucking) in gorillas to separation anxiety in dogs to depression in cetaceans--calls for a new understanding of species relatedness. Her research, which is primarily historical and anthropological in nature, probes the socio-historical circumstances that have made identifying mental disorders in humans and other animals possible. Laurel has worked as a biologist and environmental conservation professional and her interests include not only the shifting relationships between humans and other creatures, but also how understandings of evolutionary relationships and species distinctions change our ideas of ourselves. She received her B.A. in Biology and Writing from Cornell University. Laurel's book on her research, ANIMAL MADNESS, is forthcoming with Simon and Schuster.

Laurel Braitman on KCRW

Humans aren’t the only living creatures to deal with mental illness.

Animal Madness

Humans aren’t the only living creatures to deal with mental illness.

from Press Play with Madeleine Brand

More from KCRW

On this episode of the Scheer Intelligence podcast, host Robert Scheer welcomes Maxwell L.

from Scheer Intelligence

The Los Angeles Rebellion gives queer men a platform to take competition seriously while finding their people.

from KCRW Features

The medical needs of those with intellectual and developmental disabilities are often ignored, and their care suffers.

from Second Opinion

The City of LA operates an alternative to policing that’s geared towards unhoused Angelenos. The aims: Cut LAPD involvement and find permanent homes for more people.

from KCRW Features

California has filed a lawsuit against Huntington Beach over its recently passed voter ID law.

from KCRW Features

Lost Notes introduces a pair of brothers - one from NASA, the other from Motown - who launched an entire musical universe from their Hollywood Hills hideout.

from Lost Notes

LACMA has signed on as a partner in the development of Las Vegas’ only standalone art museum. Pieces from LACMA will be on rotating loan in Vegas once the museum is complete.

from Press Play with Madeleine Brand

A landslide on Topanga Canyon Blvd. blocks access to Pacific Coast Highway, leading to three-hour commutes and potential catastrophe in fire season.

from KCRW Features

Erick Elliott ’s (a.k.a. Erick the Architect) first solo album, “I’ve Never Been Here Before,” features big-name collaborators like James Blake and George Clinton.

from Press Play with Madeleine Brand