Press releases
22 Jul 2006 Daily Telegraph Page 4 (WKD) Edition 1C (1060 words)
'Pets are better than Prozac'. Dogs, horses, even rabbits - all can provide therapy for the mentally fragile, as Lucy Atkins discovers.
ANIMAL MAGIC
Lucy Atkins
'Pet therapy'' used to mean sending your sad pooch to see a doggy shrink. These days, however, your pet is less likely to see a therapist than to be one. The change is down to the growing scientific evidence demonstrating the therapeutic potential of animals.
Guide dogs, or hearing dogs, which are trained to help people with physical disabilities, are already part of our national consciousness. But now dogs, cats, horses - and even rabbits or fish - are being used to provide psychiatric assistance to humans suffering from addiction, agoraphobia, depression and schizophrenia.
In the US, where this trend began, the notion of "emotional support animals'' has become so mainstream that a pet which helps you to stay sane now has the same legal rights in housing and transportation (including air travel) as a guide dog.
There is even a debate currently raging in Manhattan over the increasing numbers of people who claim their mutts are emotional support animals, then bring them along to restaurants and cafés.
This is not, apparently, as crazy as it sounds. According to Ingrid Collins, a consultant psychologist at the London Medical Centre, the idea of an emotional support dog getting these rights is completely valid.
"A pet is better than Prozac,'' she says. "Animals have a completely different agenda to humans, and bring things back to basics. They want comfort, feeding and love. In return, they give huge affection.''
This calming, restorative doggy function means that canines in America are now commonly used as companions for people suffering depression or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. "Depressed people tend to be inward looking,'' says Collins. "To care for another soul, an uncomplicated one, is therefore extremely therapeutic.''
One US pet support website summarises its philosophy thus: "A dog is better than a wife, because the later you come home, the more happy the dog is to see you.''
It is not only dogs that can help people with psychiatric problems, says Collins. Even a rabbit can be beneficial.
"The simple benefit of touch, for someone who is lonely - perhaps after a divorce or bereavement - or suffering from low self-esteem, is enormous,'' she says.
What is more, she adds, animals, unlike spouses or bosses, can be highly tuned to a human's emotional state.
This notion lies behind an emerging form of psychotherapy that uses horses to treat people with psychiatric problems. ''Equine Assisted Psychotherapy'' (EAP) originated in the States, but is now being practised in Britain.
"Horses are a mirror to humans: a horse will pick up on someone's mental state and react to it clearly,'' says Wendy Powell, addictions therapist at the Stepps Rehabilitation Centre in Gloucestershire. ''Horses, unlike people, do not worry about hurting your feelings.''
EAP therapists set their clients horsy tasks such as feeding or grooming. This helps people to face their fears and to build self-confidence. In the two years that Stepps has been using EAP, horses have helped dysfunctional families, warring couples, addicts, and people with eating disorders, anger issues and depression.
"It is a very powerful therapeutic method,'' says Powell. "When you are faced with a ton and a half of horse, there is no hiding your true feelings.''
"There has certainly been a recent surge of interest in the relationship between companion animals and human health,'' says Dr Deborah Wells, a psychologist specialising in animals at Queen's University, Belfast.
Some pet benefits are physical: dogs have been known to sniff out malignant tumours or anticipate epileptic seizures in their owners and to lower cholesterol levels and blood pressure.
A recent British study found that the presence of a dog during potentially painful medical procedures reduced chronically ill children's physiological and psychological levels of distress. Research from Israel, meanwhile, suggests that animals can help people with schizophrenia to feel calmer and more motivated.
The psychological support potential of animals is now being studied in depth too. "Studies have found that merely having a dog in the room acts as a stress buffer,'' says Wells. "In trials of people doing stressful tasks, such as mental arithmetic, individuals functioned better when there was a dog in the room - even better than they did with a friend for company.''
The reason for this is hardly mysterious: "A dog will not have an opinion about how well you are performing. Dogs are a non-judgmental safety net.''
Wells says that dogs "can genuinely alter your mood''. She believes they can also act as social lubricants for people who would otherwise be entirely isolated: "They can improve self-esteem and confidence, and your ability to deal with humans.''
If you suffer from agoraphobia, anxiety disorders, or are simply debilitated by low self-esteem, taking your ''emotional support pet'' with you on trips to a café or supermarket could, therefore, be a genuine psychological bonus. Indeed, if you are really debilitated, the presence of your pet could mean the difference between going out or staying home.
Britain seems likely to follow the US, where organisations such as Paws with a Cause or Pets Are Wonderful Support (Paws) are now taking pups into prisons to help rehabilitate inmates. "Studies show that if you are kind to animals, you tend to be kind to humans too,'' says Wells.
America has also pioneered the use of companion dogs to help autistic children, and horses to help children with cancer.
