Animal Assisted Therapy Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Animal Assisted Therapy - Research Paper Example In short, wherever people have special needs, someone with creativity and an animal with the proper temperament can probably create an imaginative way to being pets and people together for mutual benefit (Welcome to the World of Animal-Assisted Therapy and Animal-Assisted Activities) Animal Assisted Therapy is gaining popularity at present because of the utility of pet animals in improving health conditions of patients. â€Å"Animal assisted therapy can be defined as the utilization of animals as a therapeutic modality to facilitate healing and rehabilitation of patients with acute or chronic ailments†(McGuirk, p.6). It is a type of therapy which involves the assistance of an animal in improving the physical, psychological and social wellbeing of a patient. Pet owners have known the health benefit of animals well before the animal therapy was introduced by the medical science. It is not necessary that animal therapy alone may successful in curing chronic diseases; however in c ombination with other therapies like physical and cognitive therapies, animal therapy found to be extremely useful in reducing mental stress, Cholesterol, high blood pressure etc. Animal assisted therapy is suitable for animal lovers. Children often establish deep relationships with pet animals. Apart from improving the physical and mental health, the presence of beloved animal can help children in improving their learning skills, memory, vocabulary, motivation etc. Though it seems possible that the novelty of the experiences themselves cause such improvements in children, therapy animals do provide them with the sort of emotional support humans novelty cannot, leading to improved physical and mental states.   The physical interaction with animals or the presence of animals can help children and animal lovers reduce their mental stress. Increased mental stress is the most prominent reason for many of the physical, psychological and social problems faced by children. In many of the cases, children may become problematic when they were unable to get the necessary love and care from the parents and beloved ones. Most of the current parents are professionals and they give more importance to their profession rather than their children. The absence of parents forced children to spend majority of their childhood time with pet animals like dogs, cats, birds etc. Thus many of the children establish deep relationships with pet animals. In some cases, such relationships are even stronger than their relationships with their parents. The presence of loved ones is always providing comfort to a person when he is in critical conditions. Children who loved their pet animals more than anything else may become relaxed in the company of such animals. Human love and animal love are entirely different. Human love in many cases is conditional whereas animal love is unconditional. Animals do not expect anything in return to the love they extend towards their owners. On the other ha nd human always expect something in return for the love they provide to another person. In other words, animals can establish much deeper relationships or love affairs with its owner. In recent years, it has been proven that by owning a pet, or just by being around dogs or other animals, one may enjoy several health benefits. These include: Lower blood pressure, Reduce cholesterol levels, Increase life expectancy, Ease loneliness, Improve communication, Foster trust, Reduce the need for medications by providing a diversion from pain, Improve cognitive functioning, Improve physical conditioning, Decrease stress and anxiety for patients and their families, Provide unconditional acceptance, especially for improving body image, Motivate patient to quicker recovery, Greater risk taking, May be able to alert to an