Clinical research on animal-human interaction supports what people have innately sensed for centuries; animals help humans adapt to stressful situations, the result of their evolutionary social and relational impact on societies. Pets can for example, decrease the mortality rate in patients with coronary heart disease, a condition that is at least partially related to stress (Friedman, 1980).
Yet, despite animals' powerful impact on humans’ well-being, their role in therapeutic settings have been limited. As societies become increasingly urbanized, pet ownership is decreasing and so are the societal benefits of widespread animal-human interaction.
Positive Impact of Animals on People Undervalued in Therapeutic and Societal Settings
A large body of research points to the benefits of human-animal bonding to promote child development, to aid elderly care, mental illness, physical impairment, dementia, abuse and trauma recovery, and the rehabilitation of incarcerated youth and adults.
Dr. Froma Walsh and her colleagues conducted a study in 2009 that found bonding with pets strengthens human resilience to crisis, persistent adversity, and disruptive transitions, such as relocation, divorce, widowhood, and adoption. Pets can increase well-being and healing for humans through their relational benefits, with stress reduction and playfulness, loyal companionship, affection, comfort, security, and unconditional love.
"The powerful meaning and significance of companion animals is underestimated," says Walsh. Mental health professionals however, rarely consider the value and implications of human-animal bonds. Deep pet attachments after the loss of a pet are often marginalized, seen as abnormal, or ignored in theory, training, and practice.
So while researchers and pet therapists continue to prove that animals can be powerful healing partners for patients in a number of settings including homes, hospitals and nursing homes, animal-human interaction has yet to become imbedded into society’s healing system or part of a preventative medicine paradigm.
“Fundamentally, humans are relational beings,” explains Walsh. “Companion animals, although not for everyone, can meet many core psychosocial needs and enrich our lives. They provide pleasure and relaxation; deep affection and steadfast loyalty; and security and constancy in our changing lives,” she says. “Bonds with companion animals may not be our whole lives, but they can make our lives whole,” says Walsh.
Rentals, Urban Living Decreasing Accessibility to Pets
Maggie O’Haire in her 2009 report out of Australia titled, “The benefits of companion animals for human mental and physical health,” writes that one of the challenges to increasing the beneficial effects of interaction of pets with humans is the shift societies are having towards rental housing and pet ownership restrictions. Pets are being pushed out of community spaces, notably in places they’re needed most such as hospitals, nursing homes and educational institutions.
In addition, the growing shift towards urban city living and away from rural has led to a drop in animals and humans living in on-going close proximity to each other. “For the first time in known history,” she writes, humans are spending little or no time in physical contact with plants, animals and the living environment.“
As a result, the consequences of people becoming more detached from natural life, including animals, are beginning to unfold. Writes O’Haire, “Recent meta-analyses indicate that the modern industrialized lifestyle of many societies has a detrimental effect on psychological health.”
Animal and Human Connection Theories
Researchers have long examined the underlying mechanisms of human-animal interactions, and while multiple theories exist, no single idea explains why being around animals is so good for people. Two of the most commonly cited theories however, are the biophilia hypothesis and the social support theory.
Biophilia hypothesis:
The biophilia hypothesis proposes that humans have an innate attraction to other living things, such as nature, animals, other people. From an evolutionary standpoint, attention to animals enhances a person’s chance of survival because animal behavior acts an environmental soldier, alerting others to safety or danger.
Living creatures also provide a pleasant external focus for a person’s attention which creates a calming and relaxing effect (Gullone, 2000). Looking at pets can reduce anxiety and invoke calm, which is the reason so many health practitioners place fish tanks in their waiting rooms.
Social support theory:
Research has long shown that when people have lack of social support or interaction this presents a sizable risk factor for physical and psychological problems. Social support theory suggests that companion animals provide social support and act as facilitators of interactions between people. Animals become a natural catalyst to prompt connections between pet owners, similar to how parents regularly connect with each other through their children.
Animals also provide a sense of continuity for their owners. In addition, pets are non-judgmental beings that offer unconditional love, as a result people often become deeply attached to their pets, viewing them as an integral part of the family. Many times if an owner has to relinquish their pet or the animal dies, an owner will experience a deep sense of loss, the impact which is usually ignored or grossly under estimated in the medical and mental health profession.
For centuries humans have intuitively sensed the profound positive physical and emotional affect animals have on people, only today the benefits can be measured in human-animal interaction studies.
Wayne Dyer, a best-selling inspirational author and speaker offers this prayer regarding the benefit of animals on his website's daily affirmations page, "The more you stop to observe animals and learn from them, the healthier and more peaceful your life will be."
Animals and owners however, are increasingly being separated by rapid urbanization and a lack of understanding about the tangible value living creatures have on the physical and psychological well-being of all societies. As more therapists become familiar with the benefits of animal-human interaction, the paradigm around the benefit of involving animals in therapy will most likely shift.
Further reading:
In Pursuit of Happiness: Strategies that Work
God and the Brain: Neurotheology Narrows Science and Religion Gap
Monitoring Your Family's Happiness Through a "Climate" Survey
Resources:
Friedmann, E., Katcher, A.H., Thomas, S.A., Lynch, J.J. & Messent, P.R. 1983. “Social interaction and blood pressure: Influence of animal companions.” J. Nerv. Ment. Dis. 171: 461-465.
Friedmann, E., Katcher, A.H., Lynch, J.J. & Thomas, S.A. 1980. “Animal companions and one-year survival of patients after discharge from a coronary care unit.” Public Health Rep. 95: 307-312.
Gullone, E. 2000. “The biophilia hypothesis and life in the 21st century: Increasing mental health or increasing pathology?” J. Happ. Stud. 1: 293-321.
O’Haire, Maggie. “The benefits of companion animals for human mental and physical health” Centre for Companion Animal Health, School of Veterinary Science, University of Queensland. maggie.ohaire@gmail.com 2009.HumanAnimalInteractions.com
Walsh, Froma et al. “Human-Animal Bonds I: The Relational Significance of Companion Animals.” Family Process, 2009.
Laura Owens - Laura Owens has a B.S. in Psychology from Rollins College & U of FL. She is a freelance writer with expertise in motivation & wellness.
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