We are slowly moving beyond ''pat dogs'', where volunteers take their dogs into hospitals or old people's residential homes for petting therapy. It could, of course, be some time before the British public is prepared to let emotional support pets vie with guide dogs in legal terms. But perhaps pooch power is not something to be sniffed at.
Pets are non-judgmental stress buffers: if you are doing stressful tasks, the presence of a dog is calming.
Pets love you unconditionally: if you are lonely, bereaved or depressed, this is great for self-esteem.
Dogs are social lubricants: great if you are isolated or anxious.
Touch is beneficial: stroking your pet can improve your mood and lower your blood pressure and stress levels.
Dogs get you out of the house: no matter how depressed you are, they still need walking.
Pets can improve your ability to deal with humans: studies show that if you are kind to animals, you tend to be kind to humans too.
Happiness through horse whispering
Wendy Powell is a psychologist and Equine Assisted Psychotherapist (EAP) with a practice in Putney.
EAP uses horses to aid human recovery, helping sufferers of abuse, depression and disorders - such as eating and anxiety. Horse therapy is a relatively new concept in the UK, but an old Arab proverb reads "the horse is your mirror".
Horses form similar social patterns to humans - they are hierarchical and tribal - and are said to possess an ability to detect and mimic the emotional states of those around them.
Wendy has invited me to meet her horses and see how the therapy works. She wants to judge how I react and interact with them.
We don't wait long. Four horses wander over to us, they are big - two in particular tower over me, and I am nervous. As a Londoner, most of the horses I've seen have policeman straddling them.
Wendy talks but I'm not really listening, instead I keep a wary eye on my new friends.
Two walk in front of me, two behind. I keep my arms folded and talk to the front two in the same way I would humans. Wendy tells me to touch them. She says they are feeling me out, to see if I am comfortable with them - and them with me. I touch one on the nose. I relax a little, too much. One horse behind grunts loudly.
"Do you see what happened there?" Wendy asks. "Not really," I say, meaning not at all.
"The two behind feel left out, they're jealous. As with humans, horses need guidance. They want to be included and to have a leader," Wendy says. "It's about winning their trust."
The type of conditions sufferers have, often show up through the way they connect with the horses.
Wendy explains how eating disorder sufferers subconsciously touch the horse on the mouth - a link with nourishment.
"After a few sessions they want to nurture the horse. It makes them question why they don't feed themselves. It can totally change their outlook."
Sex abuse victims, she says, can be "overwhelmed" by a horse's touch. "Horses sense their mood and rest their head by their chests. They don't want anything back, there is nothing sexual there. It is sometimes too much for victims."
Trust, she reiterates again, is key - and barriers.
If a person is immediately trusting of a horse it may suggest that a person has no barriers, is too willing to attach and possibly be abused.
Wendy re-asserts those barriers - physical and mental.
It's my turn again. She asks me to make the horse - the biggest one at 14 hands - move back five paces. "How", I say. "Any way you can, but you are not allowed to touch it."
This kind of exercise is an important part of the type of treatment Wendy offers.
I look the horse in the eyes and ask him to move back, he looks down at me with disdain. I make myself bigger with my arms outstretched and try again. Nothing.
"You need to assert yourself. Your hands are saying one thing but your voice is telling the horse another," Wendy says.
I try again with firmer instruction. "Back," I say.
His stare is so intense that, in that moment, I swear he is going to head-butt me. He senses my indecision and turns away, but I copy his movement and catch his attention again, holding his eyes with mine.
His ears prick up, he's attentive. "Move Back" I say, he puffs, but nothing. "Get back" I try again, and this time, unbelievably, he moves. One step, a second, a third, fourth and a fifth.
Wendy says I've done well. I'm relieved. The achievement gives me confidence, and that's what it's all about - this is how this unusual type of therapy helps people where more traditional forms of treatment might not be so effective.
Much later I feel a deeper-rooted satisfaction about working with an animal twice my size and getting him to move.
"Some people can't move them at all", Wendy says. "If they are aggressive the horse won't budge. They have to deal with the horse in a different way to get what they want."
All sessions end with a de-brief where the experience is related back to the patient's home or work situation.
"You were apprehensive, but you learned to use your body language and assert yourself," she tells me in assessment. "Remember non- verbal communication is vital."
This is so important that during family sessions Wendy may ban talking and touching completely to encourage expressive body language.
"EAP is a totally different concept for people to understand, but in two years I have seen how so many people benefit from this ," she says.
The session taught me to give the animal respect to receive it in return.
Mastering that gave me confidence, and enabled me to learn more about myself.
Wendy Powell has counselling and psychotherapy practices in Putney and Harley Street.
EAP sessions are available at three locations and start from £120. Visit wendypowell.net.
9:48am Monday 6th August 2007
By Paul Cahalan
Source: http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/misc/print.php?artid=1594205
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