Animal Assisted Therapy

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Animal-assisted therapy methods are alternative medical treatment methods for healing or at least alleviating the symptoms in psychiatric, psychological / neurotic and neurological diseases and mental and / or mental disabilities in which animals are used. Depending on the species, animal-assisted therapy is practiced in different areas of application. There are e.g. B. Offers with dolphins , dogs , cats , horses and llamas ; so-called therapy animals . Animal-assisted therapy therefore includes all measures in which the targeted use of an animal is intended to achieve positive effects on people's experience and behavior. This applies to physical as well as mental illnesses. The human / animal therapy couple acts as a unit. Therapeutic elements are emotional closeness, warmth and unconditional recognition by the animal. Animal-assisted therapy can be viewed as a discipline of animal-assisted interventions. It is a professional helper relationship with an influence on people, which includes supportive and preventive measures.

Dog therapy

Therapy dog ​​in action

There are basically two ways dogs can be used to improve the patient's well-being and health:

Dog-assisted therapy is a form of animal-assisted therapy. It is used by trained specialists in the fields of therapy, psychology, education, social affairs or medicine with training as animal-assisted therapists. Because the disease-healing effect of animals alone has not been proven. Animal-assisted therapists or therapy dog ​​teams work with the trained therapy dog as a medium to facilitate the therapy / treatment of the disease or disability of the patient or to make it more pleasant. Dog-assisted psychodiagnostics is particularly indicated in those areas in which verbal diagnostic procedures fail. In areas in which no or only minimal verbal communication is possible ( language disorders , language barriers, deafness , autism ), dog-assisted psychodiagnostics are particularly effective for their users. They are trying to prove that different autistic or psychotic disorders can only be differentiated using dog-assisted psychodiagnostics.

The other well-known form is animal-assisted training with the dog, or dog-assisted activity. A distinction is made between visiting dogs and service dogs :

Visiting dogs are used in nursing and old people's homes, hospitals, schools or kindergartens. This form is much better known and is often confused with animal-assisted therapy (therapy companion dog teams). No basic therapeutic, educational, social or medical training is compulsory for dog handlers of visiting dogs. With dog-assisted support, a dog handler visits facilities with his dog (possibly with additional training) in order to organize targeted activities with the client to promote general well-being and quality of life. This takes place in individual sessions as well as in small groups.

Service dogs, on the other hand, accompany and support people with disabilities in their everyday lives, e.g. B. Guide dogs , assistance dogs for the disabled or epilepsy dogs . The training of these dogs is very tedious and costly. It usually begins in puppyhood and becomes a lifelong task for the dogs.

Both in animal-assisted therapy and in animal-assisted support, general regulations for keeping animals must be observed. Deworming and vaccinations must be carried out regularly. In addition, the training and the subsequent everyday work must not harm the dogs. Ie the working hours of the animals must be limited. In animal-assisted therapy, for example, dogs are allowed max. Participate in individual therapeutic sessions for 45 minutes. In addition, the owners are obliged to take care of their dogs and even break off meetings in an emergency.

Every dog ​​has to be socialized and trained in specific training for later tasks. Most therapy dogs come from working dog breeds, primarily from the breeds of retrievers and various herding dog breeds . The trend today is towards targeted breeding and selection of suitable dogs.

On the one hand, dogs have a calming effect and act as a safety signal, on the other hand, their communication works differently than interpersonal communication. This shift in the way of communication means that the interaction between dog and patient is less injury-free and more open. Dogs are very inviting when it comes to making contact and giving attention. In addition, they have an integrating effect. It is believed that when dogs are stroked, happiness hormones such as endorphins and oxytocin (cuddle hormones) are released. This means that the well-being of all those involved (therapist / dog handler, client and any guest) improves when a dog is present in the therapeutic situation.

Hippotherapy

See main articles Hippotherapy and Therapeutic Riding

Hippotherapy uses specially trained horses for physiotherapy. In this form of physiotherapy , the riding horse is used as a medium to transmit movement impulses to the human pelvis . The patient sits in the gait step on horseback.

