CRITICISMS

Although animal assisted therapy has been considered a new way to deal with
depression, anxiety, Autism, and childhood aliments such as Attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder, there has been criticism as to the effectiveness of the
process. According to Lilienfeld and Arkowitz animal-assisted therapy is better
considered a temporary fix. They point to the lack of longitudinal data or research to
see if there is evidence for long term improvement in patients undergoing the
therapy. They then suggest that this further supports the idea that AAT is more of an
affective method of therapy rather than a behavioral treatment. They also state the
dangers of these therapy programs in particular the Dolphin assisted therapy.
Dolphin assisted therapy has not been shown to have significant results when
dealing with a child's behavior. Instead Lilienfeld suggest that again animal assisted
therapy might be a short term reinforcer, not a long term one. They also suggest
that studies dealing with children should look into more balanced measures, such as
having one group of children in the Dolphin group and the other in a setting where
they still receive positive reinforcement. It is also suggested that DAT is harmful to
the dolphins themselves; by taking dolphins out of their natural environment and
putting them in captivity for therapy can be hazardous to their well being. [44] There
are not many quantitative studies about the impact of swimming with dolphins have
on social behavior.[45] Of the few studies, data has seemed limited or mixed in
results. The first research on the effects of Dolphin-Assisted Therapy as a treatment
was a case study by Betsy Smith in 1987. The dolphins were used to motivate a
child with autism to communicate.[45]Smith concluded that the use of DolphinAssisted Therapy has shown promising results on increasing attention spans and
improved interaction and play behavior in the children. Other studies after
concerning Dolphin Assisted Therapy yielded about the same results but failed to
take into account other situational factors, what is also known as a confound, one or
more effective ingredient in a study [46] that may have an impact on results in the
study. Heimlich discussed in her study of AAT's effect on severely disabled children
that without evidence that this type of therapy works outside a laboratory setting,
assumptions can not be made that it is an effective form of therapy. [47][undue
weight? discuss]
In addition, O'Haire noted that while most studies had reported positive
results for autism, these studies were limited by "many methodological
weaknesses," concluding that further research is needed. [48]
Another limitation of pet therapy also centers on the application during scenarios
that involve adults who have been sexually assaulted. While pets do tend to cause
more comfort to victims, pet therapy may not be the catalyst that provides positive
success in therapy sessions. As mentioned above, adults tend not to focus as much
on having an animal companion, and therefore, pet therapy cannot be attributed as
the reason for success in those types of therapy sessions. [8] Pet therapy does not
raise any ethical concerns as far as advancing nonscientific agendas. On the other
hand, there are some ethical concerns that arise when applying pet therapy to
younger victims of sexual assault. For example, if a child is introduced to an animal
that is not their pet, the application of pet therapy can cause some concerns. First of
all, some children may not be comfortable with animals or may be frightened, so
there would be ethical concerns with using pet therapy, which could be avoided by

asking permission to use animals in therapy. Second, a special bond is created

between animal and child during pet therapy. Therefore, if the animal in question
does not belong to the child, there may be some negative side effects when the
child discontinues therapy. The child will have become attached to the animal,
which does raise some ethical issues as far as subjecting a child to the
disappointment and possible relapse that can occur after therapy discontinues. [8]
http://www.healthline.com/health/pet-therapy#Prognosis9