Animals teach us
about compassion, trust, boundaries and unconditional caring. Assistance animals have a long tradition of
service in the United States, with guide dogs, hearing assistance dogs and
disability dogs being well respected members of our communities. Police and military dogs have given their
lives for their handlers, perhaps the ultimate test of the human animal bond.
Animal
assisted therapy programs have been utilized for physical disorders since the
late 1800’s, and are currently gaining recognition within the medical and
behavioral health arenas. Several
species of animals have been used to treat a variety of physical and emotional
disorders. These include dogs, cats,
horses, rabbits, llamas, reptiles and even insects.
As these programs
increase in popularity, so does research as to their effectiveness. Valuable
work has been published in the area of physical rehabilitation. For example, electromyography was used to
measure muscle symmetry in children with cerebral palsy undergoing equine
assisted therapy (hippotherapy) and children experiencing passive
stretching. Results showed that the
hippotherapy group exhibited improved muscle symmetry whereas the passive
stretching group did not. Interesting work has also been done using animals as
adjuncts to psychotherapy. Therapists
report that animals help people express themselves more freely. Children with emotional disturbances will
often trust an animal long before another human being. Equine Assisted Psychotherapy adds another
dimension to behavioral services. Working with a thousand pound horse builds
confidence, while at the same time being a humbling experience. The toughest troubled child can’t make a
horse do something it doesn’t want to do!
Horses can also be invaluable in teaching about boundaries and
empowerment. While they can’t be forced
to move, they can be trained to. A
person’s sense of accomplishment when a huge animal does what they want is a
wonderful gift.
Evidence
also exists that nurturing animals can be as beneficial to the person as it is
to the patient. As people assist animals
in healing, they themselves can be healed.
Although this at first glance doesn’t appear to be animal assisted
therapy, it most certainly is!
Studies
have also been done to investigate the role of pets as “therapy” animals. Veterinarians have long understood the
importance of pets in their guardian’s lives.
Some clients have no family other than the pet, and the loss of that
animal can be devastating. Nursing home
residents can form a deep connection to a visiting or residence animal, which
can help heal the sense of loss they feel in leaving their homes and family.
Nursing home pets have even attended funerals at the request of the deceased.
Science
is now catching up with this anecdotal evidence on animals’ effect on our
health and well being. Pets have been shown to reduce heart rate, blood
pressure and anxiety. One study revealed
that patients with heart disease and arrhythmias were more likely to be alive
one year later if they owned a dog. Beck
and Glickman wrote in 1987 “all future studies of human health should consider
the presence or absence of a pet in the home…as a significant variable. No future study of human health should be
considered comprehensive if the animals with which they share their lives are
not included.”
New applications
for animal assisted therapy are much needed. With the US population growing
more and more unhealthy, medical costs are increasing at an alarming rate. Obesity is now an epidemic. Public health officials project that this
generation will be the first to have a life expectancy less than their parents
because of obesity related diseases.
Stress related complaints account for 60 – 90% of physician visits, with
health care costs being 147% higher in stressed or depressed workers. Violence has become a common occurrence on
the news, and younger and younger children are becoming victims and
purportraters. Nearly 2 million children
are seriously abused every year, 2 million women are battered and almost 1
million parents are beaten or abused by their children. The final toll from the war in Iraq on our
military personnel physically and emotionally can only be imagined. At this time, the Army estimates that one in
six soldiers is suffering from depression, anxiety or post-traumatic stress
disorder, and the number could increase to one in three. Animal assisted therapy can be utilized in
all of these settings, and more. As
animals are used for different indications, further outcome studies are
imperative in gauging their validity.
The primary
research objective of HAAWC is to develop animal assisted therapy programs that
meet the needs of many types of individuals such as:
a.
Children
with developmental disabilities
b.
Victims
of violence and abuse
c.
People
with chronic or terminal illnesses
d.
Children
or adolescents with behavioral and/or emotional
disorders
e.
Post
war trauma victims
f.
Prison
population and those recently released from
incarceration
g.
People
who need to increase physical activity and lose weight
h.
Those
who want to maximize general health, well being and
spirituality
Outcome studies
will be performed to assess effectiveness before programs are introduced into
the community. Complementary and
alternative modalities will be a key component of this research because these
therapies reduce stress and anxiety in assistance animals, and can be used to
augment the therapeutic process. By
utilizing this novel approach, the success rate of animal assisted therapy
programs may be increased. HAAWC will
also collaborate with other organizations in order to increase the success of
existing programming, and assist researchers interested in applying animal
assisted therapy to their clinical populations.
