The effects of pet therapy on those with psychiatric disorders
Laura Clarke
Longwood University
For my research I wanted to find out about the effects of pet therapy on those with
psychiatric disorders. I wanted to find out about pet therapy and its effects with psychiatric
disorders from my internship when I worked with children with behavioral disorders. Pet therapy
is also called animal-assisted therapy and other animal-assisted activities. Animal-assisted
therapy is a large field that uses all types of animals to help people recover from health problems,
such as mental health disorders. Mental disorders are common all over the world and there is an
estimated 26.2 percent of Americans aged 18 and older, or around one in four adults undergo
mental disorders each year. “When applied to the 2004 U.S. Census residential population
estimate for ages 18 and older, this figure translates to 57.7 million people. More than 90 percent
of people who kill themselves have a diagnosable mental disorder, most commonly a depressive
disorder or a substance abuse disorder. ” (Kim Foundation 2014). From research pet therapy or
animal-assisted therapy has been shown to improve physical health, reduce stress, and help
increase positive behaviors. This can be proven from many articles that researchers have done.
Anxiety levels have been a large topic out of all the articles of study. In The Effects of AnimalAssisted Therapy on Anxiety Ratings of Hospitalized Psychiatric Patients, there are statistically
significant reductions in anxiety scores with patients after an animal-assisted therapy sessions.
Pet therapy has also showed to be better than normal therapeutic recreation sessions that only
reduce levels of anxiety for patients with only mood disorders.
Knowledge
What it does for
How can I practice
How you can evaluate
Translation Plan
Population
Older Adults
Population
this knowledge
the effects
-Improved social
skills
-Using pet therapy to
help improve social
skills.
-Providing
interventions that help
with anxiety
-Use of State-Trait
Anxiety Inventory
-UCLA Loneliness
Scale
-Geriatric Depression
Scale
-Lowered anxiety
levels
-Pet therapy is shown
to reduce stress.
-Can show that
cruelty to animals can
predict later harm to
humans giving a link
between child and
animal abuse
-Increased humananimal bond which
provided effectiveness
of the interventions
-Providing animalassisted therapy
-Providing positive
reinforcement within
intervention of pet
therapy
-Implement increased
positive behavior
during provided
intervention
-Generalized SelfEfficacy Scale
-Social Functioning
Evaluation
-Social Behavior
Scale
-Active Measurement
of Patient positive
Interactions
-Multidimensional
Observation Scale
-Quality of Life Scale
-Shown that pet
therapy reduces minor
health problems
-Increase coping
abilities and quality of
life
- Increase positive
health goals
-Provide interventions
that deliver increased
abilities of coping and
quality of life
-General Health
Questionnaire can be
provided.
-Coping Strategies
Scale
-Independent Living
Skills Survey
-Increase social
support
Children
Adults
In Hanselman’s article “Coping Skills Interventions with Adolescents in Anger
Management Using Animals in Therapy” pet therapy is shown to reduce apprehension and has
shown to be an important tool when working with children and adolescents. They provided
treatment that was indicative to a healthy mental development. Hanselman also says that cruelty
to animals although can predict later harm to humans giving a link between child and animal
abuse. The paper describes a program with adolescents in pet therapy and the treatment of anger
management Jan L. Hanselman. (2001).
A 10-month study of behavior and health of 71 adults after receiving a new pet and the study
of 26 adults who did not receive a pet to serve as a comparison between the two, in the article
titled, Beneficial effects of pet ownership on some aspects of human health and behavior. It was
shown that the pet owning group had high reduction in minor health problems during the first
month following acquiring the pet. The group that acquired the pet also displayed improvements
in their general health questionnaire they also showed improvement in physical health due to
walking their pets then the other groups. The other group without the pets did not show any
changes in health or behavior, separate from the small increase in recreational walking. The
results were straight forward and those with pets had positive effects on their health and behavior
Serpell J.
As mentioned in Animal-assisted therapy with farm animals for persons with psychiatric
disorders: effects on self-efficacy, coping ability and quality of life, a randomized controlled trial
“The benefits of Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT) for humans with mental disorders have been
well-documented using cats and dogs, but there is a complete lack of controlled studies using
farm animals as therapeutic agents for psychiatric patients.” The study was on the concept of
involving the use of farm animals and plants in interventions for the health of the clients. The
study was a 12 week intervention with the use of farm animals on coping ability and quality of
life among those with psychiatric disorders, Bente Berget.
