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”...
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...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.
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.
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
The ESA stands for Emotional Support Animal. The Emotional Support Animal (ESA) letter is an essential document you require to prove that you are animal is an Emotional Support Animal (ESA). The Emotional Support Animal letter helps to get the treatment for your pet in an emergency condition. If you are pet is not get letter for the Emotional Support Animal, you cannot get any type of treatment from the LMHP (licensed mental health provider). This type of letter is to be provided for the LMHP (licensed mental health provider) like licensed therapist, psychologist, a psychiatrist and some of the other type of persons. The emotional support animal letter is issued based on the ACAA (Air Carrier
Frankie Trull. “Animals in Research is Critical to Continued Progress in Human Health.” Ed. Jeanne Williams. The Society for Advancement of Education: 1989. Print.
The Use of Non-Human Animals in Psychological Research. Animals used in research have proved to be an important factor for the uses of medicine, for example Flemming found the use of penicillin was an effective antibiotic when used on mice. Since 1822, legislation has limited how scientists use animals. In the UK, the use of animals in psychological investigations has been constrained by ethical and moral guidelines. Current UK legislation in The Animals Scientific Procedures Act 1986 states that all animal research must only take place in a laboratory that is institutionally funded.
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
“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
AAT is still a fairly new type of therapy but since one of the jobs of the animals is to provide affection and comfort a therapy animal is usually found in retirement homes, nursing homes, schools, hospices, disaster effected areas, hospitals and in places with people who have learning difficulties (GoodTherapy). Animal therapy takes advantage of the natural bond between ad animal and a human, therapists believe that when using animals there are significant emotional and transformation changes (GoodTherapy). Patients who are involved with AAT see physical improvements in their health such as: decreased stress levels, reduced anger and aggression, decreased hostility towards themselves and others, improved social skills, decreased heart rate and normal blood pressure levels, increase in endorphins, improved self-esteem, trust, patience and a sense of empowerment (GoodTherapy). Animal therapy will also be seen a lot with kids because often times they have a harder time trying to express their feelings or make connections with adults but they can connect with an animal. Therapy animals can teach a child patience, respect, empathy, acceptance, confidence, assertiveness and responsibility. No matter the age of the person who works with the therapy animals they know that no matter what happens they won’t be judged only be loved unconditionally and that’s something they don’t always feel from human therapists
As the animals are being passed out, the patients begin smiling, laughing, and talking to the animals. They stroke their coats, play with them, and feed them snacks that they have saved for this occasion. While the patients are interacting with other students and staff, two of the students begin making notes on the activities that are taking place in the room. The patients, staff, and students are clearly enjoying themselves, but there are greater benefits to be found here. Research has been done in the area of human-animal companionship and security, and stress management.
Arluke, A. (1994). Managing emotions in an animal shelter (pp. 145-165). Animals and human society.
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.
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...
What the dogs can do is to stop them from pursuing on their thoughts from their traumatic experiences. It as well aids them to feel less lonesome whenever they are by themselves.This could be an option for soldiers who preferably do without medicine and therapy. Some studies say that it is far more beneficial for treating PTSD. “PTSD: natural products, alternative traditional medicines, mind-body medicine, manipulative practices, and other alternative therapies that do not fit into the first four classifications…. Herbal supplements serve as a complementary or alternative treatment …. Herbal supplements can help treat both the symptoms of PTSD and physical ailments....” (Paragraph 5 in line 30 through 35 from Alternative Treatments.) This alternative method will greatly improve to persuade PTSD patients to use. Many or some minorities prefer this method, because some may believe taking medicine is intoxicating. Which this resulted in being difficult to treat in few cases. This way this can soothe the stress and body. This will also improve exponentially if they change their diet with healthier food. It will improve their mental state and body! All these alternatives can be treatable as long the patient is persuaded enough to get
“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.
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