Daniel is framed in silhouette as he gazes out at the passing clouds through an aeroplane window. The picture went viral on social media in October 2016. It probably helped that Daniel is a duck, or more specifically, an . His owner says he helps her cope with post-traumatic stress disorder.
In the US, an as long as a doctor has signed a letter stating it helps its owner deal with a medical condition. carried 250,000 such animals in 2017 – up 150 per cent on 2015. Most are dogs, but the increasingly exotic menagerie includes , and .
A recent rise in media reports about emotional support animals has brought me to John Bradshaw. He studies anthrozoology, or the ways in which humans and animals interact, at the University of Bristol, UK. I have come to find out if animals really can help people with mental illness, and if so, how?
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He shows me into a cosy attic study in his home, its shelves filled by books with titles including What It’s Like to Be a Dog and Feng Shui for Cats. Alongside them sit copies of Bradshaw’s own works Dog Sense and Cat Sense, which have together sold more than 400,000 copies. Here, Bradshaw tells me that there is almost no evidence for the claims made about animals and mental health, not just for emotional support animals, but virtually all forms of animal therapy – and even pets.
This might seem surprising given that belief in the positive effects of animals is widespread. found that 97 per cent of US family doctors believed owning a pet has health benefits. It has become routine to take all kinds of animals, including donkeys, into nursing homes, prisons, schools and hospitals. UK charity Pets as Therapy has more than 4000 dogs on its books for just this purpose. And about 20 animals, including , roam San Francisco International Airport to calm flyers’ nerves.
“Studies do suggest associations between dog ownership and good health,” says Bradshaw. “The real question, however, is whether they show cause and effect.” For example, a study in California last year found that children in families with and more active than those without. However, the dog owners were also 3.5 times more likely to own their own home. The researchers concluded the positive effects were the result of socio-economic factors.
Cheering effect
What little research there is into the healing powers of animals suffers from similar problems. People confuse feeling good in the presence of animals with long-term clinical benefits, says Bradshaw. “When you stroke a pet, your oxytocin and endorphin levels go up, your blood pressure comes down and your heartbeat gets more regular,” he says. “But there’s no evidence that this translates into anything that lasts even a couple of hours, let alone a lifetime.”
A 2017 review found that despite widespread use of animal therapies, research into efficacy is , and evidence-based ideas for how they might work are lacking. For example, some studies have found the presence of animals can have a cheering effect in hospitals and care homes. But this might be because animals boost the mood of staff and make a normally sterile environment seem more pleasant, says Bradshaw.
Other possible explanations include the finding that when with animals. Alternatively, the fact that an animal in a therapeutic setting is accompanied by a human may suggest that the benefit is in .
Despite the lack of evidence, animal therapy is touted as a treatment for serious conditions, including , depression and . It is also big business. A session of dolphin therapy, where people come into close contact with a dolphin in a pool, can cost upwards of ÂŁ600 per hour.
The idea that animals offer health benefits can be traced to the 1960s, when New York psychotherapist found that some children with communication problems opened up more in the presence of his dog, Jingles. There is some evidence that animals benefit . Bradshaw’s own research shows that playing with a dog helped some autistic children learn to read. Even in this area, though, in the forms of treatment and outcomes measured, and it is often unclear whether playing with animals is any more effective than other enjoyable activities.
How about dolphin therapy, I ask. “There’s a huge amount of mumbo jumbo surrounding it,” says Bradshaw. “It might be fun, but there are no independent studies that have shown any beneficial effect whatsoever.”
None of this is to deny that animals might help people. But without research that controls for other effects, we can’t know which animal in what setting might be best. The lack of solid evidence means, for example, that the US Department of Veterans Affairs of service dogs for veterans with PTSD.
There is another reason to be sceptical that goes to the heart of Bradshaw’s motivation to understand human-animal interactions. He is a director of the and says that many people don’t understand the responsibilities involved in ensuring animals in their care have a good life. “There is a danger that if doctors encourage people to get pets for health reasons, not only will this approach fail but it may also result in poor animal welfare.”
And as for dolphins, they are wild animals, even if trained. The charity Whale and Dolphin Conservation has on all dolphin therapy, on the basis that it is harmful for both the animals and people.
That might be true for other species, too. There is some research to suggest that in certain situations . , a psychologist at Western Carolina University, has argued that emotional support animals might by enabling them to avoid or delay dealing with their problems in other ways.
Bradshaw’s no-nonsense attitude has led some animal lovers to see him as “anti-pet”. But a glance around his home belies that notion. There are pictures of past pets and other animals everywhere. He and his wife Nicky no longer have animals because one of their grandsons has an allergy, but they hope to have them again some day.
“I’m far from anti-pets,” Bradshaw says. “It’s part of being human. What I am is pro-realism. If people understand their pets better, both they and their animals will benefit.”
This article appeared in print under the headline “Can animals keep the doctor away?”
