Pet Therapy Case Study

Rovner, Julie. “Pet Therapy: How Animals And Humans Heal Each Other.” NPR, NPR, 5 Mar. 2012, www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2012/03/09/146583986/pet-therapy-how-animals-and-humans-heal-each-other. This article evaluates the benefits of surrounding a person who has disabilities with animals. It discusses the positive impacts in improving social, mental, and physical skills that are critical to everyday life, such as relationship building in social settings, core strength and balance, and developing body awareness. Furthermore, Rebecca Johnson, a nurse who is the head of the Research Center for Human/Animal Interaction at the University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine, says there are studies that have been done, which conclude

Although these are not physical disabilities, they are mental disabilities, which are just as significant. To help cope with depression, the dogs administer unconditional love, sustain the person’s ability to stay connected to the world, show responsibility for their well being, and sense when a human is going to have a panic attack. Colleen Demling, a certified behaviorist, says, “The mere presence or non-reaction to a stimulus of a trusted companion often calms an attack.” Additionally, the article incorporates data from a study of a Lead Warrior Trainer for K9s For Warriors, Matt Masingill. He suffered from PTSD, which gave him 248 nightmares in 270 days. The article touches on how his service dog woke him up after everyone to break the habit of those dreams, causing Matt to live a happier and healthier life. Having a service dog help a person overcome their mental illness is much more natural than seeing doctors and taking numerous doses of medication. This article is in favor of dogs, rather than all animals, but still provides substantial information that one might want to include in a research paper. If a person would like to use this source for a paper on the effects of service animals, they would have to make sure to research beyond this one source to find out about other

Doctors say that horses are also a strong factor in bettering people’s lives. Many physical and occupational therapists use horses in treatment to help improve mobility, flexibility, fine motor control, and balance. Riding horses also gives people a chance to have fun, while working on skills without even realizing. One parent describes her child saying that going horse riding as one of the only things that is not a chore to her. The article explains that some components of therapeutic riding go even further by emotional bonding and showing mental discipline. After analyzing the article, I conclude that there is, in fact, bias towards riding a horse in order to positively improve the well-being of people with disabilities. The author, Barbara Stewart, wrote this article in a way that makes horse riding seem imperative. She only includes a one sided perspective, which I believe does not make this a valuable