Most people are familiar with service dogs and have seen them in action. Animal-assisted therapy is similar service animals in that an animal-human healing partnership is being created. However, the difference is that therapy pets are typically used to treat a mental disability whereas people with physical disabilities use service dogs to help them in many ways. Therapy animals are used in a wide variety of places, such as, hospitals, prisons, nursing homes, therapy sessions, mental healthcare facilities, and even in people’s homes. These amazing animals are used on a wide variety of different disorders, but they are utilized mostly by people suffering from depression, anxiety, and PTSD. For people with these mental health disorders, everything in live can be difficult and challenging, however with the help of animal-assisted therapy, their mood, motivation, and life can dramatically improve. Anyone who hears about these brave, loving animals soon falls in love with them. From a medical standpoint, there have been many successful studies and the support for animal-assisted therapy still continues to grow in doctors and therapists across the nation.
In 1961, Dr. Boris Levinson, a child psychologist, became the “accidental” pioneer for animal therapy. One day he left his dog, Jingles, alone with one of his young, uncommunicative patients. When Dr. Levinson came back, the child was smiling and talking to the dog (Altschiller 3). This just shows how quick and monumental the effect of an animal can be. He believed that therapy animals provided, “unconditional acceptance and love” and they offered “a secure and warm environment for children and other patients, increasing their ability to adapt better psychologically to other people”...
... middle of paper ...
...mal-assisted therapy. However, the research that has been done shows positive signs that animal-assisted therapy does work. Animal-assisted therapy deserves our attention now and in the future, because as Dr. Michael McCulloch, another researcher for animal therapy, once said, “If pet therapy offers hope for relief of human suffering, it is our professional obligation to explore every available avenue for its use” (Altschiller 5).
Works Cited
"Animal-Assisted Therapy." Animal Assisted Therapy, Exploring the Therapeutic Link between Animals and Humans. American Humane Association, 2013. Web. 13 Mar. 2014. .
Altschiller, Donald. Animal-Assisted Therapy. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood, 2011. Print.
Turner, Judith. “Pet Therapy.” The Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine. 4th edition. 2011. Print.
Several studies have examined the effects of dog ownership on people's physical and mental health. Dog ownership produces considerable health benefit and provides social support that encourages dog owners to walk (Cutt et al.2007 ). Pet owners appear to have lower systolic blood pressure and blood cholesterol levels(Anderson et al 1992). Pet owners with serious mental illness living in the community demonstrate higher social community integration(Zimalog and Krupa 2009). Socially excluded participants who performed in the presence of a dog report higher mental well-being compared with socially excluded participants who did not work in the presence of a dog (Nilüfer et al 2012). Although there is evidence suggesting that dog ownership can improve people's physical and mental health, there is little research documenting the psychological and behavioral effects of dog-assisted therapy, especially on elderly patients with dementia, who have dif...
“Do animals have emotions?” When animal lovers and pet owners are asked this question, the answer is a quick and definite, “Yes!” For others, the answer isn 't so simple. Many of the researchers that had reservations, spent their time wondering what dogs (and other animals) were capable of feeling, or if they were capable of feeling anything at all. Since these researchers were unable to put feelings under a microscope, their research lead no where, and they remained skeptics. To the contrary,Marc Bekoff, author of several books including The Emotional Lives of Animals: A Leading Scientist Explores Animal Joy, Sorrow, and Empathy and Why They Matter, begins his research three decades ago with the question, “What does it feel like to be a
positive changes since animal programs were introduced (Puppies). With all the love and attention the animals receive, they are likely to be adopted quicker because of improved behavior (Flynn). The animal programs also help the community by providing service dogs for law enforcement and people with disabilities, and save tax payers, who previously have been paying two billion doll...
Arluke, A. (1994). Managing emotions in an animal shelter (pp. 145-165). Animals and human society.
Research has been done in the area of human-animal companionship and security, and stress management. Due to the relative newness of this field and the difficulties in studying it, most research has been concentrated on the elderly, specifically, institutionalized elderly. Pets have been introduced into these settings in order to minimize the negative consequences of institutionalization. Most research has been conducted on the extreme ends of the continuum, either very brief visitation or therapy of resident pets studies (Wrinkler 216).
Animals always accompanied people in different activities. Thus, one of the animals that help people is a horse which is used for rehabilitation known as hippotherapy since the Hippocrates times. Hippotherapy is currently a very know method of rehabilitation used in many neurological, psychiatric and physical disorders on patients of all ages. In particular, it is often used as an element of a complex therapy for children so hippotherapy is a one form of rehabilitation which can help children to improve with physical and mental disorders.
