User:Melanierobertson/Dog

The Extent to Which Dogs Benefit Humans Mental Health
Dogs have been proven to boost an individual's mental health since the day they were domesticated many centuries ago. One way dogs benefit a person's mental health is by reducing a person’s stress level. Subjective levels of stress can be immediately reduced after interaction with a therapy dog (Wood, Ohlsen, Thompson, & Knowles, 2018, p. 2). Therapy dogs have been proven to support relaxation and comfort in students, decreasing their anxiety and improving their overall wellbeing (Vincent at el, 2020). Research has shown that dogs play a significant role in improving many aspects of a person’s life by improving outcomes of negative behavior and emotional well-being (Vincent, Heima & Farkas, 2020). Pets can serve as substitutes for physicians and clinical psychologists. It has been found that pet owners have higher self esteem, more positive moods, more ambition, greater life satisfaction, and lower levels of loneliness, all decreasing the chance for stressful behaviors to occur.

Another way dogs can improve an individual's mental health is by enhancing many socialization skills. Animal to human relationships tend to provide increased social capital, social support, and companionship (While, 2017, p. 2). Human animal bonds also provide opportunity for social interaction by playing a significant role in communication development. Dogs not only improve adults' social skills, but youths as well. Studies have even shown that autistic kids' simple social actions are improved greatly after spending time with a dog. When allowing a kid with autism to spend time with a dog, it can provide a sense of connection across essential differences which the children are able to encounter implicitly (Solomon, 2010, p. 6).

Animal assisted therapy, also known as AATs, is being increasingly used to contribute in helping youth children. AATs support major developmental processes during childhood and adolescence by promoting self regulatory behavior (Flynn, et al., 2020, p. 2). These therapy dogs are used as a tool for the youth to improve their psychological outcomes. By furthering trajectories of development, AATs contribute to the increased engagement with youth who have psychological challenges. The children's ability to be physically active with these dogs also played a significant role in improving their ability to be engaged for a longer amount of time.

Not only have dogs been proven to reduce stress levels and enhance socialization skills, they have also been found to reduce fear and anxiety levels in hospitalized patients. Therapy dogs have been found to decrease patients' fear by distracting them by giving off calming effects towards not only the patient, but their family and friends too. They create a more secure setting by being familiar to the patient, making them feel more like home instead of the overwhelming environment. Studies not only show the improved mood of the patients after spending time with a therapy dog, but also helping them to continue to maintain a positive attitude towards getting better (McCullough, PhD, Ruehrdanz, MPH, & Jenkins, 2016, p. 4).

Overall, dogs have been shown to benefit a human's mental health in many different ways. By reducing stress levels, enhancing socialization skills, and reducing fear in hospitalized patients, dogs can improve the quality of a person’s mental health in many different ways. Researching all the various benefits dogs have on human lives can bring more normality to the idea that dogs are much more capable than being just a pet.