Therapy Pets and You
Do you remember when you were little and you begged your parents for a puppy? Our parents always used to say, “That is a lot of responsibility. Are you sure?” The responsibility of owning a pet is hard but what if you had to have a pet that was responsible for you and your safety? Nowadays, therapy pets are a regular occurrence in helping with depression, despair, loneliness, chronic health issues, anxiety, and addictions.
Pets can help give people ease and a sense of purpose. It can teach people how to cope and learn to be symbiotic with someone else. Research showing the benefits of pet therapy dates back to the 9th century! A clinician named Boris Levinson introduced the idea that pets should be valued in a therapeutic environment because they can help increase communication, increase self-esteem, and increase the willingness to share difficult experiences. This helped to prove that pets could be used to comfort their owners during emotional turmoils and rough times by putting attention on something else. Therapy pets can also encourage a healthier lifestyle that a physician would recommend to alleviate symptoms of the aforementioned afflictions.
Scientifically, there are health benefits that come from animal assisted therapy. For mental health, therapy pets can increase relaxation levels, provide comfort, reduce loneliness, increase mental stimulation, help recall memories and events, provide a distraction, and act like a catalyst in therapy sessions. They can also help release an automatic relaxation response by releasing serotonin, prolactin, and oxytocin just simply by petting the animal. For physical health, therapy pets can help to lower blood pressure, improve cardiovascular health, reduce the amount of medications, slower breathing caused by anxiety, release hormones such as phenylethylamine, diminish physician pain, and help the patient relax more during exercise. Therapy pets can also be used for children with autism. It is found that that those with autism feel a deep bond with animals and thus they feel that they can relate with them. Children with autism also are seen to engage in greater use of language and more social interaction during therapy sessions with their animals.
Many people confuse therapy pets with service pets, and there are major differences between them. Service pets are trained to help with certain tasks for their owners. They usually have highly rigorous and task oriented training to help their owner’s disabilities. Because of their skills, they are allowed to accompany their owners in public places according to laws put forward by the Americans With Disabilities Act. Therapy pets support the mental health and physical health of their owners by providing attention, love and comfort unconditionally. These pets are usually very patient and sweet in order to help provide therapeutic benefits. Almost anyone could own a therapy dog.
There are many types of therapy pets. The most common are dogs, cats, small pets, reptiles, and birds. You may see on the news pets such as miniature horses and pigs but the previously mentioned pets are the most ubiquitous. Dogs are the most popular pets used because they are known to be affectionate and comforting to people in all types of environments. Cats are also used as therapy pets for those who are scared of dogs. Cats are difficult to train but they are known to roam and therefore are mostly used in nursing homes for the elderly. Smaller pets refer to animals like turtles, hamsters, and guinea pigs. They are now able to be trained for companionship, comfort, and assistance and can be used to improve motor skills and provide emotional benefits to their owners. They are also easier to look after and usually do not take up a lot of space unlike other pets. Reptiles are another type of therapy pet. They require a lot of attention and concentration to take care of and therefore are used to help mental patients cope with physical and emotional struggles. And lastly, birds are also used for therapy pets, specifically parrots because they are known to display high levels of empathy. Caring for birds that need their own therapy can help their owners to cope and ease their own symptoms, especially for veterans suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Therapy pets have really helped those afflicted by distress and those who tend to simply see the darkness around them yet are still always searching for hope and peace. Proven to be a useful tool in therapy and physical rehabilitation, therapy pets should be utilized more often as solutions!
References:
https://therapypet.org/blog/5-types-of-animals-used-for-therapy/
https://www.uclahealth.org/pac/animal-assisted-therapy
https://www.verywellmind.com/therapy-dogs-benefits-2615438
https://www.nami.org/Blogs/NAMI-Blog/November-2016/The-Power-of-Pet-Therapy
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191008083121.htm