In the field of therapy, there are numerous of therapy available out there for different type of individuals and situations as well. There is one type of therapy that usually contains people and animal, it is animal-assisted therapy is a therapeutic approach that brings animals and individuals with physical and/or emotional needs together to perform the therapy. Animal-assisted therapy tend to be focused on individuals either children or elderly for them to be able to connect with the animal thus feeling comfortable talking with the therapist. Pet therapy works for all ages, whether sick or not (Lanchnit, 2011). Although, this paper, most of the focus is on animal-assisted therapy towards children using dogs.
Due to pets having such a positive impact on overall health of people, animal assisted therapy (AAT) has been a growing field. Currently, Mayo Clinic has 28 certified therapy animals, on a volunteer basis, with the demand for AAT visits from physicians and patients increasing. To help grow the animal assisted therapy program, recruit more volunteers, and serve the patient’s needs first; we need to make the AAT program more well-known in the community. By expanding the AAT program and making it more robust, Mayo Clinic has the potential to set the standards for a quality AAT program in a hospital setting, but to also help patients have a more positive experience and a shorter stay while in the hospital.
In animal-assisted therapeutic programs, dogs have proved to be very useful (De Balogh et al., 1993) . They have been associated with survival
Animal-assisted therapy could have a significant effect on people's wellbeing such as depression, anxiety, mental disorders, and overall happiness. Bigger and longer studies may help in representing results better than those listed. We will hope to conclude whether animal-assisted therapy is a good form of therapy to use on college students with anxiety and depression. It is hypothesized that college students placed in the animal-assisted therapy, compared to those in the control group, will show lower scores of anxiety and depression.
Currently, I am a senior at the University of Nebraska at Omaha pursuing a dual major in Neuroscience and Psychology. I have always been interested in human-animal interactions from multiple perspectives including the psychological, sociological, personal and ethical perspectives. From a psychological perspective, I have studied the importance of animal-assisted therapies in various clinical disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). I have also studied human-animal interaction in the context of violent offenders and the associated cases of animal abuse. Furthermore, I have studied human-animal interactions from a behavioral psychological approach. Great behaviorist researchers such as Ivan Pavlov and B.F. Skinner made great strides in understanding human and animal behavior using classical and operant conditioning. Today, both classical and operant conditioning are commonly used in animal training. Last semester, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to use a Skinner Box and condition a lab rat using operant conditioning. It was an interesting experience for me; I was exposed to training and regulations proposed by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), which provided insight into the strict care and interactions mandated in animal research. Throughout my academic career, I have studied much research which utilized animal testing. I have performed dissections and profusions which forced me to personally analyze my own ethics and morals in regards to animal testing. In the Behavioral Neuroscience Lab here at UNO, we conducted a behavioral experiment using lab rats. We then performed profusions, dissections, and prepared slides of the rats’ brains. It was very difficult for me to complete th...
This has led to the belief that dogs can provide company, affection and support to people who are going through a difficult time or who feel lonely. Dogs have aided humans in tasks such as hunting, livestock herding, and guarding. However, as society moved from small rural communities to increasingly large metropolitan areas, the dog’s role changed. Throughout the years a more specific type of canine has helped improve the quality of human life in many ways. These animals are known as therapy dogs. Therapy dogs have been tremendously helpful; providing physical and psychological stability for students and health patients, assisting federal governments to boost morale, and presently, studies are being done to substitute medication for therapy dogs.
"AAT is a goal-directed intervention in which an animal that meets specific criteria is an integral part of the treatment process. AAT is directed and/or delivered by a health/human service professional with specialized expertise, and within the scope of practice of his/her profession.” (Pet Partners 1) Although most people think that the only animal used in animal-assisted therapy is a dog, there are other animals that can be used for the animal-assisted therapy. Some people may also think that animals in animal-assisted therapy are service animals but they are not. Animals that participate in animal-assisted therapy work with their professional handler and the client unlike service animals who work with their individual owner. There is a wide variety of animals that can be used for animal-assisted therapy and the types o...
For all the pain, there’s a great deal of joy when they see animals learn to trust, open up and begin to bloom. And though it’s hard to say goodbye to an animal you’ve looked after and become attached
Since animals, especially dogs, share similar emotions as people they to make great companions. Animals do show us how to love better, because their emotions are more pure than a human's. According to Mary Lou Randour, in "What Animals Can Teach Us About Spirituality", animals are spiritual companions to humans. She tells the story of a boy who, after murdering someone, receives a dog to care for as a form of therapy. The dog comforts him, and the teenager learns to love the animal over time. The boy's pet is "healing his soul" by teaching him how to love. Dogs give their masters unconditional love, never questioning the human's orders or disciplines. I thought the story of the dog appearing in the author's backyard as her dead grandfather was rather outlandish. All of Randour's examples of how animals influence our feelings were viable aside from the disappearing ghost dog.