A healing effect is to be achieved here above all by the fact that the human body has to adjust to the impulses caused by the moving horse. For example, people who are paralyzed on one side could develop a feeling for their core. At the same time, muscle tension is positively influenced; slack muscles tightened, spastic muscles, i.e. muscles that are too tight, would give way. This would train the entire posture, especially of the upper body, and improve the sense of balance .

Hippotherapy should not be used in patients with inflammation of the spine or seizure disorders that have not been properly controlled by medication, with an active episode of multiple sclerosis , the risk of thrombosis or embolism , hemophilia or horse hair allergy.

The grouping of the term "hippotherapy" is not uniform. Hippotherapy is, so to speak, physiotherapy on the horse and mainly affects the physical component. There is also therapeutic riding, which is more likely to appeal to the psyche. (according to the Board of Trustees for Therapeutic Riding ). Therapeutic riding is recommended for children with developmental disorders and generally for people with ADHD, depression, autism or post-traumatic stress disorders. The latter doctrine is based on the fact that the client sits on the therapy horse, but does not ride, because the seat of the client is different from that of the typical rider and the client does not give the horse any riding aids.

Physiotherapists who want to offer hippotherapy can acquire an additional qualification. B. is offered by the German Board of Trustees for therapeutic riding in Warendorf and the German group for hippotherapy in Kirchheim / Teck.

In Switzerland, hippotherapy is paid for by health insurance. For Germany, the Federal Ministry of Health announced on June 20, 2006 that a therapeutic benefit of hippotherapy has not been proven and that the therapy must therefore be listed as a remedy that cannot be prescribed (cf. BAnz. Of September 26, 2006, p. 6499) .

The area of ​​"therapeutic riding and vaulting" (HpR / HpV), which is also part of therapeutic riding, must be distinguished from hippotherapy. Here children and young people with behavioral problems and other social and psychosocial problems are supported with educational and psychological objectives. The University of Applied Sciences Hildesheim offers further information in its publication Curative Education and Social Work: On the use of the horse in the disabled and youth welfare (including a comprehensive bibliography), which there together with the former Institute for Therapeutic Riding e. V. and numerous experts.

Llama therapy

This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.

Lama therapy is a relatively new form of animal-assisted therapy, in which llamas are included as companion animals in a development-promoting, educational or therapeutic process in order to achieve pre-determined goals for the client (s). This therapy is not financed by the social and health service providers and has to be paid for by the client.

The species-specific properties of the llamas are used as motivating factors in llama therapy. Particularly noteworthy here are the reserved and at the same time friendly and curious nature of llamas, their slow and easily observable movements and postures and the fact that most clients are very open and unbiased towards llamas, as they usually have not yet had bad experiences with these animals were made. Lama therapy can be used for children with developmental disorders, people with disabilities who have a mental illness, for addicts, for those with trauma or behavioral problems.

There is currently no formal qualification for providers of llama therapy. A recognition of the llama therapy is aimed for, as well as the definition of quality standards and a uniform professional profile through the possibility of an additional professional qualification as in the field of hippotherapy.

Dolphin therapy

Therapy with dolphins is controversial. Animal rights activists criticize a scientific proof of effectiveness. It is particularly intended to help children with mental, physical, but above all with emotional limitations.

It was developed by the psychologist and behaviorist David E. Nathanson. He heads the “Dolphin-Human-Therapy” therapy programs carried out in America. On his website he even reports that treatment with a real dolphin is no more effective than treatment with an artificial robotic dolphin ( Therapeutic Animatronic Dolphin ). The basis of the therapy concept developed by Nathanson is that conservative forms of therapy are strengthened in that the encounter with the dolphin is designed as a reward for the cooperation of the patient and his parents. Patients are only allowed to interact with the dolphin after they have completed their therapeutic tasks (based on conservative procedures). Nathanson wants to have proven the effectiveness of his therapy concept several times in his own studies. Critics point out, however, that no independent studies were carried out and that the encounter with the dolphin was not considered in isolation in the existing studies (comparison group that participates in the overall concept of DHT, only that the dolphin encounter is replaced).

