The Effects Of Animal Assisted Therapy On An Individual 's Life

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.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is an intricate brain disorder that can cause difficulties in social skills, communications, and abnormal behavior. Looking at children with ASD, researchers began investigating how to lessen the affects that ASD had on children using animals. More specifically, it was discovered that dogs could be helpful to children. “Man’s best friend” may be valuable in a way doctors and trained therapeutic professionals are not. How does interacting with a dog affect children with autism spectrum disorder?

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.

For a number of children with autism having a companion dog is the difference between life and death. Methodically trained guide dogs help create an environment where autistic children are comfortable enough to live a more ordinary lifestyle. Autism spectrum disorder is a major public health problem that is the most common neurological disorder affecting 1 out of every 110 births in the US (Autism Society, 2009). ASDs can range in severity from Asperger Syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism where the child can function relatively well in society, to autistic disorder or classical ASD, which severely inhibits the child’s ability to socialize or communicate (NINDS). Autism manifests itself most strikingly as impairments in formation of

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

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.

More research is needed to find if animal-assisted interventions offer substantial and reliable improvements in symptoms in children with ASD. If family has extra resources and finds that these interventions might be beneficial for their child’s symptoms, this has not yet been found to be harmful. However, it might be advisable that social skills interventions are integrated into a child’s therapy before the use of an animal to aid in these interactions is selected. It seems that animal-assisted interventions are promising for improving safety and targeting atypical sensory responsiveness. If a child with autism’s safety cannot be managed in other ways and the family is experiencing substantial burden, a service dog might be a beneficial

With limited empirical research supporting the use and effectiveness of animal-assisted therapy, it is reasonable to suggest that the costs of implementing AAT into occupational therapy are not worth the benefits. Occupational therapy modalities are already effective at treating patients with many different disabilities and/or disorders—integrating a new type of therapy into occupational therapy is less convenient and more expensive than leaving an already effective therapy as is.

The evidence based research that this article supports is specific to the diagnosis of adults living with dementia, while it looks at the effects of Animal – Assisted therapy intervention on the agitated behaviors and social interactions of this diagnosis. This article is written through the eyes of a CTRS whom is using this intervention study with nursing home residents from a therapeutic recreation perspective. With the large increase in our aging population we will also be seeing an increase in dementia-associated behaviors such as agitation. By finding non-traditional treatment interventions such as Animal Assisted therapy we are setting ourselves up for success at an early time. This evidence-based research was based on a pilot study of

Animal-assisted interventions have also been proposed as a method to improve social interactions and communication skills in children with autism. Supporters of animals improving social competence find that children have a natural connection with animals that may help to facilitate communication skills, which are often a challenging skill to improve in children with ASD. Solomon (2015) advocates for the inclusion of animals in structured interactions with the child, because “there are indications that some people diagnosed with ASD ‘are’ more companion-able and more response-able when their interactions with animals are enfolded into interactions with people” (p. 327). She describes these structured interactions for children with ASD through

Animal assisted therapy is a highly productive form of cognitive therapy that strives to reduce an individuals stress levels and increase their mental and physical health in the form of companionship. Famous psychologist Sigmund Freud theorized from early on that the presence of his dog during psychoanalysis sessions significantly improved the patient’s mood and comfortability. According to research from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, animal companionship has been seen to lower a person’s heart rate, blood pressure, and cholesterol. Bonding annually with over 80,000 people, the organization visits various places such as; hospitals, nursing homes, youth facilities, convalescent homes, and developmentally disabled centers.

It comes to question as to whether or not animal-assisted therapy provides the correct treatment that it focuses on. When talking about animal-assisted therapy, poeple are using the presence of animals as a way to heal for therapeutic reasons. Targeting no specific patient, this practice is used throughout various age for various diseases and emotional, physical and intellectual disabilities. Animal-Assisted Therapy works to provide happiness throughout the rough times for any patient. Although a few individuals detest animal-assisted therapy because they believe that it utilizes inappropriate proprietorship as opposed to friendly companionship which follows a curative result. It is studied that animal-assisted therapy is an ethical therapeutic practice since it treats various disperses that may never be managed.

Animal assisted therapy can be used with elderly residents in a long term care facility. Long Term Care Facilities (LTCFs) are facilities that provide 24-hour care by nursing staff for individuals who are no longer able to provide care for themselves. These facilities offer assistance with medication management, activities of daily living (e.g., bathing, dressing, toileting, meals) and any additional medical care required (Kendziorski & Treacy, 1999). Also referred to as: nursing homes, skilled nursing facilities, assisted living facilities. Many residents of long-term care facilities regard their former pets as having been members of the family (Savishinsky, 2010). Elderly residents of long-term care may not receive as much human touch and

Researchers have found that, in small sample sets, animal-assisted therapy has positive effects for patients with schizophrenia (Chu, Liu, Sun, & Lin, 2009; Kovacs, Kis, & Rozsa, 2004; Nathans-Barel, Feldman, Berger, Modai, & Silver, 2005). Schizophrenia ranges in severity, but all individuals with schizophrenia have similar symptoms. One of the core symptoms is anhedonia, which is the loss of the ability to experience pleasure (Nathans-Barel et al., 2005). This is one of the reasons why patients with schizophrenia have decreased levels of activity and social functioning, in addition to poor social problem-solving strategies (Kovacs et al., 2004). A decrease in activity level tends to lead to difficulty in completing daily living tasks, and

After conducting a web search to find pay data relevant to the claims in Ms. Kate’s letter, I was very surprised at norm salaries. This case study is very interesting to me. I currently serve as an animal assisted therapist for a growing psych-social therapy organization. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, The median annual wage for mental health counselors with a Master’s degree was $40,080 in May 2012 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2014). Whereas, the median annual wage for mental health counselors with a Doctorate’s degree was $72,673 in 2015 (PayScale Human Capital, 2015). Thus, there is a $32,593 difference between the two positions in relation to education. This would justify the difference in Ms. Kate’s salary verses the