I'm on day 14 of cycling a new 55gal tank. For the first week, I used shrimp pellets, and on day 8 I added a damsel.
My damsel looks very happy. He eats plenty, follows me around when I walk past the tank etc. He also has alot of fun with the 4 small hermits I put in there. He absolutely will not let them on the rock. As soon as they start climbing, he goes over and nudges them (he doesn't pick at them) until they fall back to the substrate. It is very amusing (I'm sure the hermits don't think so).
Anyway,my point is that I don't think my one damsel (named Wynn) is suffering. She seems very happy.