The article Effect of animal-assisted therapy on the psychological and functional status
of elderly populations and patients with psychiatric disorders stated that “Animal-assisted
therapy (AAT) may affect health via an increase in perceived social support and social
interaction.” The study involved older adults and determined the effects of AAT with poor social
skills. The older adults were diagnosed with depression and schizophrenia. Interventions were
selected and five participants were measured during a multiple day AAT intervention. Social
functioning, depression, anxiety, behavior, and daily living skills were observed and calculated.
The study showed AAT improved all observed skills. It was said that there were some
inconsistences due to interpretation of findings, Virues-Ortega, Javier. (2012).
The article, Animal-assisted interventions as innovative tools for mental health, talked
about the scientific evidence is far from being consistent with animal therapy. Animals are used
widely with a number of subjects ranging from adolescents to older adults, who benefit from
emotional support. The paper studies animal therapy providing emotional and physical chances
to improve the lives of those who receive the therapy. They focus on using dogs to advance the
life of children with autism spectrum disorder. It is said that an increase in research in humananimal bond to provide effectiveness of the use of interventions, Cirulli, Francesca (2011).
As mentioned in Use of animal-assisted therapy in the rehabilitation of an assault victim
with a concurrent mood disorder, broader therapeutic interventions are now available and
include animal assisted therapy. They described a patient who had depression following an
assault which ended with a head injury and how he received animal assisted therapy as a
rehabilitation tool. The study showed the effectiveness of animal assisted therapy of an assault
victim, Sockalingam S, (2008).
The article Use of animal-assisted therapy with psychiatric patients; helps proves that
animal assisted therapy has received a lot of attention in literature. This article touches on the use
of it with psychiatric patients. The authors found that animal assisted therapy has significant
effects on the advancement of psychiatric patients. It showed that it provides a variety of
physical and psychological benefits. They also talk about how nurses can benefit on learning
about the benefits of animal assisted therapy, Rossetti, Jeanette, King. (2010).
In the article Research and Reflection: Animal-assisted Therapy in Mental Health
Settings, they mention that “animals have been historically associated with promoting physical
and mental health benefits for humans”. But more recently there has shown support for animals
promoting health in literature. This article is all about bringing together preliminary scientific
studies and other reports that offer confirmation of the benefits of using animals in counseling
conditions, Parshall(2003).
In the article, Effectiveness of an Animal-Assisted Therapy Program in an Inpatient
Psychiatric Unit, they show that “proper diagnostic assessment in an inpatient psychiatric setting
requires observation of patients under various conditions”. Showing that group activities
including animal-assisted therapy provide an outstanding chance for assessments, but that is only
if the patient chooses to attend the group activity. Over the course of two years they measured
and analyzed the attendance at an inpatient psychiatric unit, it indicated that the animal assisted
therapy group attracted the highest proportion of inpatients choosing to go to an occupational
therapy group. It was establish that animal assisted therapy was the most active of all groups
offered in attracting isolated individuals. The authors explain in the end that animal assisted
therapy is an extremely effective tool when conducting diagnostic observations and assessments,
Holcomb (1989).
In the article, The Effects of Animal-Assisted Therapy on Anxiety Ratings of Hospitalized
Psychiatric Patients, they had a study that inspected whether a session of animal-assisted therapy
lowered the anxiety levels of psychiatric patients and if any differences in decreases in anxiety
were linked with patients' diagnoses. The study included 230 patients referred for therapeutic
recreation sessions. A crossover study was used to “compare the effects of a single animalassisted therapy session with those of a single regularly scheduled therapeutic recreation session.
Before and after participating in the two types of sessions, subjects completed the state scale of
the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, a self-report measure of anxiety currently felt.” Within the
article there were statistically significant reductions in anxiety scores with patients after the
animal-assisted therapy session, some of the patients that were significantly affected were
patients with psychotic disorders, mood disorders, and other disorders. As proven through the
article animal-assisted therapy was associated with reduction of anxiety levels for patients. It also
proved that a normal therapeutic recreation session only reduced levels of anxiety for patients
with only mood disorders, Barker (1998).
