Pet Care
Canine Catharsis
how therapy dogs curtail the stigma of mental health
Text by Nancy S. Moseley Photos courtesy of Virginia Tech The use of animals for therapy is not a new thing. In fact, the first iteration of Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) can be traced back to the ancient Greeks who used horses to lift the spirits of critically ill patients. The use of horses continued into the 1940s when the American Red Cross established a farm for rehabilitating veterans to interact with animals. Even earlier, Florence Nightingale championed the use of small animals in the reduction of stress and anxiety in psychiatric patients in the 1800s. And Dr. Sigmund Freud believed that pets, specifically his dog, Jo-Fi, had a calming effect and could reliably intuit a patient’s true character. Suddenly “man’s best friend” takes on greater meaning. 28
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The first formal research of animals for therapeutic use occurred in the 1960s by Dr. Boris Levinson. Levinson found that mentally impaired young patients were more at ease socializing with his dog rather than other humans. Trent Davis, Ph.D., a licensed professional counselor at Virginia Tech’s Cook Counseling Center, concurs. “For a lot of humans, unfortunately, other humans haven’t always been the best to them in their lives, so dogs can be a little bit safer,” he recently stated in a Good Morning America article. The American Veterinary Medical Association defines the humananimal bond as a “mutually beneficial and dynamic relationship between people and animals that is influenced by behaviors
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considered essential to the health and well-being of both.” Now there are a bevy of findings emphatically pointing to all the ways animals contribute to our mental health and well-being. They are able to combat depression and loneliness in the elderly; they can instill bravery in children who have suffered abuse; they can quietly assist in hospice situations. Animals encourage social interaction and independence. They help increase our physical activity and decrease levels of stress. Having access to a fur friend is an automatic mood booster. Besides the obvious benefits, using animals in therapy practices helps reduce the stigma of mental health, which is often seen as a weakness or a failure. “The animal is very calming
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