Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT)

2692 Words6 Pages

For many humans, a pet provides unconditional love and affection. Others feel an overwhelming calming, happy feeling when they are around animals. According to The American Veterinary Medical Association, studies have shown that due to these positive emotions that are stirred, the presence of and interaction with animals can lower heart rates and blood pressure. Animals that meet specific training criteria can become an integral part of a treatment process for a variety of psychological and physiological problems. Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT), which can be provided in a group or individual settings, is designed to promote improvement in a human’s physical, social, emotional, or cognitive function. An article by Chitic, Rusu, and Szamoskozi (2012) provides an analysis in order to determine the value of AAT. Both dogs and horses that were trained for AAT were examined and studied to determine their effectiveness in treating patients with psychological disorders. The results showed that both therapy dogs and horses were valuable aids to the therapeutic process. The analysis suggests that proper training and repeated sessions were necessary for proper treatment of patients. In addition, certain disorders may benefit more than others in regards to AAT. For example, a child with ADHD may not benefit from a therapy dog’s presence, for it may worsen the hyperactive symptoms. On the other hand, a patient with depression may benefit greatly from the same animal (Chitic, Rusu, Szamoskozi, 2012). These findings are a perfect starting point to answering the research question: Do patients who engage in AAT display a betterment in their overall emotional well-being, as well as show improvement in their interpersonal interactions... ... middle of paper ... ...dren with Pervasive Developmental Disorders." Western Journal of Nursing Research 24.6 (2002): 657-70. Print. Motomura, Naoyasu, Takayoshi Yagi, and Hitomi Ohyama. "Animal Assisted Therapy for People with Dementia." Psychogeriatrics 4.2 (2004): 40-42. Print. Tyberg, Amy, and William H. Frishman. "Chapter 6 - Animal-Assisted Therapy."Complementary and Integrative Medicine in Pain Management. By Michael I. Weintraub, Ravinder Mamtani, and Marc S. Micozzi. New York: Springer Pub., 2008. 115-24. Print. O’Conner-Von, Susan. "Chapter 14 - Animal-Assisted Therapy."Complementary & Alternative Therapies in Nursing. New York: Springer, 2010. 207-23. Print. Zilcha-Mano, Sigal, Mario Mikulincer, and Phillip R. Shaver. "Pet in the Therapy Room: An Attachment Perspective on Animal-Assisted Therapy." Attachment & Human Development 13.6 (2011): 541-61. Print.

Show More
Related

  • Comparing Adlerian Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and Solution Focused Brief Therapy

    3630 Words  | 8 Pages

    Parker G, Roy K, Eyers K. Cognitive behavior therapy for depression? Choose horses for courses. Am J Psychiatry. 2003 May;160(5):825-34. Review.

    Read More

  • Pros And Cons Of Equine Therapy

    1602 Words  | 4 Pages

    Equine-assisted therapy, also known as equine therapy or equestrian therapy, is a type of animal-assisted therapy intended to teach, counsel, and/or rehabilitate people with disabilities. This type of experiential therapy includes activities such as: grooming and caring for, haltering and leading, tacking up, and riding horses. Each of those activities foster interactions between the rider or patient, and horse, building a bond between the human and horse. In a typical equestrian therapy setting, usually a dedicated therapeutic barn, a mental health professional and/or an “equine therapist can observe and interact with the patient in order to identify behavior patterns and process thoughts and emotions” (“What Is Equine Therapy?”). In some

    Read More

  • Medical Research with Animals Saves Lives

    1724 Words  | 4 Pages

    What would the world be like if there was no vaccine for polio? If there was no discovery of insulin? Thanks to animal research we don’t have to live without vaccines or insulin. Animal research is a topic debated everyday around the world. Some argue it is cruel to put animals through experiments that animals have no voice in what is being done to them. Others argue that animal testing is good because it collects a lot of information and helps with surgical techniques. I believe that without animal testing we would never know what we know now. Animal testing for medical research is necessary if there are no other alternatives because it allows for advances in medicine, provides treatments for people with diseases, it eliminates human suffering, and it also has helped treat diseases in animals. (Animal Research 2013)

    Read More

  • Animals in Biomedical Research

    1193 Words  | 3 Pages

    “How can otherwise decent citizens do these things? How can they become so insensitive to what they are doing? Don Barnes, who spent sixteen years as a biomedical scientist experimenting on animals, and now heads the Washington, DC office of the National Anti-Vivisection Society, calls the state in which he used to do his work 'conditioned ethical blindness'” (Singer and Gruen 78-80). As a former vivisector, Barnes worked with monkeys and would cut them open while they were still alive. With a primary interest of biological science, vivisectors performed experiments on living animals to advance the understanding of anatomy, physiology, pathology, and pharmacology. These studies are the few of many branches of biomedical science, the combination biology and medicine which mainly focuses on the health of both animals and humans. Animals are used as “models” for studying human biology and disease to understand basic biology, and as test subjects for the development of drugs, vaccines, antibodies and other medical treatments to improve and advance human health. As models, scientists aim to artificially produce a condition in a laboratory animal that may resemble the human equivalent of a medical disease or injury. Scientists may have good intentions but many do not realize that they are committing a great inhumanity as they continue to exploit animals for the “greater good”. Tom Regan came up with a similar conclusion:

    Read More

  • Animal-Assisted Therapy in a Mental Health Perspective

    1219 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Equine-Assisted Therapy

    1341 Words  | 3 Pages

    Equine Therapy is known to help improve motor skills and psychological developments in children. Borgi illustrates, “having a goal oriented interaction with horses has an improvement in mental well-being, sense of self efficacy, and self esteem. Positively affecting individuals quality of life and global learning. Targeting sensory and motor difficulties, makes effects

    Read More

  • Pet Therapy

    1081 Words  | 3 Pages

    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).