Looking at all of the articles you can see how they all point to the benefits of animal
assisted therapy and complement each other to prove so, the articles provide solid evidence of
the benefit of animal assisted therapy with those that have psychological disorders. It was shown
in Beneficial effects of pet ownership on some aspects of human health and behavior, that the pet
owning group had high reduction in minor health problems along with in the article Use of
animal-assisted therapy with psychiatric patients found that animal assisted therapy has
significant effects on the advancement of psychiatric patients. In other articles I found through
study’s the many benefits of animal assisted therapy with older adults and their behaviors. That
evidence also goes along with the rest of the articles and their study on psychiatric patients. I also
found in Effect of animal-assisted therapy on the psychological and functional status of elderly
populations and patients with psychiatric disorders and in Animal-assisted interventions as
innovative tools for mental health there is mention of inconsistences with animal therapy and that
human- animal bonding is needed to provide effectiveness of the intervention. This also goes
along with the article Animal-assisted therapy with farm animals for persons with psychiatric
disorders: effects on self-efficacy, coping ability and quality of life, a randomized controlled
trial, and how they speak on the lack of controlled studies and the need for more. Two other
articles relate to each other through speaking about how nurses can benefit from learning about
animal assisted therapy in mental health. I also found in The Effects of Animal-Assisted Therapy
on Anxiety Ratings of Hospitalized Psychiatric that they compared normal therapeutic recreation
sessions and animal assisted therapy, statistically in almost all of the articles the benefit of
normal therapeutic recreation sessions did not compare to the extent of what animal assisted
therapy does. It also relates to the article Effectiveness of an Animal-Assisted Therapy Program
in an Inpatient Psychiatric Unit, and how animal assisted therapy is an extremely effective tool.
In conclusion you can see how pet therapy has many benefits for those with psychiatric
disorders. Many studies have showed the statistical significance of animal assisted therapy with
psychiatric patients from improving health to improving behavior. Although there are some signs
of inconsistences with animal therapy from further studies you can see the benefits of it.
I got the majority of my information from the internet. I found information from google
scholar, Longwood library online and from the references within my first found articles. From
looking online it helped me change/narrow my topic because of the different articles I found
online.
I found that my information was credible as it came from the Longwood library and
google scholar. I also saw when looking through one article’s references it had other articles that
I had found and used from google scholar. There were also many studies from the psychiatric
services and the journal of medicine.
For references I found many articles that had the same references. I used articles to help find
other research that was valid and reliable also. It was interesting to see how many articles that
had references to other articles and then that article referenced the past article.
References
Jan L. Hanselman. (2001). ‘Coping Skills Interventions with Adolescents in Anger Management
Using
Animals in Therapy’. “Kluwer Academic Publishers-Plenum Publishers.”, 1573-3467.
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1014802324267
Serpell J: Beneficial effects of pet ownership on some aspects of human health and
behaviour.
Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 1991, 84:717-720.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1295517/?tool=pubmed
Bente Berget: Animal-assisted therapy with farm animals for persons with psychiatric disorders:
effects
on self-efficacy, coping ability and quality of life, a randomized controlled trial. Clinical
Practice
and Epidemiology in Mental Health (2008), 4:9 1186/1745-0179-4-9.
http://www.cpementalhealth.com/content/4/1/9
Virues-Ortega, Javier. (2012). Effect of animal-assisted therapy on the psychological and
functional
status of elderly populations and patients with psychiatric disorders: a meta-analysis.
Health
psychology review, 1743-7199
http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=3&sid=0c7c45ff-0cda-4167-bf2c555fe0a79e38%40sessionmgr4003&hid=4208&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU
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CIRULLI, Francesca et al. Animal-assisted interventions as innovative tools for mental health.
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of
Psychosocial Nursing & Mental Health . 0279-3695
http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=4&sid=0c7c45ff-0cda-4167-bf2c555fe0a79e38%40sessionmgr4003&hid=4208&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU
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http://www.thekimfoundation.org/html/about_mental_ill/statistics.html