Animals in Therapy Helps Recovery for TBI Clients

It comes as no surprise that Americans cherish their pets, and that millions own them. According to statistics from the American Veterinary Medical Association, in 2012 nearly 43 million households owned dogs, more than 36 million households owned cats and nearly 18 million owned horses. Those figures do not account for the many more millions of households that own fish, ferrets, rabbits, lizards and many other kinds of specialty and exotic pets^[1].

What may come as a surprise is the help that pets can provide in the recovery process for clients who have sustained traumatic brain injuries. That help is just not limited to seeing-eye dogs for the visually impaired, even if the impairment was the result of a brain injury.

Animal-assisted therapy, sometimes called “pet therapy,” is a broad term that refers to the use of animals to help people better cope with illness and disability. In contrast, animal-assisted activities serve a more general purpose, by providing comfort and enjoyment for people who are clients or residents in longer-term care facilities, such as rehabilitation hospitals, post-acute care facilities, such as NeuLife, or nursing homes. It is a goal-directed therapy that utilizes an animal as the motivating force to enhance a treatment session for the benefit of the client. The involvement with the animal can also calm the client and help to accept the challenges that the injury has presented. Further, it can assist in enhancing social interactions, starting first with the animal, but then spreading to a larger population with which the client must interact.

 The therapy is founded upon several truths:

1. The benefits of animal-assisted therapy do not depend upon a specific, single theory. Instead, it encompasses many theories ranging from psychoanalytic to behavioral. That is, this modality of therapy is implemented as an adjunct to other types of therapies, regardless of theory.
2. The animals used are not service animals. While service animals come within the bounds of the American Disabilities Act (ADA), live with their owners and assist with activities of daily living, a therapy animal works with both clients and with therapy professionals.
3. The gamut of therapy animals is virtually limitless, as they perform an entirely different role than service animals.
4. Therapy animals assist people with a wide variety of problems and in a wide variety of ways. For example, they have become relatively common in therapeutic settings for people being treated both post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and for clients who must become accustomed to changes in their lives and independence due to severe injuries or neurological impairments^[2].

Several empirical studies have been conducted concerning the benefits of animal-assisted therapy and animal-assisted activity. One, for example, was conducted at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Center for Human-Animal Interaction. Although the study focused on depression, researchers found a significant reduction in anxiety in recreation therapy when animals were involved, as compared to when animals were not involved in the same recreation activity^[3].

Other studies evaluated a sense of loneliness of 45 long-term care facility residents. The residents were assigned to three 30-minute animal-assisted therapy sessions per week, one 30-minute session per week, or no sessions. At the end of a 6-week period, the UCLA Loneliness Scale was administered to all participants in the study. A significant reduction in loneliness was observed for those persons exposed to animals when compared to those who were not.

Animal-human interaction techniques are among the milieu of innovative therapies employed by the skilled professionals at NeuLife. Our reason for being is to restore our clients to their highest level of function consistent with their physical and psychological condition and abilities.

NeuLife’s philosophy is that healing, wellness and personal fulfillment are best accomplished in a positive and uplifting therapeutic environment where caring staff encourage, assist and support each client so that he or she may achieve specific goals. NeuLife believes personal fulfillment is equally as important as goals to increase function and independence. NeuLife’s multidisciplinary team seeks to achieve, for all of its clients, maximized, sustained outcomes that exceed the expectations of all persons served. Those referred to NeuLife may stay for any established period of time, whether for short-term, long-term or respite care.

Animal-assisted therapy supports NeuLife’s goal for the best possible outcome for every individual served.

NeuLife, in Mount Dora, Florida, is a fully accessible specialized residential post-acute program providing specialized rehabilitation to individuals diagnosed with traumatic brain injury (TBI), spinal cord injury (SCI), traumatic amputations and other catastrophic injuries.

2725 Robie Avenue
Mount Dora, Florida 32757
Call: 800.626.3836
Email: Info@NeuLifeRehab.com
Visit: NeuLifeRehab.com