Both America and Israel also offer other therapy programs with dolphins in which the animals live in separate sea bays. This therapy is associated with higher costs than other animal-assisted forms of therapy and is offered in Germany as part of a research program at the University of Würzburg (joint offer with the Nuremberg Zoo). Initially, the patients are not allowed to go into the pelvis of the animals, but only act from the edge of the pelvis during the first sessions. On the last day of therapy, the children can also go into the pool with the dolphins if they want.

Another, family-centered therapeutic approach - based on findings from early intervention - was developed by a German interdisciplinary project group. It aims to sensitize the parents to the communication signals of their disabled child and thus to improve their interaction with the child and includes the parents in the therapeutic work with the dolphin.

In Germany there are concerns on the part of animal welfare , as in aquariums and dolphinariums an animal welfare of these large mammals supposedly can not be guaranteed. Likewise, numerous marine mammal biologists, as well as some of the most respected former dolphin trainers in the world, oppose dolphin therapy because it poses a threat to humans, causes stress in animals and gives a misleading image of dolphins. Over a five-year period in the United States, approximately 18 cases have been documented of people sustaining broken bones, internal injuries or serious wounds when encountering dolphins in captivity.

The program developed by Dolphin Space since 1997 completely dispenses with the use of dolphins . It is based on a combination of echolocation sounds played under water from wild animals with the involvement of the caregivers and complementary therapeutic elements as well as short-term training. This program, which was initially applied to children with behavioral problems, learning disabled and autistic children, is now used therapeutically for senile dementia and, since 2005, also in high-performance sport.

Some scientists doubt the effectiveness of a therapy with dolphins: A study by the University of Würzburg came to the conclusion in 2006: "Due to the proven therapeutic effects in severely disabled children aged five to ten years, therapy with dolphins will be offered in the Nuremberg Zoo in the future The participating families must finance themselves. ”A correct reproduction of the research results on the effectiveness of therapy with dolphins from the study by the University of Würzburg comes to the following conclusion: The results obtained show that the parents positive changes in the social-emotional and communicative behavior of their children perceive that can be traced back to the therapy with dolphins. They describe their children as more self-confident after therapy with dolphins and certify that they have a higher level of social and emotional competence. They also observe an increase in the understanding and use of verbal language as well as increased non-verbal reactivity. These changes perceived and described by the parents are clear therapeutic effects that have remained stable for at least six months. These subjective assessments of the parents tend to be supported by the objective data from the behavioral observation. The developed concept of therapy offers and the therapeutic action derived from it thus proves to be effective in the treatment of children aged 5 to 10 years whose communication and interaction problems arose in connection with a severe disability.

The children's aid organization "Inter-National Children Help (ICH)" has stopped funding dolphin therapy "for animal welfare reasons".

