One week ago I was captured by a headline in a Swedish tabloid paper, “Dolphins saved my life.” This statement was made by a farmer’s partner, who suffered from depression and had participated in a swim with the dolphins program in Florida.
I became very curious about the issue, since the statement was made by a farmer’s partner, who was surrounded by animals every day. It made me wonder if dolphins had superior abilities/ properties than other animals to cure humans.
Animals have since ancient times been known to possess therapeutic properties. Already 12, 000 years ago, a skeleton was found of a human in Israel, holding a puppy. And in the Ninth century, in Belgium, animals were incorporated in treatment of the handicapped.
Health Benefits of Animal-Assisted Interventions
Recently there have been developed dolphin assisted therapy programs (DAT). DAT is a controversial therapy that involves close interaction with dolphins, usually through swimming with the animals, and is promoted as a treatment or respite from illness and disability.
However, serious criticism has arisen lately re: DAT- programs.
Excerpt from mainstream media:
“People suffering from chronic mental or physical disabilities should not resort to a dolphin “healing” experience, warn two researchers from Emory University”
“Dolphin -assisted therapy is not a valid treatment for any disorder, says Marino, a leading dolphin and whale researcher.”
Dolphin therapy a dangerous fad?
Another paper, the Free Lance Star states:
“So, if you’re considering DAT, consider instead a domesticated beast such as a dog. Or a trip to the seashore, where wild dolphins may let you have a look at them, on their own terms.”
According to the paper there are at least 3 drawbacks with the DAT – programs:
1) There’s no scientific evidence that DAT-programs work.
2) They exploit the hopes of chronically ill people.
3) The ethical issue with the captivity industry (taking dolphins from the wild and keeping animals in cramped conditions).
There are expensive DAT programs to treat people with diagnoses such as chronic fatigue syndrome, emotional distress, phobias, depressions, autism and cerebral palsy.
However, it seems that even cows have therapeutic properties, in the US, farm life and farm animals are used successfully to treat drug addicts:
Farm life raises addicts’ hopes
Cheers,
Ann Novek
Sweden
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD has worked in industry and government. She is currently researching a novel technique for long-range weather forecasting funded by the B. Macfie Family Foundation.