If dogs could talk, their sanity and sound mind would put humans to shame and filled with jealousy.

Most paw parents have experienced the joy of being in the company of a loyal friend. However, many of us remain unaware of the physical and mental health benefits that can also accompany the pleasure of snuggling up to a furry friend.

Recently, there are many studies found to explore the benefits of the human-animal bond scientifically. Nevertheless, it is not a recent phenomenon; the first documented example of animals’ therapeutic use occurred in 9th century Gheel, Belgium, where animals were part of the “Therapie Naturelle” provided for the disabled of the community.

The therapeutic value of the human relationship with pets, particularly dogs, is increasingly recognised by researchers. Dogs can understand and interpret human tone of voice, body language, and gestures. Furthermore, they also gauge non-verbal communications such as emotions in understanding the thoughts and behaviours of humans. Recent findings from the University of Vienna suggest that dogs can sense emotions and differentiate between good and bad ones.

Impact of Pets on health

• Pets reduce stress
• Pets Support Recovery from Mental Illness
• Pets provide loyal companionship.
• Pets fulfil the human need to touch.
• Pets require routine and organisation.
• Pets provide a sense of purpose.
• Pets increase your social interaction.
• Pets, especially dogs, improve your fitness.
• Pets Help Us Build Healthy Habits
• Pets teach us mindfulness.
• Pets are Non-Judgemental
• Pets offer Empathy
• Pets Increase Our Sense of Self-Esteem

Pets constituted a valuable illness source in managing feelings by distraction from symptoms, upsetting experiences, and encouraging activity. Pets have an impact on both the physical and mental health of their owners. Research suggests that pets should be considered a main rather than a marginal source of support in managing long-term mental health problems, which has implications for the planning and delivery of mental health services.

• Pets & Mental illness: Pets are extremely helpful for people recovering from severe mental health conditions. Studies show that dogs reduce stress, anxiety and depression. Individuals suffering from mental health illness affirm that pets helped them manage their disease and everyday life. Having pets also gave them a strong sense of identity, self-worth, and meaning. Moreover, pets distracted them from symptoms like hearing voices, suicidal thoughts, or rumination.
• Pets & Stress: Pet owners are less likely to suffer from depression. Stroking, hugging, or otherwise touching a loving animal provides sensory stress relief. Petting a dog, cat, or another animal reduces levels of cortisol, the stress hormone. And it increases the release of oxytocin—another chemical in the body that reduces stress. These benefits can occur after just five minutes of interacting with a pet. Therefore, pets are beneficial for anxiety sufferers.
• Pets & Cardiovascular diseases: People with pets have lower blood pressure in stressful situations. Pet owners have lower triglyceride and cholesterol levels. Pet ownership, particularly dog ownership, is probably associated with decreased blood pressure and a low risk of cardiovascular diseases.
• Pets & Allergy: Contrast to the popular myth, a growing number of studies have suggested that kids growing up in a home with “furred animals” — whether it’s a pet cat or dog or on a farm and exposed to large animals — will have less risk of allergies and asthma.
• Pets & Social Anxiety: Mingling with other dog owners can be a great way to manage social anxiety. Furthermore, having a pet dog in the home was associated with a decreased probability of childhood anxiety.
• Pets & Healthy lifestyle and obesity: Pets love routines and encourage a healthy lifestyle change for caregivers. China banned pets in urban areas until 1992. Since then, dog ownership has grown quite rapidly in the major cities, especially among younger women. Results from a survey of women aged 25–40 who reported better health-related outcomes. They exercised more frequently, slept better, had higher self-reported fitness and health, took fewer days off sick from work and were seen less by doctors. Furthermore, in the west, the Center for Human-Animal Interaction found that pet walkers lost weight faster than others without changing their diets.
• Pets & Mindfulness: Perhaps one of the most significant psychological benefits of owning a pet is its opportunity to be more mindful and keep your thoughts grounded to the present moment.
• Pets & Alzheimer’s disease or dementia: Evidence suggests that Animal-assisted therapy has positive effects on mental health, especially in elderly people. Interaction with pet showed a positive indirect effect on Alzheimer’s patients, and association with pets also appeared to temper some of the psychological stress of caregivers.
• Pets & Autism: Children with ASD often rely on nonverbal cues to communicate, which are well interpreted by dogs. Children with ASD may bond with their dogs and may be associated with increased social skills.
• Pets & Pandemic: Since the outbreak of COVID-19, there’s been an unprecedented increase in animal adoptions and purchase as people seek animal companionship to tackle feelings of isolation and anxiety. The pandemic has also changed how we interact with our pets. More than 50% of households in the UK are estimated to own at least one pet. An extensive survey found that nearly 90% of pet owners reported their pet helped them cope better emotionally during the lockdown. The study also showed that the most popular interaction with animals that were not pets was birdwatching and feeding birds in their garden.
  Despite the benefits, there are also concerns over increased relinquishment, rehoming, or abandonment of pets for various reasons, including financial, quarantine and lockdown issues.

