The Efficiency of Animal-Assisted Therapy in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Psychotherapeutic Cases

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Abstract

We discuss a rather new approach for the Russian psychotherapeutic practice — animal-assisted therapy. Russian scientific and psychotherapeutic literature lacks scientific studies that comprehensively consider the effectiveness of animal-assisted therapy (both positively and negatively), its use in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and analyze in detail the researchers’ own experience of using animal therapy with a description of specific cases. Hence we discuss the key characteristics of animal-assisted therapy, describe the procedure of registering an animal for participation in therapy, analyze the results of using animal-assisted therapy for various psychotherapeutic and psychocorrectional problems, and substantiate the efficiency of animal-assisted therapy within CBT and its catalytic role in therapeutic processes. We describe the experience of using animal-assisted therapy as part of CBT. Using the example of two thematic cases that illustrate various goals and conditions, the structure and relevance of the inclusion of an animal in CBT depending on the client’s problem are considered, and methods of using an animal relevant to the client’s problem and psychotherapeutic goals are presented.

General Information

Keywords: animal-assisted interventions, pet-therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, psychotherapeutic goals, incorporating animal into therapy, psychotherapy case

Journal rubric: Case study

Article type: scientific article

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/cpp.2019270410

For citation: Nikolskaya A.V., Kostrigin A.A. The Efficiency of Animal-Assisted Therapy in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Psychotherapeutic Cases. Konsul'tativnaya psikhologiya i psikhoterapiya = Counseling Psychology and Psychotherapy, 2019. Vol. 27, no. 4, pp. 149–164. DOI: 10.17759/cpp.2019270410. (In Russ., аbstr. in Engl.)

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Information About the Authors

Anastasia V. Nikolskaya, PhD in Psychology, Associate Professor of the Institute of Social Engineering, Kosygin Russian State University (Technology. Design. Art), Moscow, Russia, e-mail: tonokazutoya@gmail.com

Artem A. Kostrigin, PhD in Psychology, Kosygin Russian State Unversity (Technology. Design. Art), Moscow, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5454-7357, e-mail: artdzen@gmail.com

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