Did you know spending just 30 minutes with a puppy can positively affect your brain chemistry? We’ll look at the benefits of animal-assisted therapy in addiction treatment.
If you’re an animal lover, you’re probably well aware of the uplifting effects pets have on your life. Indeed, spending just 30 minutes with a puppy can positively affect your brain chemistry. When applied to addiction treatment, these interactions can have even farther-reaching impacts than you might expect.
First, let’s talk about what animal-assisted therapy is.
What is Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT)?
Animal-assisted Therapy (AAT) involves spending designated time with therapy pets during rehabilitation. The animals – in most cases mature dogs or horses – are carefully selected for their calm and gentle demeanour. They are usually well-trained and socialised, making them ideally placed to become your loving and supportive companions throughout each stage of your treatment. Many recovering addicts say animal-assisted therapy helped them through the treatment process, but the evidence isn’t just anecdotal. In fact, several studies have backed up the benefits of AAT, dating all the way back to the 1800s when Florence Nightingale discovered that pets can reduce anxiety in children. Sigmund Freud was also known to bring animals into therapy sessions with him.
Studies Support the Benefits
A more recent review of over 28 studies examined the benefits of AAT in treating people with a wide array of disorders using different types of animal therapy. The animal therapies included:
- Therapeutic visitation
- Service dogs
- Emotional support animals
Neuroscientist Lori Marino found that 26 of the 28 studies reported positive outcomes in patients undergoing animal therapy. The participants also had a more positive outlook on therapy.
7 Ways Animal-Assisted Therapy Can Benefit Addiction Treatment
Here are seven ways that animal-assisted therapy can ease your addiction treatment and make sobriety more achievable:
1. Interacting with Animals is Calming
Overcoming an addiction is no small task. Recovery often tests your willpower, and there will be times when the frustration and stress seem almost too much to bear – that’s why you need all the help you can get. Animals, especially dogs, crave attention from people and are always there to provide reciprocal love and support.
2. Pets Enhance Your Ability to Connect with Others
Animals can elevate your mood and improve your emotional state. It’s been shown that playing with a dog increases your brain’s oxytocin levels. Oxytocin is a brain chemical that plays a role in making you feel connected to other people – a key asset to develop for a fulfilling life in sobriety.
3. Animal Therapy Helps You Talk about Your Problems
Animal therapy can also help you open up to the outside world, which is hugely important for treatment. Shame plays a huge role in addiction. When you’re addicted, it often feels like the rest of the world is judging you. You might even feel people are looking down on you—even when you know this feeling is all in your head.
Animals won’t judge you, and their love is unconditional. Plus, they give genuine feedback on your behaviour, which builds trust. They may comfort you when you’re sad or want to stay close to you and guard you when you’re upset and vulnerable. There’s no way around it – to succeed in treatment, you need to open up about your problems. Research shows that AAT can help patients do this with greater ease by allowing animals to connect with the patients on a level of mutual understanding.
Certain intelligent dog breeds, like Border Collies, are being trained to assist people with disabilities, sense what they need and supply it, or prevent them from harming themselves. These types of interactions are what make animal-assisted therapy a valuable facet of addiction recovery. The dog’s ability to recognise the patient’s problem and intrinsically want to help creates a bond between the animal and the patient.
4. Animals Encourage You to be More Physically Active
It’s also been proven that animals encourage you to be more physically active—dogs need walks, and horses need to run. The benefits of physical activity in addiction treatment are well-documented and far-reaching – perhaps most notably, it can help break your cycles of negative thought patterns.
Exercise can help relieve depression and anxiety. It releases neurotransmitters called endorphins from the pituitary gland and hypothalamus into the brain. These natural hormones are also called the “feel-good” chemicals because of the sense of well-being and calm they can trigger.
5. Having Pets Around Can Quell Feelings of Loneliness
Have you ever felt like no one understands what you’re going through? This is a common feeling among patients. Being away from friends and family during rehab can also be hard, but animal companionship provides a healthy way to cope with this. Looking down and seeing a trusty pet by your side can be reassuring and comforting. It can make you feel as though you’re part of a team instead of dealing with issues alone.
6. Animals Can Decrease Co-dependent Tendencies
Not only will they make you feel less lonely, but having an animal around can make you less reliant on other people. Co-dependency is a common theme in addiction, but animals provide companionship in a way that doesn’t put you at risk of forming an unhealthy relationship.
7. Animal Therapy Helps You Believe That Recovery is Possible
Chances are you’ve already tried multiple times to get sober, and maybe your previously unsuccessful attempts left you feeling like all hope is lost. This is certainly not the case, however, and animal therapy can help you reach the point where you fully believe personal change and healing is possible.
A study researched the effects of animal-assisted therapy on 231 people with a substance dependency. Among them were people with meth and cannabis addiction. The study found that animals helped them feel more positive about their treatment, dramatically increasing the chances of treatment success.
Summary of The Article
Animal-Assisted Therapy has a significant impact on addiction treatment by improving brain chemistry. It involves spending time with well-trained dogs or horses, which has been shown to calm the mind and renew a sense of well-being. Interacting with animals increases oxytocin levels, elevating mood and emotional state, while also encouraging physical activity. Furthermore, animal therapy helps patients open up about their problems and reduces feelings of loneliness and co-dependency. This approach has been particularly beneficial for individuals struggling with meth and cannabis addiction, helping them maintain a positive outlook on their treatment.
Learn More about Animal-Assisted Therapy
You can’t keep doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome – sometimes, you need outside help to address the problem. You can get sober and take back your life, and The Cabin can help. Learn more about animal-assisted therapy, as well as our drug rehab process, and maximise the benefits of our unique and highly effective treatment programme. Contact us today to learn how we can help.
