What is Animal-Assisted Therapy?

Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT) has been used since prehistoric times; Egyptians were buried with cats or pets and in ancient Greece, dog tongues were considered to have medicinal powers. The first instance of the use of animals for therapy was in 9th century Gheel, Belgium—people with disabilities learned to care for farm animals as a form of therapy. In 1792, the York Retreat in England, founded by the Quakers, used animals to help the insane—one of the first places to treat the mentally disabled humanely.

The term “pet therapy” was introduced in 1964 by American child psychiatrist Boris Levison after he discovered dogs helped open channels of communication with a nonverbal child patient. The child had social contact problems and Levison had been unable to instigate speech for a month, but the presence of Levison’s dog softened the boy’s defenses and got him to speak.

Animal-Assisted Therapy is still employed and researched today. The National Cancer Institute (NCIS) is currently concluding a study this month on the affects of AAT on cancer patients using the Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale and Fear Visual Analog Scale before and after each session. The study began in December 2006 and examined 150 patients.

“Evidence suggests that animal-assisted therapy can have a positive effect on a patient's psychosocial, emotional and physical well being," said Julia Havey, RN, study presenter and senior systems analyst, Department of Medical Center Information Systems, Loyola University Health System (LUHS). Havey’s LUHS colleague Frances Vlasses, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, also works with AAT organizations.

For more than a decade, Vlasses has been raising dogs for a nonprofit organization specializing in providing assistant dogs the disabled. Vlasses works with Canine Companions for Independence (CCI), an organization founded in 1975. The dogs are trained by CCI to provide support for physical tasks and as companions. There are four different types of assistance dogs: service, facility, skilled companions and hearing dogs.

Service dogs assist directly with physical tasks and provide social companionship. Facility dogs are trained to work with a professional in a visitation, education or health-care setting and can perform more than 40 commands. Skilled companion dogs help those with disabilities like cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, autism and Down’s syndrome. Hearing dogs are the most well known group and are trained to recognize and alert partners of sounds like the doorbell, alarm clock or smoke alarm.

Studies have shown that patients who use AAT require 50 percent less surgery than those who opt not to participate in AAT. As Jennifer Christiansen writes, “Man's best friend is a natural therapist.”