What is animal therapy and what is its benefit for children?

Many of us have pets, but very few people think about what a huge impact they have on our lives. And no one is interested in statistics at all.

But, people who interact with animals are more likely to live longer and are generally healthier, scientists have found. For example, those who have a dog at home are less likely to have joint disease and hypertension. And cat owners suffer from allergies 30% less often. The frequency of fatal heart attacks is reduced by the presence of "fluffy" by 3%. Or, for example, just by petting a dog, you will double the level of the hormone of joy.

What is animal therapy

Since ancient times, people have been treated with the help of animals. They helped them in many ailments. Now this direction is only gaining momentum with us. But many have already appreciated its effectiveness.

So, animal therapy (or in other words, animal therapy) is a method of treatment with animals, using which medicines are not needed - only a positive attitude and a desire to defeat the disease are needed. This method is often used in conjunction with other treatments.

Healing or significant weakening of symptoms occurs through communication with one or another animal, or through their images (pictures, figures, toys).

There are two types of pet therapy:

Undirected (when an animal lives in your house, and you yourself without noticing it, you increase your health level through communication with a four-legged friend);
Directed (when animals are deliberately treated according to a certain method, with a set of specific exercises). In this case, the animal must have certain qualities and undergo a course of special training.

Indications

Cerebral palsy;
Autism;
Neuroses of varying degrees;
Mental retardation;
Mental retardation;
Speech disorders;
Hearing impairment;
Visual impairment;
Down syndrome;
Oligophrenia;
Cardiovascular diseases;
Injuries;
Inflammatory processes in the body;
Problems of the musculoskeletal system.

Contraindications

Animal therapy is considered a fairly safe method of treatment. It has practically no side effects. But still, depending on the individual characteristics of the patient, there are people who still should not use animal treatment. The fact is that some are allergic to wool or saliva of this or that animal. Also, if the patient has a severe nervous disorder, open wounds, acute infectious diseases, lung diseases, you should not use pet therapy.

Your attitude is also very important. If initially you do not believe in healing with this method, or simply have a negative attitude towards animals, you should also refuse to use it. In this case, results are unlikely to be obtained.

Types of animal therapy

Many animals can heal. Their diversity abroad is especially striking. So, for example, in America, they practice treatment with rabbits, llamas, goats, parrots, and some use insects. In Australia, kangaroos are treated, in Africa - with elephants and even crocodiles.

But in Russia, all the same, the main directions are less exotic:

Canistherapy. Treatment takes place through communication and interaction with dogs. The dog encourages the patient to take certain actions and improves his psychological health.
Dolphin therapy. From the name it is clear that we are talking here about dolphin treatment. Healing occurs with the help of special sounds made by dolphins (ultrasounds).
Hippotherapy. In this direction the horse is the doctor. The treatment is based on the impulses that the horse transmits to the rider when moving.
Feline therapy. Treatment takes place with the help of cats. The fact is that cats feel human pain very well, they know if there are inflammatory processes in the human body.

Recently, such a direction in pet therapy as leech therapy - hirudotherapy - has become increasingly popular. It is effective in many areas of medicine: gynecology, ophthalmology, surgery, cardiology. With the help of leeches, varicose veins, thrombophlebitis, various gynecological diseases are very successfully treated, and they are used in cosmetology. The whole secret is in their saliva, which penetrates deeply and acts at the cellular level.

Treatment principles

Interaction with an animal is the cornerstone of any type of animal-assisted therapy. It is aimed at making the life of the patient and those around him as comfortable as possible.

None of the described types of animal-assisted therapy treats directly. Let's say you have a headache - you take a pill - the headache goes away. No. There is a slightly different principle here: processes are started in the patient's body that did not work before.

For example, a child with autism did not speak at all, but after a while began to utter sounds or even words. This happened not because he swam with the dolphin, or because a dog was sitting next to him for several sessions - it was just that the animal prompted him to this action.

Or, after spending several years in a wheelchair, a child suddenly takes the first steps after persistent hippotherapy practice. The horse simply showed that the child is able to move independently. After all, he can sit on a horse himself, he can keep balance.

Of course, there is a physiological effect when treating animals. For example, a horse makes muscles that had almost never worked before to work, heats them up, a dog and a cat simply act with heat, dolphins emit very specific healing sounds, a dog and a horse are taught to coordinate movements during exercise. But still, the psychological aspect is no less important. For a child, a lot is revealed anew, he becomes much more sociable and more confident in himself.

The animal is a kind of conductor between a child and an adult, a powerful lever of influence. The four-legged doctor discovers in the patient those abilities and capabilities that he had, but for various reasons were not developed.

Children perceive communication with animals as entertainment, not treatment, so the effect of these activities comes faster.

Where are the classes

In Russia, it is not so difficult to find institutions where animal therapy is performed. Of course, most of these organizations are concentrated in large cities. Canistherapy is especially common there. But there are small settlements where people from all over the country come to undergo treatment with animals. For example, in Evpatoria there is a very famous organization where dolphins provide help. And in Obninsk there is a canistherapy center.

Reviews

Negative reviews about animal-assisted therapy can be heard quite rarely. Experts say that parents often expect miracles for their children from communicating with animals for a short time. They refuse to study, disappointed, but to get the result, you need to undergo a whole course of treatment, or maybe more than one. It is this impatience that caused the negative reviews.

But generally, the response to pet therapy sessions is positive. Animals give positive emotions to both children and adults, really help and help in the fight against ailments.