Do animals treat their minds? From wild stories to lab-built realities

The case of Rakus, an orangutan observed treating a wound with medicinal leaves, exemplifies clear, observable animal self-medication and highlights a bias toward studying physically visible behaviors. In contrast, psychoactive self-medication-using substances to regulate internal states such as stress or fear-is harder to detect and interpret. Drawing on Torres et al. (2025), this paper evaluates evidence from anecdotal field observations and controlled laboratory studies. While animals are known to consume psychoactive substances, and experiments show stress-related increases in intake, results remain ambiguous and context-dependent. Criteria for identifying such behavior emphasize prior negative states, relevant pharmacology, and measurable behavioral change. Overall, psychoactive self-medication is plausible but unproven, requiring integrative approaches that combine ecological validity with experimental control. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).