    Read More

  • Animal-Assisted Therapy

    1406 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Equine Assisted Learning

    1712 Words  | 4 Pages

    Equine Assisted Psychotherapy can be explained in many different ways. However, the basis of all of these definitions have been experimental approaches of working with people. What is meant by experimental approaches is that the client learns about his or her behaviors, feelings, and patterns though working with horses (Frewin, Gardiner, 2005). The clients can also learn about others in the group, if a group therapy session is held, in hopes to help the other with any behaviors they notice during the session. One thing that is worked on in Equine Assisted Psychotherapy is the setting and acknowledgement of boundary setting (Shultz, Remick-Barlow, Robbins, 2007) . Just like many humans, horses do not

    Read More

  • Animal Vet Research Paper

    255 Words  | 1 Pages

    There are a multitude of ways that veterinarians contribute to society. Vets work with research, food safety, lab animals, exotic animals, large animals, small animals, and more. Research brings medical, potentially life saving break throughs. Food safety keeps humans and animals safe and healthy. Exotic animal vet’s help with conservation and education. Large animal vet’s keep the meat animals and product animals, such as sheep and their wool, healthy. What is most important to me that veterinarians bring to society is keeping the bond between man and animal strong. Sixty-eight percent of US households has at least one pet. Our pets are what we go home to every night, they are pieces of us that makes us smile on bad days. As a vet, I help

    Read More

  • Equine Therapy Case Study

    2186 Words  | 5 Pages

    What do people think about when they are asked the question: What is role of a horse? Some may say that horses are for horseback riding or racing, while others may say that horses are for pulling a wagon. What about utilizing the assistance of a horse for psychotherapy? According to McVeigh (2012) equine therapy dates to 600 BC as documented by the Ancient Greeks. In 1875 it was documented that French physician Cassaign verbalized that equine therapy helped to treat certain neurological disorders (McVeigh, 2012). Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP) is an emerging and innovative form of psychotherapy that is becoming an increasingly popular treatment for mental health issues (Lee, Dakin, & McLure, 2016).

    Read More

  • The Benefits Of Animal Assisted Therapy

    250 Words  | 1 Pages

    Animal Assisted Therapy is a type of treatment used for patients who need assistance with their recoveries. Banks and Banks (2002) stated that AAT or Animal Assisted Therapy have helped increase patient’s self-awareness, and has minimized the fear of social anxiety. Animals that are associated with therapy are commonly used with patients who are in hospitals, nursing homes, and therapy sessions (Velde et al., 2005). When using AAT, it is important to consider the patients approval, (Banks and Banks, 2002) it is also important to note that the patient may have allergies to animals. The physician providing AAT should also provide a different method of assistance without the animals. Alternate accommodations should be available to patients who

    Read More

  • Animal Assisted Therapy

    491 Words  | 1 Pages

    It has been highly known that the bond between animals and human-kind is one of kind. Different types of animals have been introduced into health care institutions, hospitals, rehabilitation centers, nursing homes,correctional centers, and many other healthcare facility in order to help children, young adults, and elderly through their mental and developmental disorders. Animal therapy, also known as Animal-Assisted therapy and pet therapy, involves animals as the form of treatment for a patient’s disorder. improves a patient’s emotional, social, and cognitive function with the interaction with a variety of animals. Animal therapy should be the main use of therapy when dealing with patients with developmental disorders and mental disorders

    Read More

  • The Many Benefits of Pet Ownership

    953 Words  | 2 Pages

    “A dog is a man’s best friend” goes much deeper than the phrase might initially imply. Recently many medical journals have begun to identify with the many and varied benefits of pet ownership. Men have always relied upon animals for work, transportation, and survival. As times have changed, man has begun to appreciate a different bond with animals. Gone are the days of animals running free outside around the homestead, for now animals are allowed inside and are considered by many to be an integral part of our daily lives! Medical studies have found that animals have a much greater intelligence level than originally thought. Through proper training and experience, animals are not only household pets, but also are becoming an accepted form of medical treatment.

    Read More

  • Animal Welfare

    1665 Words  | 4 Pages

    Animal welfare is a fairly recent, yet troubling argument in society. This subject is a strong argument on a variety of opinions. Animal welfare has become a major issue and has grown internationally. The human concern and the safety and rights of animals is the meaning of the concept of animal welfare. Through decades of animal welfare, people fight to prevent the action of animal cruelty and bring help towards animal rights.

    Read More

More about Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT)

Open Document