Original article Dog-assisted intervention significantly reduces anxiety in hospitalized patients with major depression

Animal adjuvant therapy involves interactions between patients and animals to improve mental health and reduce anxiety and arousal. To this day, preliminary studies on the effectiveness of treatment with animals do not meet the minimum standards of the study design and include standardized outcome variables or physiological indicators that explain the need for scientific research on treatment with animals .

In the control crossover study before and after this treatment, the State Characteristic Anxiety Scale (STAI) was used to measure state anxiety. This is an easy and manageable self-assessment measurement that is widely used in research and clinical practice. After written informed consent in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration, 12 acute depressed patients (6 men, age: 40.5 ± 10 years old) participated in the detailed explanation

The STAI status score was significantly lower relative to the presence of the dog (47.0 ± 11 vs. 42.2 ± 10) (Z = -2.402; p = 0.016), whereas in the absence of the dog the control status was not 50.41 ± 10 vs. 48.0 ± 9). ) (Z = - 0.981; p = 0.327)

This finding suggests that animal adjuvant therapy may significantly reduce state anxiety. The presence of dogs can provide an additional therapeutic benefit that alleviates anxiety and can enhance psychotherapy strategies and motivation of patients and therapists

Abstract: In this study randomized controlled trials and 6-month follow-up were used to investigate the effect of adjuvant therapy on 12-week anxiety and depression in psychiatric patients. There were 90 adult patients, 41 in the treatment group and 28 in the control group. Anxiety measured using the Spillberger Status Anxiety Scale was not significantly reduced during treatment group intervention but was significantly reduced compared to baseline (p = 0.002) and end of intervention (p = 0.004) It was significantly lower at baseline. There was no significant change in the control group. Compared to baseline, depression measured using Beck Depression Scale was significantly lower at follow-up than in the two groups, but there was no significant difference between groups.

Animal adjuvant therapy involves interactions between patients and animals to improve mental health and reduce anxiety and arousal. To date, preliminary studies on the effectiveness of treatment with animals do not meet the minimum standards of research design and include standardized outcome variables or physiological measurements, and the need for scientific research on animal adjuvant therapy It describes gender. Before and after treatment, we used the State Characteristic Anxiety Scale (STAI) to measure state anxiety. This is a simple and easy-to-manage self-assessment method widely used in research and clinical practice. The presence of dogs can provide an additional therapeutic benefit that alleviates anxiety and can enhance psychotherapy strategies and motivation of patients and therapists

Dog intervention in hospitalized patients with major depression significantly alleviated anxiety