A research team at Haifa’s Technion Institute of Technology has examined the effect of bringing pets into therapy sessions. Patients who brought dogs into their therapy sessions turned out to be much less apathetic, compared with those undergoing conventional therapy.
The research team looked at the phenomenon of anhedonia, which is the inability to gain pleasure from normally pleasurable experiences – a major factor in schizophrenia. The researchers compared 10 schizophrenic patients who underwent animal-assisted therapy with 10 who were given non-animal therapy over a 10 week period.
The group who were given pet therapy showed a significant improvement in the hedonic tone (sensation of pleasantness) compared to the other group. They were also seen to show an improvement in the use of leisure time and a trend towards improvement in motivation.
The study, reported by Israel21c, was recently published in the Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics journal.
The research team looked at the phenomenon of anhedonia, which is the inability to gain pleasure from normally pleasurable experiences – a major factor in schizophrenia. The researchers compared 10 schizophrenic patients who underwent animal-assisted therapy with 10 who were given non-animal therapy over a 10 week period.
The group who were given pet therapy showed a significant improvement in the hedonic tone (sensation of pleasantness) compared to the other group. They were also seen to show an improvement in the use of leisure time and a trend towards improvement in motivation.
The study, reported by Israel21c, was recently published in the Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics journal.