Therapy Pets

By: Mackenzie L.

In the last couple of years, therapy pets have started to become very popular to help with depression, anxiety and other mental illnesses. Doctors are finding that prescribing an animal, whether it be a cat or a dog, is better than prescribing medicine. Most anti-depressants have warning label saying that the medicine could increase suicidal thoughts. Where an animal has been scientifically proven to help make people happier with no side effects.

In National Institutes Of Health in Bethesda, MD, there is a dog named Viola. She is a retired guide dog that greats patients coming back from treatments and signed out to be taken on walks. She helps the children that are in the hospital feel happy. Viola is a great example of helping children and there parents by giving them a break from the hectic life in a hospital.

The use of therapy pets is not new but is growing. In the 1970s, research really took off on therapy pets. A study found that heart-attack patients lived longer with a pet than those you had none. Animals can give people the push to keep fighting to live. One of the newer studies conducted at the University of Missouri found that animals help produce a hormone that helps with happiness and trust. The hormone Oxytocin helps us heal and is important to the body.

The research so far has found that animals make people happier. In the medical field research on therapy pets, they have found that animals help to lower blood pressure and elevate Oxytocin.  They have found that animals help children with speech problems and are helping people to loose weight. Animals are an amazing thing and I don't think that research will ever be able to explain the bonds humans have with there animal companions.

Citations

Rovner, Juile. "Pet Therapy: How Animals And Humans Heal Each Other."NPR. NPR, 5 Mar. 2012. Web. 01 Apr. 2016.

"Meet the Dogs and Cats That Help Heal Sick Portland Kids (Photos) - Portland Business Journal." Widgets RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2016.

"Animal Assisted Therapy Works!" The Wellness Report. N.p., 10 Feb. 2016. Web. 01 Apr. 2016.