The Healing Power of Animals: Benefits of Animal-Assisted Therapy

Activities don’t call for a mental health professional, but simply count on the presence of the animal to bring comfort and therapeutic benefits. Therapy dogs in hospitals to cheer up patients, or therapy animals in senior centers for emotional support. Animal interventions have been studied for different pathologies including mental disorders [4] and cancer [5]. In particular, some interventions focused on frail patients as elderly [6], [7] or children [5], [8]. Furthermore, AAT and AAA are implemented in different settings like hospitals, nursing homes and schools [4], [5].

1. This can help patients approach and open up about difficult subjects that are essential to their healing.
2. The increase in oxytocin that happens during AAT suggests that there is a biological justification for AAT as a treatment model (Compitus, 2021b).
3. Characteristics of the retrieved studies regarding animal interventions for psychiatric inpatients.

What are the benefits of pet therapy?

This unique bond can help the child develop traits like patience, respect, empathy, acceptance, confidence, assertiveness, and responsibility. The unspoken communication between child and animal can foster verbal and nonverbal communication skills in the child. All of these attributes help children maintain secure and mutually respectful relationships during difficult times throughout their lives. Professionals administering or overseeing AAT might work with any type of animal, depending on the preferences and personal needs of a person in therapy. It is not a basis for the treatment of any condition and should only enhance or complement other treatment. It is not a replacement for other forms of therapy, such as psychotherapy or physical therapy.

What clinical trials reveal about the effectiveness of four-legged therapists.

Therapists should keep progress notes and periodically evaluate the treatment plan. Reflect is a great add-on to your current therapies or routines, and a way to incorporate a daily relaxation practice into your life. Get the help you need from a therapist near you–a FREE service from Psychology Today. Animal-assisted therapy is used to enhance and complement the benefits of traditional therapy. Some people going through rehabilitation for a drug use disorder may also respond well and have a greater sense of well-being when working with an animal.

Pet Therapy: How Animals And Humans Heal Each Other

Since more than 90 percent of people who are institutionalized due to dementia-related problems have agitation, this is a significant benefit for the patient as well as for the staff of nursing homes and memory care settings. In fact, their positive impact helps people raise their physical and mental health. Not only do they make our days more joyful, but animals can be the greatest healers, too. Just ask the college students to get ‘pup visits’ to lighten the exam stress. Or the healthcare practitioners getting comforted by dogs during a long, stressful pandemic. Or even the prison inmates that are less likely to relapse and re-offend because of some furry support.

She says she often brought her therapy dog along on child abuse cases at Family Court. Kreinberg says her dog helped connect with children who lost trust in adults due to abuse. This therapy utilizes the animal’s friendly, intelligent, and easily trainable acetaminophen and alcohol nature to benefit the person in recovery. The cost of AAT ranges from a few hundred dollars up to $10,000 depending on what animal is used and how it is used. The cost can be much less if the animal is just a small part of the overall therapeutic approach.

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Studies of AAT demonstrate these results in nearly all participants, regardless of age, the duration of the session, or the severity of symptoms. People who do not respond well to animal therapy or are not interested in trying it may ask about other options. They may not choose this type of therapy as it would cause them more stress.

The practitioner creates a formal treatment plan complete with therapeutic animal activities, patient goals, and ways to track the progress and effectiveness of the treatment. Therapy can be alcohol use disorder and depressive disorders pmc a trying time and emotional support animals give patients something to look forward to. They can be the motivation patients need to show up to sessions regularly (especially teenagers).

Support animals helped the participants feel safe and out of danger which made way for more mindful moments. And while emotional numbing is common for PTSD patients, animals helped bring out positive emotions and warmth from the participants. One study compared the effects of dog-assisted therapy with human-only therapy on senior care residents living with dementia. The group that used Animal Assisted Therapy showed better depression scores. Anyone considering animal therapy should discuss the process and how they may benefit from it with a doctor or mental health specialist. Some people may be allergic to the animals that commonly play a role in therapy.

Activities like grooming, petting, and other recreational group and individual activities are often combined with techniques from talk therapy to unpack your emotions and thinking patterns with less inhibition. Animals like horses also sense your emotions and mirror them back, offering people a way to talk about their own emotions without feeling as overwhelmed or judged. Your therapist should be qualified, experienced and a member of a professional body, such as BACP, which demonstrates they’re committed to working to high professional and ethical standards. What happens in a session will depend on you, the issues you’re bringing to therapy and the animal you’re working with.

Either way, you will bring joy to people as you help speed up healing and increase support for people in treatment settings. At the root of animal therapy is the bond that develops between individuals and animals – one that’s innately trustworthy and full of loving support (with no difficulties in breaking the ice). Typically, the animal’s handler brings the therapy animal into appointments and works closely with the doctor to help the patient progress on their healing journey. Animal-assisted therapy is rooted in the bond that can develop between people and animals. Animals can provide a sense of calm, comfort, or safety and divert attention away from a stressful situation and toward one that provides pleasure. Animals can help combat loneliness and boost social support, both through interactions with the animal and interactions that involve other people.

Even his most pessimistic providers acknowledged his intellect, quirky sense of humor, and great affinity for animals of all kinds. It was for this last reason that Jay’s aunt, his guardian caregiver, sought me out. She hoped that therapy involving animals might lure Jay into behavioral change. Because there aren’t specific tasks they need to learn, more types of animals can participate in animal-assisted therapy. Or, it may take a more active role, like when a therapy client interacts with the animal by grooming it or walking with it.

Indeed, Barker et al. did not find any difference in pain between intervention and control group in children [23]. The bond between the person in therapy and the animal grows throughout one or more visits. The therapist conducts the session once the person is comfortable with therapy animals. Therapy animals support people with psychological dependence on alcohol: physiological addiction symptoms emotional and mental health challenges. They may also support people with physical health conditions in coping with those conditions‘ emotional and mental components, or helping to reduce the amount of medication they take. There are many benefits of animal therapy that go well beyond feelings of comfort and emotional support.

Oxytocin also increases in humans when we spend time with animals; we naturally feel better when they are around (Compitus, 2021a). Your doctor or therapist managing your treatment will administer pet therapy. A trained handler, often the pet’s owner, will take the animal to every meeting and work under your doctor or therapist’s direction to help you reach your goals. Discussion of proper pet handling is needed to ensure the safety of both the person receiving treatment and the pet. Lefebvre et al. conducted a cross-sectional survey in the Ontario hospitals in order to assess the presence and characteristics of Canine Visitation Programs for inpatients. Moreover, the authors interviewed the dog handlers regarding the health protocols for AAA.

Animal-assisted therapy, also known as pet therapy, uses dogs and other animals, including horses, to help people as they recover from physical and mental health conditions. The companionship of the animal has proven benefits in both medical and psychological work. It is also important to note that emotional support animals and psychiatric service animals are not the same things. Where an emotional support animal may provide benefits to people with mental illness, psychiatric service animals are specially trained to perform specific tasks for people with psychiatric conditions.