Pet Therapy History, Evolution, And Benefits For Humans And Animals

By John Byrne

The benefits brought by the relationship with animals concern: promoting the well-being of the person, acting on the various motivational, emotional, cognitive, and functional levers; the social and dynamic integration of the person, working on the relational, self-esteem, and communicative levers; the facilitation of rehabilitation processes, mitigating loads of existing problems or favoring compensatory paths; support for existing therapeutic activities, increasing their effectiveness or efficiency."

In this book, you will learn:

What is the Pet Therapy

The benefits of Pet Therapy

How to draw up a Pet Therapy project

Trick and Skills

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• Language: English
• Publisher: vincenzo nappi
• Release date: Aug 20, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201143190

John Byrne

John Byrne, from Dublin, is a respected professional cartoonist, whose cartoons have appeared in many well-known publications, including Private Eye, The Guardian and The Bookseller. He has extensive experience of teaching cartoons and comedy, and is in constant demand for workshops and lectures. He has written several other books, including the best-selling Learn to Draw Cartoons and Learn to Draw Comics ,.

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

IN THIS BOOK WE WANT to talk about Pet therapy, a form of co-therapy that uses the human-animal relationship to bring benefits to man, above all, but also to the heterospecific involved. In this therapy, a fundamental role is played by the relationship that is established between the human being and the animal, a very particular relationship able to arouse positive changes, in both members, but above all in the man who, benefiting from this driven by change, it can improve its own situation, whatever it may be, and follow with greater interest and involvement the actual therapy activities proposed by the team that is following it. This is why Pet therapy is identified as a co-therapy, rather than a therapy, because it cannot solve the person's problems on its own, but can be a support to traditional therapies, helping the patient to feel better and to see his situation more positively.

It is thought to speak of this co-therapy because it is believed that it is not yet sufficiently known and appreciated, it is sufficient to think of when it is named with people outside the educational sphere and a question is asked about what it is; this testifies to us that the possible benefit that the relationship with an animal, if followed by experts, can bring to man (and indirectly also to the animal) is not yet known. With this book we want to present some aspects of Pet therapy, especially with regards to the educational and discomfort field (people with disabilities, autism, elderly in nursing homes, ...), presenting an example of experience in a field of support. summer center with normal and non-normal children. Furthermore, we would like to reveal the importance of an educator of knowing this type of practice to be proposed, in appropriate cases, in projects for the person.

PET THERAPY

Birth of the expression and history of Pet therapy

The expression Pet therapy was coined by the child psychiatrist Boris Levinson; appeared for the first time in his book The Dog as Co-Therapist, published in 19611, which illustrated the experiences accumulated over time, during his work. Thanks to this, Levinson is considered to be the father of Pet therapy, although, looking for, it turns out that others before him had studied or simply shown an interest in the human-animal relationship and its possible benefits.

We would now like to see the history of this practice starting from the first studies to date, following the most important steps2. One of the first dates to remember is 1792, the year in which a British psychologist, William Turke, decides to encourage his patients with mental disorders to take care of some animals because he sensed that this could help them. In fact, he thought that the relationship that would be established could improve these people's self-control and sense of humanity.

A second moment occurs in the 1960s, with two episodes, the first in Germany and the other in France. In Germany, in 1867 an institute for epileptic patients inserted dogs, cats and many other animals in therapeutic programs, as combined co-therapy to help patients. At the same time in 1875 in France a doctor, Chessigne, prescribed horse riding for some of his patients with neurological problems, to improve their balance and muscular control. We can define this as a prime example of