s z a t m á r i z o l t á n , Ho r v á t h e s z t e r , f r i t z Pé t e r Eszterházy Károly Főiskola, Sporttudományi Intézet, Eger
a b o u t t h e h i s t o r y o f a n i m a l t h e r a py
a z á l l a t t e r á p ia t ö r t é n e t e
Abstract
The animal therapy as a therapy method is really old. People in the antiquity used the healing power o f animals. Éven Hippocrates, the well known doctor used horses to strengthen the tru nk muscles. In the middle Ages the knowledge o f the antiquity lost, the people used animals as tools. Nowadays they started to discover these methods again, especially in Germany, in the UK and in the USA. In these countries there were created many organisations in the past 50 years. They train animals (dogs, horses, dolphins and so one) to help more and more children and adults with different kinds of psychological, intellectual problems or locomotor disorder. Unfortunately in Hungary this process is not as known as in abroad.
There are only a few organisations who deal with this ancient technique.
Prim arily we do my research about this topic in the library and on the inter- net. Unfortunately there is not any information about animal therapy in Hungári- án, but we can find many data in Germán and English.
Doing our research we learn that there are many people, who inquire about this method, but unfortunately in our country it won’t be as generál as in abroad.
The reason of it is m ainly the serious and expensive medical examinations o f the animals. That’s why this tendency cannot spread in Hungary.
Keywords: animal therapy, healing, organisations, learning
Development of the topic
Nowadays we use animals not only as pets but also in the medicine as a healing method. Naturally all kind o f animal can be a therapy animal, but I’ll intensively deal with the dog and the horse therapy. However still these two have a really big literature, I would like to emphasize some part which I think are im- portant or interesting.
Éven in the prehistory we can speak about connection between people and animals. However this relationship is confined only the hunt in this early age. La-
1
The animal therapy as a therapy method is really old. People used it even in the antiquity. Almost all culture in the world has one or more “saint” animals. The Egyptians figured nearly all o f their gods from animals (Anubis, Bastet, Thot).
Some o f them were used for healing, for example the dogs. They tought the dog’s salvia have a healing power. So people really respect the animals in Egypt, ex- pecially the cats which was so mumficated like the Pharaoh. The m urder of a cat was a deadly sin. In Greek the horses were used for cure. Even Hippokrates the well known doctor used horses to strengthen the trunk muscles.1 2 Horses were also very popular around the Hungárián adventurers, who went even to the afterlife with their animals.3
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In the middle Ages the knowledge o f the antiquity lost, people used animals more as tools than therapy method. The reason for that were the serious rules of the Church. The religion controlled all area o f their life, and so the connection between people and animals was not as strong like in the antiquity. But even in this dark age we can find objects o f using this therapy method. Saint Roch (Szent Rókus) the Franciscan monk w ith a dog’s help, which licked his wounds, recove- red from the plague. Later he became the patron saint o f people who recovered from the black death.4 5 6 *
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practiced this method on mental ill patients.
We know Sigmund Freud as the father o f the psychoanalysis, but only a few people know that he was also the first who had resort to the help o f a dog in tre- ating people. His dog the Chow Chow Jofi was a real therapy dog which always presented during the psychological therapy. According to Freud the dogs are the best methods to cure people, who have psychosomatic problem. They don’t have any stereotype toward the patient, however their emphatic ability is very well developed, their presence mean a calming effect for the patient.10 11
In 1919 also in A m erica people started to discover the beneficial effect of the animals. The St. Elizabeth Hospital in Washington institute began to apply
animals in mental healing programs.
Anim al therapy was used even during the II. Word War. Smoky, the little Yorkshire Terrier is a great example for that. Smoky was a dog o f Corporal Wil-
liam Wayne who got hurt in the battle, so while he convalesced, one o f his fri- ends brought his dog to the hospital to feel him self better. It was a brilliant idea,
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because the presenee of Smoky had a very good effect on the other patients. The doctor o f the hospital noticed this, and he let the dog to visit his keeper regularly, as a living antidepressant for him, and for the other soldiers, who often had phy- sically or mentally injury.
Although Smoky was not for the w ar trained dog, he served in the II. Word War. He saved his keeper’s life many times, when he forecasted the bombs. But his greatest feat was when he showed under a tűnnél a 70 m long cord. A bunch o f people’s life was saved with this action. Smoky is a national hero now, he has many m onuments all over America.12 13 14
13 14
Animal therapy was use even in the Germán m ilitary during the II. Word War. Ernst Göring, son o f the Luftwaffe chef Hermann Göring used therapeutic horseback riding to rehabilitate the wounded pilots.15
1968 passes for a milestone in the history o f Animal Assisted Therapy, namely in this year the idea was born by Prof. Boris Levinson, about using animal therapy in Clinical psychology. The psychologist o f the American Yeshiva Uni- versity, Dr. Levinson deal with mentally handicapped children, and children with behaviour disorders. One day he treated a young boy with behaviour disorders.
Levinson tried to speak to him for months, but it was hopeless, the young boy refused to answer. Once he was forced to bring his dog in his surgery. However when the boy saw the dog he started to ask questions about it, and slowly he asked not only about the dog but he spoke with the doctor. Then Levinson regularly used his dog during the treatments. He started to study the relationship between people
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15 G e o f f r e y C o c k s: P sy c h o th e r a p y i n th e T h i r d R e ic h : T h e G ö r in g I n s ti t u t e I S B N 1-56OOO-9O4-7, p. 312.
ted Therapy).
Nowadays series o f surveys demonstrate the effectiveness o f the AAT. It can be help both to the children, adults and old people. It gives assistance to overcome depression and help to build contacts. In Hungary and the neighbouring countries the dog and the horse therapy plays a huge role. We can use both o f them for mo- tion development. W ith the horses we can improve the tru nk muscles.
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wPa4Y CA Dg& ved=O CG UQ 6A EwB A #v=onepage& q=anim al% 2Oassis- ted%20therapy%20smoky&f=false
Geoffrey Cocks: Psychotherapy in the Third Reich: The Göring Institute ISBN 1-56000-904-7, p. 312.
http://www.matud.iif.hu/2011/06/06.htm
Pictures
http://www.tankonyvtar.hu/hu/tartalom/tkt/kutyatar-kutyatar/ch05.htmcl
http://barkpost-assets.s3.am azonaw s.com /w p-content/uploads/2O 13/O 5/gree- ce-dog.jpg
http://wysinger.homestead.com/egypt_dog.jpg
http://l.bp.blogspot.com /-H O p6aA B 3X O c/T9-V M 5sH K -I/A A A A A A A A B-A / yMwH_FGMDns/sl6OO/258+San+Rocco.jpg
http://kutya-portal.hu/wp-content/uploads/2O14/O1/Jofi-% C3% A9s-Sigm und- Freud.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b7/Smoky_(dog)_in_helmet.jpg h ttp ://w w w .n jp e tc o m m u n ity .c o m /w p -c o n te n t/g a lle ry /n jp et/sm o k e y /s m o -
ky-war-dog-yorkie -yorkshire -terrier.j pg
