Animal Companionship

“Sometimes, the best therapist has fur and four legs” - Unknown

The above quotation is something that one may see frequently on social media, often captioning a photo of a pet with its owner. In the following article, we will be looking into just how true this saying is through the lens of science!

Pets have been around for a while…

Archaeologic studies have shown that some animals, mostly dogs, have been man’s best friends for a very long time - around 12,000 to 14,000 years in fact! This is evident in the way that these furry family members were buried with their masters to provide companionship and protection in the afterlife, according to Morey, 2006. The same study shows that cats were also especially important in Ancient Egypt and that birds were the second most popular choice of domesticated animals after dogs in Ancient Greece - probably because of their ability to sing. 

Pet Therapy

In 1969, Boris Levinson was the one to introduce the idea of improving the patient-therapist relationship by including animals in sessions to make the clinical environment less scary - especially for children. Since then, Animal Assisted Therapy, or Pet Therapy, has become a legitimate form of intervention for people suffering from a variety of mental illnesses including depression, anxiety, addiction, chronic loneliness, Alzheimer's disease, and schizophrenia. 

As explained by Ben Green in his 2012 study on the pros and cons of pet therapy and the reasons why it works, “[t]he mechanism of pain reduction [in pet therapy] is thought to be cognitive, so distraction activates comforting thoughts, promoting feelings of companionship and wellbeing”. This is supported by Kamioka et al., (2014) as their study reveals an improvement of social skills and a boost in self-worth in the participants. The interesting thing about the latter study is that other animals were included in the pet therapy other than dogs. In the therapy animals involved were cats, birds, rabbits, ferrets, guinea pigs, dolphins, and cows!

How Is Your Pet Therapeutic?

Bustad (1983) stated that the bond between a pet and its owner is similar to a loving or friendly bond between humans. This means that cuddling with your animal friends is just as beneficial as hugging and engaging in bonding activities with loved ones. In fact, looking into the eyes of your pet releases the same chemicals found in the presence of mother-baby bonding - namely oxytocin (attachment and trust) and serotonin (the “happy chemical”). Also, some animals, especially dogs, have a lot of energy to burn - which in turn promotes exercise in their owners - so indirectly, having a pet also reduces one’s risk of excessive stress, cardiovascular disease and obesity. Sounds like a win-win situation! 

Make your life pet-friendly- It's good for everyone involved

In conclusion, being around animals is beneficial to one's physical and mental health in that they tend to reduce excessive levels of stress and bring joy to us just by being themselves. Don’t have a pet, or can’t afford it? There are always animal shelters that would appreciate more volunteers and in doing so, both you and animals are benefitting from some quality time and companionship. 

Author:

Martina Marie (Martie) Aquilina

Student of University of Malta

References:

Bustad, L. K. (1983). Symposium summary. In Paper presented at The international symposium on human-pet relationship: Vienna, Austria

Green, B. (2012). An unusual visitor. Student BMJ, 20 doi:http://dx.doi.org.ejournals.um.edu.mt/10.1136/sbmj.e4015

Kamioka H, Okada S, Tsutani K, et al. Effectiveness of animal-assisted therapy: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials. Complementary Therapies in Medicine. April 2014; 22(2):371-390.

Levinson, B. (1969). Pet-oriented Child Psychotherapy. Springfield, IL: C.C. Thomas.

Morey, Darcy. (2006). Burying key evidence: The social bond between dogs and people. Journal of Archaeological Science. 33. 158-175. 10.1016/j.jas.2005.07.009.

Vieira, M. (2017, June 15). Retrieved from https://petable.care/2017/06/15/true-pets-can-reduce-stress/