Animal Assisted Therapy And Human Relations

Animal Assisted Therapy also known as animal-assisted therapy has been formally introduced to the world in the last ten years or so. Although animals have always been a place of comfort for a lot of people, scientists just began to realize the impact animals have on society. The world has begun to experiment with what animals can do to benefit human health. The most common type of animal-assisted therapy is equine-assisted therapy. Equines are horses. Equine-assisted therapy 's impact on minors who have mental health issues have led to a successful new type of therapy that includes multiple benefits. Equine-assisted therapy has worked well in is treating adolescents and children how to communicate and connect with others. Two big issues that animal-assisted therapy has been known to help is Autism and kids with attachment and social problems.

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.

Pet therapy is a way of comforting a patient. Although dogs are primarily used, they are not the only

Nepps, & Bruckno, (2014) and Souter & Miller,(2007) results were determined by pre/ post questionnaires and scales that viewed each participant mood before and after each session to see the outcome and effectiveness. It showed a dramatic increase in mood. It was also shown that that therapeutic alliance is enhanced with the addition of a therapy dog within a group setting with adult clients in a residential drug abuse treatment setting. Animal assisted therapy has also been shown to reduce feelings of anger and symptoms of PTSD, which can contribute to an overall improvement of mood and reduce depressive

For centuries people have known that animal companionship has brought many benefits to people’s lives. According to Kathryn Heimlich, of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the first known time a companion animal was used to aid in a therapy program was “York Retreat in England, an establishment founded by the Quakers for persons with mental illness” (Heimlich, 2001, p. 48). As stated by Heimlich, the first published reports of the benefits of animal-assisted therapy come from Psychologist Boris Levinson. Levinson “discovered that he could reach a disturbed child during therapy

Questions arise concerning the treatment of therapy dogs when visiting patients and whether animal-assisted therapy really works at all; however, those who disagree aren’t looking at the big picture. Animal-assisted therapy is both an ethical and effective therapy method due to its success in treating those with chronic diseases, disorders, and managing stress and anxiety. The varieties of cases regarding the success of therapy dog treatments far surmount the amount of cases saying otherwise. Animal-assisted therapy stems from the human-animal connection, one of the most unique and powerful bonds man has ever experienced. It is that connection that allows animal assisted therapy to be a critical part of everyone’s daily

Survivors of sexual abuse may reach a point in their lives where they find they need assistance from a professional in order to overcome the trauma of their experiences. Assisted animal therapy has been shown to make the task of having to recount painful and traumatic experiences much less daunting. Having an animal present in therapy sessions greatly increases the survivor’s ability to heal in a less threatening manner. An animal provides sympathy and comfort that are physically expressed without overstepping the therapist’s professional boundaries.

Many animals are used for therapy in various different settings. Horse riding was first used in the fifth centaury for the rehabilitation of wounded soldiers. Also to help patients or individuals adjust, horses for example, are used outdoors & dogs may be used indoors. The Delta Society defines Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) as “a goal-directed intervention in which an animal that meets specific criteria is an integral part of the treatment process.”

Animal assisted therapy includes all psychological theories and incorporates animals, such as dogs or horses, into a therapeutic treatment plan. It is used to enhance and complement traditional therapy methods, but it is not done by itself. Animal assisted therapy has been effectively used in individuals with autism, medical conditions, and trauma survivors. It may also be implemented for people with psychological disorders, such as depression, schizophrenia, and addiction. Depending on the type of therapy and the type of animal involved, you may keep the therapy animal at home and with you throughout the day for emotional support, or you might learn to ride and care for a therapy horse that is kept at an equestrian facility. Afterwards, you

Animal assisted therapy, or AAT for short, began with the first documented case at an asylum run by the Society of Friends in England 1792. The first documented case of animal assisted therapy in the United States was not until 1919 at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Washington D.C. During the 1930s, famous psychoanalysist Sigmund Freud become an advocate for AAT when he used his dog, Jofi, during his therapy sessions. He found that his patients were more comfortable talking to him when Jofi was present. I believe that AAT proves to be beneficial for both mental and physical disorders according to articles I have read prior to the research done for this project.

