Animal's helping those with a mental illness

We have all all felt stressed, unproductive, and unwell numerous times within our life's. For many of us though, we have solutions on how to manage this. For those living with a mental illness, they loose the ability to problem solve, plan, engage in relationships and so forth.

Mental Illness' include Alzheimer's/Dementia, schizophrenia, trauma, depression, phobias, addiction, and many more.

Krawer (2009) states AAT has a positive reputation for increasing social interaction and decreasing agitation in both Dementia and Alzheimer's. By utilising a range of dog stimuli such as a puppy video, a real dog, a robotic dog, colouring dog pictures, and a toy dog, Marx et al (2010) found the nursing residential home which was introduced to this stimuli within their environment scored higher on cognitive functions and daily living activities, then the rest home which was not exposed to the stimuli.

Individuals living with schizophrenia often have difficulty in coping with everyday stressors; suffer from emotional withdrawal and poor social functioning, particularly those living in an institutionalized setting (Iwahashi, et all. 2007). Kovacs et al (2004) found after patients spend 50 minutes a week, over nine months with a dog, what evolved was; patients sharing their feelings, concentration increased, developed social interaction. However more importantly, results showed that the positive effects of the AAT lasted beyond the therapy sessions and into everyday life of the patients.

Since researching animal assisted therapy I have read a number of articles which have highlighted how using an animal during therapy has been a great 'ice breaker'. Im sure a number of therapist's around the world have struggled connecting with some of their patients. Lefkowitz et al (2005) found this and began introducing her German Shepherd into group therapy. She found victims of sexual abuse were able to express their feelings easier when the dog was around.

Depression can frequently occur as a secondary condition to many illnesses, but for many, it is the primary disorder effecting individuals world wide, impacting significantly on their occupations of daily living. A common symptom of depression can be the desire to want to stay at home, an individual lacks strive and motivation to leave the house. Antonioli & Reveley (2005) conducted a study in the aim at researching the effect dolphin's have on individuals with depression. Using a biophilla therory, which is........ The need for growing the capacity for love as a basis of our mental health and emotional wellbeing, this expression shows how human health and wellbeing are strictly dependent on our relationships with the natural environment (Kelert, 1997). This being said, by changing an individuals environment and using an animal to facilitate change and growth therefore decreases symptoms experienced in depression. This is exactly what Antonioli & Reveley (2005) found out. When individuals were exposed to interactions with bottle nose dolphins, over the group only exposed to an environment which included swimming amongst  the coral reef and no interaction with dolphins, symptoms decreased greatly for the group exposed to interactions with dolphins.

Although this study suggests an extreme solution to decreasing the symptoms of depression, the cost and transport to the destination is enough to put a lot of people off. However after reading the article you get the sense that yes, environment does play a significant roll for individuals with depression, by changing the environment and including an animal, it could be proposed that this too decreases the symptoms of depression.

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Antonioli, C. Reveley, M. (2005). Randomised controlled trial of animal facilitated therapy with dolphins in the treatment of depression. Journal of BMJ, 26 (11). 1-13.

Lefkowitz, C., Prout, M., Bleiberg, J., Paharia, I., Debiak, D. “Animal- Assisted Prolonged Exposure: A Treatment fo Survivors of Sexual Assault Suffering Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.” Society & Animals 13, no. 4 (2005): 275-295.

Kellert SR. Kinship to mastery. Biophilia in human evolution and development Washington DC: Island Press, 1997. 3115.

Kovacs, Z., Kis, R., Rozsa, S., Rozsa, L. “Animal-assisted therapy for middle-aged schizophrenic patients living in a social institution. A pilot study.” Clinical Rehabilitation 18 (2004): 483-486.

Iwahashi, K., Waga, C., and Ohta, M. “Questionnaire on Animal- Assisted Therapy (AAT): The expectation for AAT as a day-care program for Japanese schizophrenic patients.” International Journal of Psychiatry in Clinical Practice 11, no. 4 (2007): 291-293.

Marx, M.S., Cohen-Mansfield, J., Riger, N.G., Dakheel-Ali, M., Srihari, A., Thein, K. “The Impact of Different Dog-Related Stimuli on Engagement of Persons with Dementia.” American Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and other Dementias 25, no. 1 (Feb 2010): 37-45.

Kramer, S.C., Friedmann, E., Bernstein, P.L. “Comparison of the Effect of Human Interaction, Animal-Assisted Therapy, and AIBO- Assisted Therapy on Long-Term Care Residents with Dementia.” Anthrozoos 22, no. 1 (2009): 43-57.