Animal Assisted Therapy By Dr. Levinson

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.

Florence Nightingale was the first person to recognize the therapeutic potential of animals in the late 1800s. Nightingale is considered the founder of modern nursing which enabled her to make such discoveries by observing the impact animals had on her medical patients. She discovered that the company of a small pet reduced anxiety in children and adults that resided in psychiatric institutions and recorded her findings in her book “Notes on Nursing”. With Nightingale’s involuntary record of these human-animal interactions, animal-assisted therapy approaches began to flourish.

I originally picked the topic of therapy pets to research because it was always something I was incredibly curious about. I have considered perhaps, in the future, becoming the handler of a therapy animal as my love for animals has no bounds and I adore helping people; however, I did not have a very full knowledge of pet therapy and how it worked. I knew that my pets made me feel content, and that was the extent of my knowledge. I had a desire to learn more, especially considering that it is something I am a supporter of and, possibly, something I will become a true benefactor of. With those reasons as my motivation, I deemed therapy pets a topic well worthy of my investigation. I began my research, hoping to find what therapy pets are, what

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.

Psychiatric service dogs are ones that have received official recognition to help a person with mental

method of therapy Thrive horticultural therapists build a set of activities for each gardener to improve their particular health needs, this type of therapy benefits people by helping them recover and find their way again, learn new skills, and slow down degenerative illness of the mind to some degree, Nature arts and crafts, art activities using natural materials such as wood, glass, and clay. Clay and wood being the two most commonly used due to their easy workability, Animal assisted therapy (AAT), Animal assisted interventions (AAI), and Care Farming are three types of animal assisted therapy. This type of therapy is usually for children who have been diagnosed with physical, emotional, social or learning disabilities. “Therapy provided through tasks and activities necessary to run farms, gardens, landscapes or ranches is not by any means new to this millennium's repertoire of interventions for children.”(occupational-therapy.advanceweb.com), Wilderness therapy, is “cognitive behavioral therapy to combat negative thinking, journaling to help shed light on depression and anxiety, and group activities to overcome social phobia and develop greater self-confidence, to name a few.”(apa.org) this type of therapy has been around since 1886 but it wasn’t considered therapy

Pet therapy is a broad term that includes animal assisted therapy and other assisted activities. Pet therapy is a growing field that uses dogs or other animals to help people recover from or better cope with health problems such as heart disease, cancer, and mental health disorders.

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

There has been a long history with animals and their natural bonds with humans for many decades now. Dogs have helped people with a multitude of illnesses for some time now, however Americans were not the first to discover this natural trait in animals. The Germans during World War 1 were the first to discover this. In the book, History of Guide Dog Use by Veterans it states that the German army in particular “relied heavily on the use of German shepherds as ambulance and messenger dogs. The Germans reportedly used more than 25,000 dogs during World War I. ' these dogs were ideally suited for this type of work, with ell-known traits such as trainability, loyalty, intelligence, strength, and endurance” (Ostermeier 587). In today 's society, we have numerous people who are unaware of the services that animals can provide for humans. Specifically humans with mental or physical disabilities. In this paper I will present various types of service animals as well as the many services they provide.

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

This can result in certain malpractices” (7). Hens agrees therapy dogs may help those feeling emotionally unstable, but at the same time argues that these dogs experience the same hardships during treatments.

Another concern for the use of animals in occupational therapy is how the therapist will obtain therapy animals (Cipriani et al., 2013, p. 215). If no suitable animals are immediately available from other sources, the cost of the therapist obtaining, training, and certifying their own therapy animal is not insignificant. However, if an animal is available from another source, whether it be a volunteer or an organization, proper investigation must be done to determine the reliability and legitimacy of the provider and of the therapy animal. Winkle suggests that appropriate therapy animals can be obtained from organizations that train professional assistance animals. Although therapy animals require different skills than assistance animals are trained for, much of the intermediate training and skills are the same (Winkle, 2012, p. 11).

Animal assisted therapy is a type of therapy that is becoming more and more successful. Alicia MIller, co-founder of Operation Wolfhound, says, “Medication works 50% of the time, talk therapy alone, works 30% of the time, and dogs work 84.5% of the time” (qtd. in Caprioli). With overwhelming statistics like that, more hospitals or rehabilitation centers should utilize this practice. Many different ages can work with the animals, however it is mainly directed toward the youth (Pugh). Therapy animals are extremely beneficial and have helped many people cope with disorders and therefore this program should be expanded.

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

To begin with, dogs can be used as therapy or emotional support animals. A therapy dog will go to hospitals, sit with patients, and go to physical therapy with them. In the article “Dr. Dog” the author says “The canine interactions help support rehabilitation.” These dogs give patients the motivation and means to continue treatment. The dogs can be used as a brace during physical therapy. Playing with dogs improves cognitive ability with games such as fetch, chase,