Probably the most extensively researched AAT is dolphin-assisted therapy (DAT), which is most commonly used for children with autism or other developmental disabilities. DAT is practiced not only in the U.S.—primarily in Florida and Hawaii—but also in Mexico, Israel, Russia, Japan, China and the Bahamas, among other countries. Typically during DAT sessions children interact with a captive dolphin in the water while performing rudimentary manual tasks, such as placing rings on a peg. In many cases, the dolphin presumably serves as a “reinforcer” for appropriate child behaviors. Many DAT Web sites advance strong claims regarding this treatment’s effectiveness; one asserts that “this field of medicine has shown extraordinary results of the therapy [DAT] and breakthroughs in outcomes” as compared with conventional treatments, including medication and therapy (see www.dolphinassistedtherapy.com). Do the data support these assertions?
Emory University psychologist Lori Marino and one of us (Lilienfeld) have examined the research findings regarding DAT in two reviews, one published in 1998 and the second in 2007. We found the evidence lacking for DAT’s effectiveness. In many cases, researchers had shown only that children who received DAT displayed improvements on some psychological measures as compared with children who did not. Yet such results do not exclude the possibility that these changes would have occurred with the mere passage of time. In still other cases, researchers did not rule out the possibility that reported improvements were merely short-term mood effects rather than lasting changes in symptoms. Finally, no researcher adequately excluded the possibility that the observed effects could have been produced by any animal or, for that matter, by any highly pleasurable stimulus. The research literature for other AATs appears to be no more definitive.
Hidden Costs
Why should we care about whether AATs work? After all, if children seem to enjoy them and parents are willing to pay for them, why worry? There are at least three reasons. First, AATs can produce what economists term “opportunity costs”—the time, money and effort expended in seeking out ineffective treatments. Because of such costs, parents and children may forfeit the chance to seek out effective treatments. In the case of DAT, opportunity costs are far from trivial, because treatments frequently cost $3,000 to $5,000, not including the price of travel and lodging. Second, at least some AATs may be physically hazardous. For example, in DAT it is not legally required that dolphins be screened for infectious diseases. Moreover, there have been multiple reports of children injured by dolphins in DAT sessions. Third, some AATs result in largely unappreciated costs to the animals themselves. For example, removing dolphins from the wild for transfer to DAT facilities not only separates them from their families but also often results in the death of many dolphins within each pod.
So, to the bottom line: Are animals good for our psychological and physical health? Undoubtedly, many animals can be valued companions and provide social support; they can also make us feel better in the short term. It is possible that pets can be of particular help to people with depression or to children who have been severely neglected—for whom loneliness and lack of social support are often common problems. Still, further research will be needed to investigate this possibility. Moreover, whether animals—including dolphins—produce long-term changes in the core symptoms of other psychological conditions, such as autism, developmental disabilities or anxiety disorders, is another matter altogether. To this question, we must reserve the verdict sometimes delivered in Scottish courts: “unproven.”
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Add CommentGood overview of the field.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'm no scientist, but I can't forget the story of how my grandfather, Boris M. Levinson, started using animals in his therapy with autistic children. He sometimes brought the family dog, Jingles, to work with him, but he made Jingles stay in a separate room away from patients. One day he was with a child and had to leave momentarily, during which time Jingles made his way through the open door. When my grandpa returned, the child was petting Jingles and thereafter whenever Jingles was in the room the child was able to open up more and communicate better -- via Jingles.
In that instance, Jingles helped. Can animals help in all situations? Probably not. But like most maladies, different therapies work differently with different people.
Thank you,
Danny Levinson
@Danny Levinson,
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYour autistic children opened up and communicated better while Jingles was in the room. But did they stay opened up after Jingles left? In other words, did Jingles' presence actually help treat the autism?
It appears nobody knows, which is just the point of the article.
