Animal-Assisted Therapy: The Benefits Of Pet Therapy

2484 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The effect of pet ownership

Suffering from severe depression with constant dark thoughts and no interest in life was how Gabriel felt back in 2013. With no motivation to leave the house and consistent suicidal thoughts, he was at a very low point in his life. During this difficult time, Gabriel started taking care of a puppy named Nick that was put up for adoption. The puppy was so weak when he was born that he almost died, and Gabriel knew he had to do something to help. As soon as he saw Nick, his heart instantly filled with joy and he knew he had to put his problems aside to help the ailing dog. “Having Nick around every day was slowly curing me of my depression. I thought I was saving his life, but he ended up saving mine instead,” says Gabriel. He became so focused …show more content…

Disorders such as depression can lead to low levels of energy and lack of motivation. Depression affects about 19 million Americans, or about 9.5% of the population. At some point in an individual’s life, it is estimated that 5%-10% of men and 10%-25% of women will become clinically depressed (“All About”). Although medication has been a common remedy to help treat depression, a more natural approach is the use of pet therapy. Pet therapy, also known as animal-assisted therapy, is most commonly seen in dogs. Other animals are utilized such as cats, dolphins, horses, and rabbits (“Therapy Animal”). Pet therapy, when seen in dogs, consists of service dogs, therapy dogs, and emotional support dogs. These three types of pet therapy dogs all serve different purposes but share a common goal in helping the life of their patient or …show more content…

The day she returned from inpatient therapy for depression, her dog cuddled with her and licked her tears away. Science has confirmed that pet therapy impacts people physically, mentally, and socially (Becker). In addition, it has proven effective in helping mental disorders such as anxiety and depression, as well as helping those with autism and dementia. Unfortunately, there is a stigma attached to mental illness and other disabilities. It is common for the handlers of a dog to face a large amount of scrutiny from others. People may be concerned with the individual's psychological stability as well as have doubts about the person's need for assistance from dog or an inability to accept those that are different (“Please Don’t Pet

Show More
Related

  • Therapy Dog Research Paper

    518 Words  | 2 Pages

    Some medical professionals do not believe that mental health patients can benefit from therapy dogs and go as far as saying it is a risk far as to say that it is a to the patient and compromise the patients ability to take care of the dog. When people who suffer with mental health issues qualify to get a therapy dog. The mental health patient is tested to see if they are capable of taking care of the dog. Those in need of assistance should use therapy dogs frequently do to the part of the benefits to using these pets to improve mental and emotional health as and physical health. Therapy dogs are beneficial to people who suffer from mental health issues by providing companionship as well as support. Some people with mental health issues have a hard time trusting others and need someone to talk to; Service dogs are important because to make they people with mental health problems feel better and help people with these disorders deal with their emotions.

    Read More

  • Service Dogs Should Be Allowed In Schools Essay

    732 Words  | 2 Pages

    Secondly, some people struggle with disabilities or severe mental illnesses and need a service dog because adults may draw attention away or even not focus on the problem at hand.

    Read More

  • Stop Puppy Mills! Adopt a Dog From a Shelter

    2961 Words  | 6 Pages

    A couple of emotional problems have been tested by researchers in 2011. This study was known as the Applied Animal Behaviour Science. This was the first quantitative data made about puppy mill dogs. The research was done on more than 1,100 dogs who had averagely had a new home for about two years. The research showed “The dogs were found to have s...

    Read More

  • 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

  • Pet Behavior Modification Essay

    726 Words  | 2 Pages

    Meta Description: Modifying your pet’s behavior can be challenging, but it can be accomplished. Here’s a quick rundown of techniques that work and how to avoid mistakes.

    Read More

  • The Effect of Dog Assisted Therapy on Elderly Patients with Dementia

    570 Words  | 2 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Informative Essay On Therapy Dogs

    557 Words  | 2 Pages

    A therapy dog is a dog that might be trained to provide affection and comfort people in hospitals,retirement homes,nursing homes,schools,hospices,disaster areas, and to people with autism. Therapy dogs are usually not assistance or service dogs. but can be one or both with some organizations. In the u.s. Therapy dogs are not service animals and are not afforded the same privileges as them. Institutions may invite. limit or prohibit access by therapy dogs. If allowed many institutions have rigorous requirements for therapy dogs. United States based Therapy Dogs International And the use of service dogs in their therapy dog program Service dogs perform tasks for persons with disabilities and have a legal right to accompany their owners in most

    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

  • Pet Therapy

    1081 Words  | 3 Pages

    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). Pet visitation programs for institutionalized elderly have found that patients often show great interest momentarily, but these effects are short-lived. The social response and involvement of the residents are only evident... ...

    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

  • Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT)

    2692 Words  | 6 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Pet Therapy Essay

    1032 Words  | 3 Pages

    Many people in the world today suffer with problems such as anxiety and depression. As a way to treat these problems, those people should use animal-assisted therapy. Animal-assisted therapy (also known as pet therapy) is used in many hospitals and is growing more every day.

    Read More

  • The Many Benefits of Pet Ownership

    953 Words  | 2 Pages

    Owning a pet can have many physical and mental health benefits. Medical studies show having a pet result's in lower blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and triglyceride levels. Pets have a role in cardiovascular health from lowering blood pressure, and they encourage psychosocial stability in owners, which further reduces the risk of heart disease. In the hectic and fast-paced world we live in today, pets are actually saving our lives. Pets provide an excuse to be active, dogs live an active lifestyle, wanting to play and run around outside. By making us more active and improving our health, dogs often provide a good workout! Instead of sitting on the couch being lazy, dogs are eager to transfer their energy and enthusiasm to the owner benefiting both dog and owner in many ways. Studies show that dogs demonstrate trust and provide comfort to the sick or elderly thus helping people to live longer and to be more positive as they age. Animal owners over 75 years of age have f...

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay: Should Kids Have Pets?

    1719 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the 21st century, depression, anxiety, and stress are at an all time high in society. More and more people are committing suicide and being diagnosed with mental health issues. More and more kids are beginning to get anxiety and stress issues at a young age. Sometimes, pets are the easiest for children to talk to about their issues. "Even though pets may not fully understand or respond verbally, the level of disclosure to pets was no less than to siblings...The fact that pets cannot understand or talk back may even be a benefit as it means they are completely non-judgmental. Your pet doesn't understand you. But they also totally understand you”(Dahl). Growing up with pets at such a young age, I was also a child that did this. It may not seem like it to adults, but sometimes a family pet really is easier for a child to talk to because they can’t really respond back. It gives a child a chance to rant about their issues without someone talking back or even tell them their issues aren’t

    Read More

  • The Advantages of Keeping pets

    444 Words  | 1 Pages

    Would you like to live a happy and productive life? Then get pets! I must admit it is hard to believe that domesticated animals can promote mental and physical health, but many studies have shown that they can. People who own pets have been known to lead longer and happier lives than those without them. As we get older, we become less active. The more inactive we become, the higher our risk of death. We therefore need something in our lives to keep us busy so we don’t die prematurely, and a pet is just the thing to do it. This is probably because of the companionship, exercise, and responsibility that they provide. On the other hand, you must find a pet that is compatible with you or with your life style. Maintaining good mental health is crucial for living a normal life.

    Read More

More about Animal-Assisted Therapy: The Benefits Of Pet Therapy

Open Document