Through this introductory course into Animal Assisted Therapy, I have learned about the Human-Animal Bond, the history of AAT and AAA, the five freedoms, the differences between AAT and AAA, and the various populations in which this therapy responds greatly to. This paper gives a detailed and comprehensive overview of what I have learned from this course and my own perception of how I will incorporate things learned from this course into my everyday life and into my future career in AAT.

Therapy does not always mean sitting in an office talking to a psychologist. Sometimes it could mean someone going to a dentist appointment with a dog by his or her side or even riding a horse. Animal assisted therapy is treatment focusing on relationships between humans and other animals, and the human-animal bond in clinical and social settings (Giaquinto, 595). Although it has been proven to provide a handful of benefits to different types of people, incorporating animal therapy in public facilities continues to be debated (Ward, 198). Throughout the years, different types of programs have come about to specialize to certain people or groups (Kršková, 51). Animal assisted therapy is a growing subject that can provide major health advantages

AAT utilizes trained and certified animals to improve an individual’s well-being in all aspects emotional, physical and social (Sellers, 2004). It is relatively a new treatment and was initially implemented by Boris Levinson in his psychotherapy practice (Perkins et al., 2008). AAT, with its tactile comfort and companionship as well as a mode of social interaction, encourages a positive attitude and eases the negative effect of living in a retirement facility (Perkins et al., 2008). Unlike interventions with humans which tends to be judgmental and biased, animals tend to be more friendly and non-judgmental thus, facilitating more sociable behaviors than even more than the well-intentioned staff members (LaFrance et al., 2007).

An interesting thing to note, is that animals do not judge or discriminate against these individuals, therefore making this therapy a satisfactory option for helping an individual. Animals will be there for these individuals, and act as someone for these people to talk to; which is exactly want an individual with mental health needs. They need someone to be there, listen, and love them unconditionally. Not judge them, and/or tell them what they should or should not do. There are many different types of animals that will do just that, and therefore, ATT is not just limited to cats and dogs; ATT can be horses or rabbits as well. The article, “Effectiveness of animal-assisted therapy: A systematic review of randomized controlled trails”, compared a group of inpatients that have schizophrenia, and found the dog treatment groups, helped significantly improve the individual’s positive and negative symptoms associated with schizophrenia, improved these individuals living skills, and improved their social contact (Kamioka et al., 2014). These animals, whether, it is dogs, cats, or horses have an element of spirituality that is difficult for a therapist to sometimes to delve into because of boundaries or walls that are difficult to get passed, therefore resulting in a barrier for improving these patient’s overall health. A nurse, J.B., who uses horses as a form of ATT for individuals with mental illness, has noticed many interesting things that occur with

Animal-assisted therapy was created in 1792 to help patients in mental asylums to be able to interact with animals in peaceful environments and opportunities that otherwise they would not see. This was created by Dr. Levinson when he first saw a dog and boy that he had been treating interact with one another. This soon began to spread throughout the countries. It first arrived in the U.S. in 1944 through 1945 at a Hospital north of New York City, the hospital called Pawling army air force convalescent. The patients here interacted with farm animals such as horses and chickens. But with many things it took a long time before any data from places like this was collected. However it is becoming a more respected field among professionals ( Altschiller, D. 2011). It has been seen that pets can help calm people, lower blood pressure and they are great for people or children that cannot or do not relate well to other people. “Pets may help patients recover from acute illness--a study of patients following their discharge from the critical care unit found that 11 out of 39 patients without pets died within the subsequent year, compared with only three of 53 patients who had pets” (Floyd, et al. 2003).There are many animals that can be used in pet therapy but we are going to mainly focus on dogs and horses.