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Healthy Living: Benefits of animal therapy

As I type this, my female tabby cat named Billie sleeps on the most cushiony spot she can find beside my desk.

As I type this, my female tabby cat named Billie sleeps on the most cushiony spot she can find beside my desk. Occasionally, I pry my eyes from the laptop screen and glance her way; she radiates cozy contentment and a confident satisfaction with the space she occupies in this world.

I return my gaze to the computer feeling slightly calmer and a bit more focused. My improved emotional state positively influences my actions and the result is clear thinking, more productivity and a general sense of mental wellness.

My cat companion is part of a successful human-feline collaboration that likely, according to a National Geographic DNA study, dates back 8,000 years to the Fertile Crescent area of the Middle East. Cats kept rodent populations from food storage in farming communities and residents provided them with food in exchange.

The mutually symbiotic relationship has been evolving ever since. However, at this moment my feline friend is indifferent to the history lesson and continues to just peacefully purr nearby.

Psychologists and clinicians call the interconnectedness of thoughts, emotions and actions the cognitive triangle. This idea is the cornerstone of cognitive behavioural therapy, a successful therapy for anxiety, addiction and other mental-health issues.

Companion animals can intervene and influence our thoughts, feelings and behaviours by fulfilling a need for connection and touch. Animal-assisted therapy uses animals to improve a patient’s cognitive and emotional state.

Simply petting a dog can be deeply comforting for a child and the act of riding a horse can build confidence for a troubled teenager. Both scenarios can be profoundly therapeutic and healing.

One theory why we feel so comforted by animals is that human survival has been dependent, since prehistory, on signals from them to tell us if we were safe or threatened. As an evolutionary result, when we now see resting, peaceful animals around us, we feel safe and experience sensations of well-being. A sense of safety is an essential part of healing and personal growth.

Therapy dogs are specifically trained to provide comfort and love in hospitals, retirement homes, disaster areas, hospices and other places. They can be especially therapeutic to patients with anxiety disorders and those on the autism spectrum.

Psychological and social benefits from our bond with animals are experienced throughout all parts of society and many stages of life. From the early lessons of compassion and stewardship a child learns with their first pet, to decreasing feelings of loneliness and isolation that leads to depression in the elderly, our bonds with animals are invaluable and central to mental wellness.

There are so many more aspects to the human-animal relationship to share, however, my cat Billie has decided to relocate onto my keyboard and, in her true predatory nature, is stalking the mouse.

Robert Skender is a local writer who is determined to survive another winter on the west coast.