literature

  • Theres Germann-Tillmann, Lily Merklin and Andrea Stamm Näf: Animal-assisted interventions: the multi-professional approach . Hans Huber Verlag, Bern 2014, ISBN 978-3-456-85416-8 .
  • Monika Vernooij, Silke Schneider: Handbook of animal-assisted intervention. Basics - concepts - fields of practice . Quelle & Meyer, Wiebelsheim 2013, 3rd corrected and updated edition, ISBN 978-3-494-01550-7 .
  • Andrea Förster: Animals as Therapy - Myth or Truth? On the phenomenology of a healing relationship with a focus on humans and horses . Ibidem, ISBN 3-89821-421-4 .
  • Anke Prothmann: Animal-assisted child psychotherapy - theory and practice of animal-assisted psychotherapy in children and adolescents . Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main 2008, 2nd supplemented edition, ISBN 978-3-631-57672-4 .
  • Anke Prothmann: Behavioral Patterns of Mentally Abnormal Children and Adolescents in Animal-Assisted Therapy - An Interaction Analysis . Shaker Verlag , ISBN 3-8322-4084-5 .
  • University of Applied Sciences Hildesheim / Holzminden / Göttingen and Institute for Therapeutic Riding: Curative Education and Social Work. For the use of the horse in the disabled and youth welfare . Online publication. http://www.hawk-hhg.de/hawk/fk_soziale_arbeit/130635.php Hildesheim 2006
  • Ursula Künzle: Hippotherapy based on the functional theory of movement Klein-Vogelbach : Hippotherapy-K, theory, practical application, proof of effectiveness. Springer, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-540-65220-5 .
  • Ingrid Strauss: Hippotherapy: neurophysiological treatment with and on the horse. Attached work: With a contribution to children's hippotherapy by Emmy Tauffkirchen. 3rd, revised. and exp. Edition Hippokrates Verlag, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-7773-1368-8 .
  • Bettina Güntert: Special educational aspects and effects of hippotherapy in children . Innsbruck, Pedagogical Academy, diploma thesis 2003. 88 pp.
  • Daniela Rasl: Hippotherapy and the pelvic part of the body: the influence of hippotherapy on central neurological bladder dysfunction. Akad. Fd physiotherapeutic service at the Kaiser Franz-Josef Spital d. City of Vienna, diploma thesis, Vienna 2003, 62 pp.
  • Inge-Marg Pietrzak: Making children strong with horses - curative educational riding and vaulting (hardcover). Cadmos-Verlag, Lüneburg 2001, ISBN 3-86127-359-4 .
  • Friedrich Wilhelm Steinweg, Karin Schutt: Dolphins as therapists. The KEMER method: treatment in Turkey, aftercare in Germany. Verlag im Kilian, Marburg 2006, ISBN 3-932091-94-9 .
  • Erwin Breitenbach, Lorenzo v. Fersen, Eva Stumpf, Harald Ebert: Dolphin therapy for children with disabilities. Analysis and explanation of effectiveness . edition bentheim, Würzburg 2006, ISBN 3-934471-59-5 .
  • Eva Stumpf: Dolphin therapy from a scientific perspective. Possibilities of evaluation research in the special education field . fwpf, Freiburg 2006, ISBN 3-939348-03-1 .
  • Angelika Taubert: Riding therapy in neurology and psychotherapy . Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-631-58653-2 .

Web links

Commons : Animal Assisted Therapy  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gatterer, 2003 in Rockenbauer, S. (2010). Animal assisted therapy with horses in patients with emotional instability. Vienna: University, p. 22.
  2. ^ R. Wohlfarth, & Widder, H. (2011, October 10). Working Paper: For Discussion: Animal Assisted Therapy - A Definition. Retrieved December 2015, 26, from www.esaat.org: http://www.esaat.org/fileadmin/medien/downloads/Erl%C3%A4uterung_Definition.pdf . P. 3.
  3. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.hawk-hhg.de
  4. ↑ Lori Marino, Scott O. Lilienfeld: Dolphin-Assisted Therapy: More Flawed Data and More Flawed Conclusions. In: Anthrozoos: A Multidisciplinary Journal of The Interactions of People & Animals. 20, 2007, pp. 239-249, doi: 10.2752 / 089279307X224782 .
  5. ↑ Eva Stumpf, Childhood and Development 2016: econtent.hogrefe.com
  6. ↑ Norbert Kochhan, biologist 2011: Therapy without dolphins
  7. ↑ Karsten Brensing , (2004) Approaches to the behavior of dolphins Tursiops truncatus during unstructured swim-with-dolphin programs , inaugural dissertation at the Free University of Berlin.
  8. ↑ Holger Dambeck: Animal cruelty or blessing: Experts argue about dolphin therapy. In: Spiegel Online . October 31, 2007, accessed June 9, 2018 .
  9. ↑ DasErste.de : Myth Animal Therapy ( Memento from January 5, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  10. ^ E. Breitenbach, L. von Fersen, E. Stumpf, H. Ebert: Dolphin therapy for children with severe disabilities - analysis and explanation of the effectiveness. Bentheim Verlag, Würzburg 2006.
  11. ^ E. Breitenbach, L. von Fersen, E. Stumpf, H. Ebert: Dolphin therapy for children with severe disabilities - analysis and explanation of the effectiveness. Bentheim Verlag, Würzburg 2006.
  12. ↑ The children's aid organization "Inter-National Children Help (ICH)" withdraws from dolphin therapy