But on second thought, why must the effect be lasting? The effects of Prozac aren't always lasting, because some people become depressed again after they stop taking the drug. A cat can be part of your life for decades. Why can't owning a cat be considered AAT?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFurther, even if the only proven effect of animals is to reduce blood pressure (and presumably, anxiety), why can't that be useful as an adjunct to traditional therapies. It might be very useful to be able to reduce anxiety, even temporarily, so that other theraputic techniques can be applied. I could imagine that having your dog nearby might make it easier for you to talk about traumatic experiences like any abuse or rape, for example. Therapists keep stuffed animals in their offices for exactly that purpose.
I think therapists often confuse "treatment" with "cure". So "treatment" for depression, say, can't include exercise, gardening, etc., i.e., practices that might not address root causes, but still reduce suffering and improve quality of life. Why can't "treatment" include those things? And why can't an animal be part of that?
Animal assisted therapy is assisting other therapies. The animal is used to help with the primary therapy. An example is a child using art therapy, I read an article that the child opened up to the therapist when a dog was brought into the session. The child added the dog into his drawings and then opened up the conversation. People, (not all) feel comfortable around animals, that they aren't being judged or given unwanted advice etc... A bowenian therapist-Cain- used animal therapy and the animal was a bridge between the couple in therapy. This is Bowen's concept, triangles, a 3 rd person or in this case, furry person, helps others to open up. Like medications, animals assist in helping people but aren't the cure. Your example of prozac was, in my opinion, on target. Prozac is a treatment not a cure. Prozac doesn't help everyone either which is the same for assisted animal therapy. It's another option. What we need are more options and if petting a cat is going to help a rape victim work through her fears then I say go with it.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOne has also to consider animals as well in this equation. We seem to think only of our own needs. Animals are on the loosing end of this fad, as well as humans, when you think of it, as there is an undeniable link between the way animals are treated and people. This is not a win win situation, at all. Pets are not truly pampered as most people presuppose. Some pets are better treated than others, whatever that means from the animal's perspective, but unless you look at the forest instead of the tree, you are blind to the true nature of pet love, a subtly perverse form of exploitation operating under the cover of good intentions and sentiments. Here are a just a few of the negative effects on animals:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this1) The making of pets - factory farms are just one aspect, countless animals die during production.
2) The legal and illegal trade of exotic pets - countless species are subjected to a ferocious trade.
3) Genetic diseases due to intensive breeding - this represents millions of dollars of veterinary care.
4) Food related diseases - most of pet diseases are from inadequate diet.
5) Anatomical deformities - countless breeds are disfigured for esthetic reasons.
6) Animal psychotherapy, including treatment with various drugs like prozac, is at this moment the most sucessful branch of the pet industry, from a psychological point of view, dependence of this sort is deadly for animals.
7) Physical conditions of captivity – most are inadequate.
8) Surgical mutilations – animals in the raw are very difficult to exploit, they need to be customized for human use by declawing, spaying, tail docking, ear triming, anal gland removal and the like, with the complications that arise from these mutilations.
9) Medical anthropomorphism - the animal medical care fallacy viewed from the animal’s cognitive perspective is another form of abuse. Who are we really pleasing by making animals sick on the one hand and treating them on the other, as if nothing was. How can animals know we mean good!
10) Vaccination mania - annual vaccination is strictly for business reasons, most vaccins on the market are unnecessary if not outright dangerous. None of us humans get vaccinated every year of our lives with 9 sometines 12 vaccins combined.
11) Finally there's the disease of euthanasia, millions pf pets are abandonned and destroyed each year in pounds and what is euphemistically called shelters.
The immorality of making an animal into a pet opens the door to every conceivable type of abuse.
This is really interesting. I have heard of <a href="http://www.sojo.ca">psychologists in Edmonton</a> using animals for therapy, but I thought dogs were used more than cats. I know a lot of people who have cats, and they all say that they find them very calming and therapeutic. Thanks for the article!
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