Assisted Animal Therapy

Nightingale and Freud’s contributions to psychotherapy methods using animal-assistance did not end where they began. Dr. Boris Levinson made-- what was just a curiosity by some-- a legitimized

“The horse acts as the teacher and unlocks the client. The animal facilitates emotional breakthroughs, and the effect, therapists report, can be magical” (Hayley Sumner).

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.

Animals have been proved to be the best type of therapy, for children in specific. The goal of bringing in animal in to work with these children is to meet a certain goal. Some of these include natural and deep bonds, building trust, getting rid of stress and anxiety, companionship, comfort, and overall well being of a child. There are three types of assistance animals service, emotional, and therapy. A child that gets taken out of there home because of abuse is very known to have post traumatic stress disorder. Also girls in foster care are twice as likely to have post traumatic stress disorder and depression than a boy in foster care. Children in the United States are more likely to grow up with a dog than a father. Therefore, they are looking into opening pet friendly foster homes, so children could go into foster care with their family pet. They are also looking into letting kids the the courtroom to assist children in cases of abandonment and abuse. These are ways assistance animals could be used to help children in foster

It should be noted that statistics show that 1 in 4 girls is sexually abused before the age 18; 1 in 6 boys is sexually abused before the age of 18; 1 in 5 children are solicited sexually while on the internet (Darkness2light, 2009c). Also children who are ill, disabled, or otherwise perceived as different are more likely targets of abuse(Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 2009).

The use of alcohol in adolescents is unfortunately a huge part of young people’s lives all over the world. In their minds, alcohol plays an important role in socializing and is often times associated with determining popularity. It has been found that alcohol use and depressive feelings often occur among adolescents, and the prevalence rate of depressive symptoms increases from early adolescents, especially among women (Kleinjan, 2014). The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of pet therapy on depressive symptoms among adolescents who use alcohol. From the findings of theses studies it appears that animal assisted interventions may potentially have beneficial effects on reducing anxiety and depression symptoms. All interventions used a variety of dogs in each AAT sessions. The interventions setting were grouped based and took place in mental health hospital, treatment facilities and advocacy centers. The sessions begins in a light animal assisted activity (AAA) and AAT and gradually increases to moderate. Each study session length and time varied from 1 month - 1 year and lasted 8 minutes to 1 hour long. Although our study focuses on adolescents, we

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

In a recent study conducted by Rebecca Johnson, Ph.D., RN, of the University of Missouri-Columbia Center for the Study of Animal Wellness showed that when humans pet a dog, within minutes there is a huge amount of beneficial hormones known to be associated with health and feelings of well-being.(Becker par. 2) These hormones are called beta endorphin, prolactin, dopamine, oxytocin, and beta phenylethylamine (Becker par. 2). The hormones that are released from the interaction between the animal and the human allow the patients to feel more blissful and trusting. Along with being emotionally benefited from working with animals in assisted therapy; people can benefit physically. For example, people who have physical

James and Gilliland (2017) noted, the National Sexual Violence Resource Center`s (2005), reported the numbers for sexual abuse in childhood are astounding. One in four girls and one in six boys will be sexually abused before they turn 18 years old (Finklehor, hotaling, Lewis, & Smith, 1990).

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

Over the centuries, animals have suffered from cruelty from humans. In the United States, animals are beaten, neglected, or forced to struggle for survival. Animals have been inflicted with pain from humans for reasons other than self-defense. They have been slaughtered for their food and fur for personal gain in profit. In a majority of cases they have even been abused for someone’s own personal amusement or out of rage filled impulses. In some cases animals are found and rescued. They are given the second chance in life to experience what life should be like compared to what they once had.

A. Pediatric Emergency Medicine reports that an estimated one in four girls and one in six have experienced some form of sexual abuse by the time they are 18 years old. (Source 3: Statistic)

Sexual abuse to a child at times is confusing to the family. Families who are affected by sexual abuse to a child tend to have a difficult time talking about the abuse. About one out of every four girls and one out of every five boys are sexually abused by the time they are 18 years old.

Research indicates that 1 out of every 4 children will be the victim of sexual abuse before reaching age 18

A. Quote--"One in every three girls and one in every six boys will be sexually abused before their eighteenth birthday. In the United States alone there are an estimated sixty million survivors of sexual abuse. Sixty-seven percent were