AAA
OR
AAT?

Over the years, various terms are found to describe using animals to assist people. The activities are broadly divided into animal-assisted activities (AAA) and Animal-assisted therapy (AAT).

Animal-assisted therapy is a goal-oriented adjunct to traditional therapy programs. This type of therapy has benefitted many populations, including children, adolescents, and adults, in their recovery from a wide variety of physical and psychological traumas.

The Power of Animal-Assisted Therapy

Animal-assisted therapy (AAT) involves interaction between patients and a trained animal, along with its human owner or handler, to facilitate patients’ progress toward therapeutic goals. AAT is an intervention delivered by a health/human service professional with specialised expertise in which an animal that meets specific criteria is an integral part of the treatment process.

Myriad of studies documenting the benefits of AAT:

• Animal-assisted therapy was associated with reduced state anxiety levels for hospitalised patients with a variety of psychiatric diagnoses. In contrast, a typical therapeutic recreation session showcased reduced levels only for patients with mood disorders.
• Research has demonstrated that the use of animals in counselling provides beneficial effects to clients. The incorporation of AAT in the counselling process has shown many beneficial effects such as calming effect on the adolescents, humour relief during sessions, increased feelings of safety in the group, empathy, and motivation to attend sessions. Implications of the research and practical applications are provided, including
• An exploratory survey of social service professionals investigated the use of Animal-assisted therapy within various occupations and settings. Many benefits were noted with the implementation of AAT, including increased social interaction, decreased stress and decreased depression. The most commonly cited barrier to the implementation of AAT was liability concerns.
• AAT also found to clarify the impact of animals on the alleviation of pain in children.
• The results of a study among Taiwanese patients with schizophrenia showed that animal-assisted activity could promote significant improvements in many clinical aspects among inpatients with schizophrenia. The study evaluates the effects of animal-assisted exercise on self-esteem, control over daily living activities, and other psycho-physiological factors of institutionalised patients with schizophrenia.
• Empathic skills are measured using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, which consists of four subscales: fantasy abilities, perspective-taking, empathic concern, and personal distress. A prospective study found a significant improvement in the empathic concern of at-risk youth.

Animal-assisted therapy is more than just petting animals

1. AAT are not dependent on a specific theory but can support as effective tool for any type of psychotherapy.
2. AAT animals are not the same as service animals. AAT animals are trained for the counseling environments and situations in which they work.
3. Animal-assisted therapy is not limited to one-on-one sessions, AAT can also be done in groups.
4. Therapy dogs are nothing new. The first official therapy dog (on record) was named Smoky: a tiny 1.8kg Yorkshire Terrier who accompanied the nurses at a hospital in New Guinea as they dealt with battlefield casualties. Smoky was so successful she went on to work as a therapy dog for 12 years, even after the war was over.
   In 1930s Sigmund Freud included his Chow Chow, Jofi, in his counseling sessions. In addition to assessing the mood of patients, Jofi knew exactly when 50 minutes had passed and it was time to end a session.
5. Not just dogs, but horses, pigs, cats, birds, guinea pigs, monkeys, fish and even rats can be trained as therapy animals.
   After dogs, Horses are most preferred animals for therapy. Equine assisted therapy are proven to effective in AAT because Horses naturally observe and respond well to nonverbal cues.

Although there are several pieces of evidence that pets, especially dogs, may enhance treatment outcomes for clients, such as reductions in stress and acute anxious arousal and improvements in engagement and rapport. These psychological and physiological advantages, however, may not be sustained once interaction with the dog ceases. Clinicians require adequate training and support to develop and implement interventions based on sound theoretical foundations and take advantage of animal presence’s adjunctive benefits.

As a paw parent and psychotherapist, a cuddle, an empathetic look, unconditional love, anytime cuddles, warm hugs, positive reinforcement and affirmation that it’s OK to be not OK from my fur-boy is what keeps me going.
What about you? Let me know your thoughts.

Medical Disclaimer: StrokesandHopes aims to improve people’s quality of life struggling with substance use or mental health disorder with fact-based content about the nature of behavioural health conditions, treatment options, and their related outcomes. The material published is researched, cited, edited and reviewed by certified Psychotherapist. The information provided is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Durga is a compassionate Counsellor with a diverse experience in Physical Therapy, Counselling and Business management. She believes in the client-centred integrative framework and has proven experience working with the client from a wide variety of demographic and cultural backgrounds. Approaches duties with diligence to support holistic healing as indicated through a strong history of related volunteer work, combined with targeted education.