Animal Assisted
Psychotherapy (AAP)
Dr. Peter Claydon
Licensed Clinical Psychologist
Animal Hugger
Outline
 Historical Antecedents
 Contemporary Perspectives
 Benefits and Limitations of AAP
 Examples and Descriptions of
Canine and Equine Assisted
Psychotherapy
Historical Antecedents:
Animal Assisted Therapy
 9th c Belgium: disabled patients + farm animals
 1792 Quakers in York, England: psychiatric in-patients + birds
and rabbits
 1860 Florence Nightingale, Notes on Nursing: the sick/invalids
+ small pets/bird in a cage
 Late 19th c Germany: epilepsy + birds, dogs, cats and horses
 Early 20th c US, Secretary of the Interior, Franklin Lane:
psychiatric patients + dogs
 Early 20th c Sigmund Freud: psychiatric patients + dog “Jo-Fi”
 End of WWII, Army Air Corps Convalescent Center New York
Serendipitous Discovery in
the 1960s
 Boris Levinson, MD: 9 yr old patient + dog “Jingles”
– the birth of animal assisted psychotherapy (“Pet
Therapy”)
 OSU Psychiatric Hospital, Drs. Corsen + Corsen:
socialization skill development of adult and
adolescent inpatients + dogs
Contemporary Research
 Barker & Dawson (1998): institutionalized patients and
anxiety + dogs
 Barak et al. (2001): elderly patients with schizophrenia +
dogs and cats
 Kovacs et al. (2004): middle-aged patients with
schizophrenia + small animals
 Cobaleda-Kegler (2006): female juvenile offenders + cats
 Limitations: no comparison groups
Trotter, Chandler, GoodwinBond and Casey (2008)
 “A Comparative Study of the Efficacy of Group
Equine Assisted Counseling with At Risk Children
and Adolescents”
 Group 1: Equine Assisted Counseling (EAC)
 Group 2: school-based group counseling (“Kids
Connection”)
 Results showed EAC superior to school counseling
on all measures
 Limitations….
Benefits of AAP
1. Symptom reduction, e.g. Depression; Anxiety;
Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder;
Conduct Disorders; Substance Abuse; Body Image
Disorders; Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder;
Schizophrenias; Autism Spectrum Disorders
2. Functional improvement in areas such as selfesteem; social and relational abilities; learning (e.g.
memory, problem solving, decision making)
Limitations of AAP
1. Not suitable for all patient populations, e.g. severe
Anti Social Personality Disorder; certain psychotic
states; serious dementia or brain damage
2. Some animals may not be suited for AAP
Accrediting & Certification
 PET PARTNERS (formerly The Delta Society), est.
mid-1970s <deltasociety.org>
 EFMHA, Equine Facilitated Mental Health Association, a
subsidiary of PATH International Professional
Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International,
est. 1969 (formerly NARHA) <pathintl.org>
 EAGALA, Equine Assisted Growth and Learning
Association, est. 1999 <eagala.org>
 CBEIP, Certification Board for Equine Interaction
Professionals, circa 2010 <cbeip.org>
Local Equine Assisted
Therapy Programs
 H.E.A.R.T.S Adaptive Riding Program (Santa
Barbara)
 Windhorse Equine Assisted Therapy Center (Santa
Ynez Valley)
 Reins of H.O.P.E. (Ojai)
HEARTS Therapeutic Equestrian Center
 www.heartsadaptiveriding.org
 Accredited by PATH International
Windhorse Equine
Assisted Therapy Center
 Formerly Santa Ynez Valley Therapeutic Riding
Program
 www.syvtherapeuticriding.org
• H.E.L.P. - Horse Enlightened Learning and Psychotherapy
Reins of H.O.P.E.
• reinsofhope-ojai.org
• Executive Director: Julie Sardonia, M.A., L.M.F.T.
Local Canine Assisted
Therapy
 Child Abuse Listening and Mediation (CALM):
calm4kids.org
 Pilot Program, principal investigator Brenda
Murrow, PhD candidate:
bmurrow@calm4kids.org
My Therapy Dog, Pixie