There are all kinds of treatment in our time. Once people happen to be in a difficult life situation, they hope to be healed by everything that surrounds them, including animals.
Animals Do Cure Diseases
Some call this method unconventional, while for someone it is quite civilized and scientific. Both opinions agree on the main thing – communication with animals is beneficial to humans. People, who have pets, live longer and get sick less often, and their nervous system is much stronger than the nervous system of those who avoid contact with animals.
Animal Assisted Therapy Around the World
Animal assisted therapy is already recognized in all countries. There have been created institutions aimed at studying the effect of animals on people. In the USA, the UK, Canada, and France, there have appeared organizations that treat people with physical or mental problems. For this purpose, they use dogs, cats, rabbits and birds. The programs of animal therapy involve physicians, social workers, and psychologists.
Which Animals Are Suitable for a Therapy?
There are much more animals that have a positive effect on people’s health than we can imagine. In the USA, for example, there is a society that relies on more than 2,000 animals in its work. It “employs” guinea pigs, rabbits, chickens, llamas, goats, donkeys, parrots, and other domesticated animals. In Africa, people honestly believe in sessions of kangaroo therapy and elephants assisted treatment.
Hippotherapy
Communicating with horses and therapeutic horse riding are at the heart of hippotherapy. It was first applied in the late 1950-s in case of mental and neurological diseases. It is prescribed to treat traumatic brain injuries, polio, disorders of the musculoskeletal system, arteriosclerosis, diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, multiple sclerosis, prostate, scoliosis and mental retardation.
Dolphin Therapy
This method is widely used in medicine and psychotherapy. Communicating with dolphins helps relieve psychological stress and stabilize the psycho-emotional state. This therapy is especially useful for the people in extreme conditions and those who have survived severe stress. The “patients” of dolphins are children with autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome and mental retardation.
Dog & Cat Therapy
The “therapeutic effect” of dogs and cats is in many ways similar: both are able to relieve loneliness, help us calm down and produce beneficial effects on the cardiovascular system. These therapies are mainly recommended for neurasthenia, hysteria and neurosis.
Medical Leeches, or Hirudotherapy
Leeches have been used to treat many diseases. They are known to cure varicose veins, thrombosis, hypertension, angina, heart attack, hemorrhoids, arteriosclerosis, diseases of the skin and lungs, migraine, glaucoma, asthma, gynecological diseases and many others. It has become fashionable to use leeches to get rid of cellulite, lose weight and rejuvenate.
Apitherapy, Medical Use of Honey Bee Products
Bee venom is the most powerful catalyst of physiological processes. One drop of it contains proteins, 18 of the 20 required amino acids, inorganic acids and many vitamins and chemicals. They treat rheumatic diseases, nervous system diseases, ulcers, high blood pressure, etc.
