Mental Institutions, Hospitals and Nursing Homes
A 1998 study looked at the use of AAT in reducing anxiety levels of institutionalized patients. They determined that anxiety levels were significantly reduced in patients with mood disorders and psychotic disorders after a session of AAT. In fact, for the patients with psychotic disorders, those who participated in AAT had twice the reduction in anxiety scores as those who participated in some other form of recreational activity. This suggests the low demands of human-animal interaction was effective for individuals with psychotic disorders as compared to traditional therapy. A controlled study of 20 elderly schizophrenic patients found significant improvements through the use of cats and dogs as companions, indicating that this population may benefit from the companionship of an animal, especially if they do not have access to friends or family. Pets may also provide an opportunity for fun and relaxation. Another example can be seen with the famous case of Oscar the cat and a Providence, Rhode Island nursing home. Patients and family member reported a sense of calming when the cat would enter their room. Although the cat was a sign that the patient was dying, family members were thankful for the comfort that the cat seemed to instill in their loved one. The cat would jump on the patients lap and stay with them until they passed. In National Capital Therapy Dogs Inc., a non-profit, all-volunteer organization that provides animal-assisted therapy to many people in health facilities, shelters, schools and libraries, has more than fifty teams of pet/human therapist combinations that work with patients that have severe medical conditions. They are able to improve morale for people who are undergoing intense medical treatments, reducing depression and anxiety as well as chronic pain. Walking with the dogs can improve circulation as well, especially for patients who spend most of their day in bed.
Read more about this topic: Animal-assisted Therapy
Famous quotes containing the words mental, hospitals, nursing and/or homes:
“The only inequalities that matter begin in the mind. It is not income levels but differences in mental equipment that keep people apart, breed feelings of inferiority.”
—Jacquetta Hawkes (b. 1910)
“We achieve “active” mastery over illness and death by delegating all responsibility for their management to physicians, and by exiling the sick and the dying to hospitals. But hospitals serve the convenience of staff not patients: we cannot be properly ill in a hospital, nor die in one decently; we can do so only among those who love and value us. The result is the institutionalized dehumanization of the ill, characteristic of our age.”
—Thomas Szasz (b. 1920)
“There is a certain amount of purpose, acquiescence, and satisfaction in nursing one’s melancholy.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)
“There is the rich quarter, with its houses of pink and white, and
its crumbling, leafy terraces.
There is the poorer quarter, its homes a deep blue.
There is the market, where men are selling hats and swatting flies”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)