User:Ccorb020/Animal therapy

<references group="All, A. C., & Loving, G. L. (1999). Animals, Horseback Riding, and Implications for Rehabilitation Therapy. Journal of Rehabilitation, 65(3), 49–57. KOZIKOWSKI, M. (2018). Dogs and Pigs and Birds, Oh My! A Bevy of Animals Serve as Partners in Literacy. Children & Libraries: The Journal of the Association for Library Service to Children, 16(2), 3–5. https://doi-org.ezproxy.fiu.edu/10.5860/cal.16.2.3  le Roux, M. C., & Wright, S. (n.d.). The Relationship Between Pet Attachment, Life Satisfaction, and Perceived Stress: Results from a South African Online Survey. ANTHROZOOS, 33(3), 371–385. https://doi-org.ezproxy.fiu.edu/10.1080/08927936.2020.1746525  Nikolskaya A.V., & Kostrigin A.A. (2019). The Efficiency of Animal-Assisted Therapy in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Psychotherapeutic Cases. Консультативная Психология и Психотерапия, 27(4), 149–164. https://doi-org.ezproxy.fiu.edu/10.17759/cpp.2019270410  Toshihide Harada, Fumiko Ishizaki, Weiping Cheng, Yumiko Nitta, Yumiko Miki, Hideaki Numamoto, Naotaka Yoshikawa, Yoshitaka Nobukuni, Miwa Hayama, Shoji Ito, Hiroyuki Miyazaki, Satomi Aoi, Hiromi Ikeda, Tadayuki Iida, Juko Ando, Masato Kobayashi, Makoto Ito, Yuka Nitta, Tsuneshi Sugawara, & Kohji Nakabeppu. (2020). Relationship between the Characteristics of Animal-Assisted Therapy and Patients. International Medical Journal, 27(5), 620–623." responsive="0" /> Animal Therapy and Building an Appreciation for Animals

The domestication of animals began around 12,000 years ago and still continues today. The domestication of animals has allowed us to bring animals into our homes, to enjoy them in nearby settings, and has also increased our scientific knowledge on our environment and species. Throughout time people have always been able to appreciate animals especially as pets. However, as more research is done on animals they may be helpful in various medical settings. The earliest recorded use of animals in health care was by Florence Nightingale in 1860 as she observed that: "a small pet is often an excellent companion for the sick, for long chronic cases especially". Animal therapy continues to become more popular and used in various settings but some implications of animal therapy are often overlooked. Animal therapy can help people build relationships with animals they may not have interacted with otherwise. For example, children with down syndrome have interacted with horses in order to help treat their symptoms and establish trusting relationships with animals. Allowing the animal to help people not only benefits the animal and the person but it benefits the relationship between them. As people appreciate animals more they are more likely to want to take care of animals and want to take care of the environment.

Through animal therapy, patients are shown the health benefits of having a pet or interacting with a service animal. This relationship that they build with the animal transfers on to other aspects of their life. Animal therapy has expressed social benefits such as higher self esteem in children with animals, better non-verbal communication, and social competency. Nurturing relationships with animals can also prevent criminal behavior and help create positive social behavior. It has been reported that early cruelty to animals is a reliable indicator of child abuse and other criminal behavior later in life. It has been hypothesized that encouraging nurturing traits by the supervised introduction of companion animals may have the effect of reducing the levels of crime and other antisocial behavior exhibited by young people. Therefore, as a person cares for an animal or allows the animal to care for them they are using their social skills. This expresses that it would be beneficial for children to be associated with animals from a young age and shows the benefits of allowing people to care for pets. Prisons are even beginning to allow inmates to have birds and fish as pets in order to remove any anti-social tendencies people may have.

Animals have the ability to better the lives of others through their interactions with them. As found in a study by Toshihide, the quality of life (QOL) of patients in the elderly nursing home, elementary and high school and preschool children  was improved when therapy animals were added into their activities. Animals allow an outlet for people to experience love from somewhere else and also prevent loneliness since they give people a companion for various situations and are able to show that they enjoy being with their person. They also are a responsibility and task to look forward to for people who need more activities to do and keep busy. Various programs even allow the common pet dog to be trained as an emotional support dog which not only helps its patients but helps the dog and dog owner. Animals can also help teach younger children about death and deal with the negative aspects of life through their experiences. As people have animals as teachers and companions they allow themselves to open up to others more and they help themselves think clearer. A parent adopting a dog for their children to care for and love but also say good bye to when the animal has to pass is an excellent way for the child to learn values. That child can learn responsibility and kindness that will help the child throughout life.

As animals have the ability to better people's lives it becomes more clear as to why animal therapy should be more common and relationships with animals should be promoted. As relationships between human and animals are established people realize the importance of taking care of animals and eventually the planet. Studies have shown that as people connect with animals and see them in a setting they hold dear they begin to connect with that animal and they begin to care about animal conservation. Animal conservation is very relevant in todays society since there are a variety of environmental issues occurring. Animal therapy can assist people in realizing the value of animals in a variety of settings, which can allow people to better appreciate animals and the environment.