A therapy-animal trend attracts the United States. The San Francisco airport uses a pig to calm tired travelers. Universities nationwide bring dogs (and a donkey) onto campus to relieve students during finals. And that duck on a plane? It might be an emotional-support animal prescribed by a mental health professional.
The trend, which has been gaining popularity hugely since its initial stirrings a few decades ago, is strengthened by a widespread belief that interaction with animals can reduce distress whether it happens over belief physical contact at the airport or in long-term relationships at home. Certainly the groups offering up pets think so, as do some mental health professionals. But the popular embrace of pets as furry therapists is causing growing discomfort among some researchers in the field, who say it has raced far ahead of scientific evidence.
Earlier this year in the Journal of Applied Development Science, an introduction to articles on “animal -assisted intervention” said research into its effectiveness “remains in its infancy.” A recent literature review by Molly Crossman, a Yale University doctoral candidate who recently wrapped up one study involving an 8-year-old dog named Pardner, cited a “vague body of evidence” that sometimes has shown positive short-term effects, often found no effect and occasionally identified higher rates of distress.
Overall, Crossman wrote, animals seem to be helpful in a “small-to-medium” way, but it’s unclear whether the animals deserve the credit or something else is at play.
“It’s a field that has been sort of carried forward by the beliefs of practitioners” who have seen patients’ mental health improve after working with or adopting animals, said James Serpell, director of the Centre for the Interaction of Animals and Society at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine. “That kind of thing has almost driven the field, and the research is playing catch-up. In other words, people are recognizing that stories aren’t enough.”
Using animals in mental health setting is nothing new. In the 17th century, a Quaker-run retreat in England encouraged mentally ill patients to interact with animals on its grounds. Sigmund Freud often included one of his dogs in psychoanalysis sessions. Yet the subject did not become a research target until the American psychologist Boris Levinson began writing in the 1960s about the positive effect his dog Jingles had on patients.
But the evidence to date is problematic, according to Crossman’s review and others before it. Most studies had small sample sizes, she wrote, and an “alarming numbers” did not control for other possible reasons for a changed stress level, such as interaction with animal’s human handler. Studies also tend to generalize across animals, she noted. If participants are measurably relieved by one golden retriever, that doesn’t mean another dog---or another species--will arouse the same response.
43. According to the passage, what makes the therapy-animal trend more popular?
A.It has been in existence for no less than twenty years. |
B.Mental health professionals have managed to cure patients with animals. |
C.It is widely assumed that staying with animals can make people happier. |
D.There is much related research to show that animals do good to some patients. |
44. Molly Crossman is quoted in the passage to ____
A.illustrate more scientific evidence is needed that animals are effective therapists. |
B.highlight the importance of practitioners’ beliefs in the field of animal therapies. |
C.question Srepell’s view that animals deserve the credit in helping patients. |
D.criticize people for their taking human-animal stories too seriously. |
45. What can be inferred from the passage?
A.Animal-assisted intervention turns out to be of more use than people think. |
B.It is hard to see how many reasons there are for people to benefit from animals. |
C.Research findings relating to one breed of dogs may not apply to another breed. |
D.Small sample sizes can sometimes produce reliable effects in human-animal studies |
46. Which of the following might be the best title of the passage?
A.More evidence found for dog-human relationship |
B.Potential effects dogs have on patients |
C.Therapeutic animal: nothing new |
D.Good dog, good therapist? |