Animal Assisted Therapy

Abstract

Animal assisted therapy is an alternative treatment method based on human-animal interaction, used as complementary to the main therapy in order to cure and enhance the living conditions in individuals affected by chronic diseases or mental disorders. Animal assisted therapy is known to be used as a complementary therapy in many illnesses and disorders such as widespread developmental disorder, cancer, Alzheimer's disease, dementia, loneliness, anxiety and depression. In various researches carried out abroad, duly conductedtherapies along with an expert and competent team has given positive results. In our country, the number of studies conducted in this area is limited. In this review which tries to study animal assisted therapy in multiple dimensions, the definition, history, areas of use of animal assisted therapy and the animal species used in the treatment have been presented, and the different lifestyle applications such as childhood and old age have been interpreted. Given the positive results of animal assisted therapy in the treatment of illnesses and mental disorders, it is believed that its implementation as a complementary therapy in our country, trials of varying animal species in the treatment and its practice in other mental disorders and illnesses will be of benefit.

Keywords

• pets
• animal assisted therapy
• human-animal interaction