Why patients are turning to dogs, horses, rabbits — even chickens — to heal both physical and emotional wounds.
When most of us experience difficulties in life we turn to Hashem as well as professionals such as rebbeim doctors surgeons therapists and psychologists. But for some a breakthrough in healing can sometimes come from regular visits with a dog cat rabbit horse bird goat hamster or even a chicken.
A fairly new field of professional therapy AAT often doesn’t stand alone but rather works in tandem with other therapies — mental health occupational therapy physical therapy nursing speech and language education stress management therapeutic recreation and more. With the help of animals patients — whether children at-risk teens adults or the elderly — can address issues with psycho-social emotional physical and/or cognitive functioning.
Dr. Boris Levinson a Jewish child psychologist from Queens pioneered the use of companion animals in a therapeutic way with emotionally disturbed children in the 1970s. When he questioned over 400 psychotherapists in his research more than half of them believed that depression anxiety phobia and other mental illness could be treated with help from an animal.
In the late seventies researcher Dr. Samuel Corson — often referred to as the “father of pet therapy” — took it a step further showing that in psychiatric institutions pairing patients with particular kinds of animals helped the individuals open up to their therapists. Those treated also reported greater overall levels of happiness.
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