Effects of a dog-assisted therapy on patients during their stationary drug withdrawal in an acute psychiatry hospital

AIMS: Research has showed beneficial effects of animal-assisted therapy (AAT) on patients. The present study investigated the immediate effects of a dog-assisted therapy on the emotional state and craving of drug-addicted patients. METHODS: During drugwithdrawal, 26 inpatients (ICD-10-diagnosis of F11.2 or F12.2; aged 18 -65) participated in this randomized-controlled study based on a crossover design. Participants were randomized into two groups: Group A received the intervention first (walks accompanied by a specialist nurse with dog) and subsequently the control condition (walks accompanied by nurse without a dog), whereas the procedure was reversed for Group B. Before and after each condition, patients rated their emotional state and their current global craving. In addition, the global psychopathological symptomatology of patients was determined over the study period. RESULTS: Analyses indicated significantly stronger pre-/post-change on the emotional state under the intervention condition (with dog) compared to the control condition (without dog). It can also be shown that there was a trend toward a stronger reduction in craving under the intervention condition. There was a significant reduction of the global psychopathological symptomatology throughout the study process, though no dog-specific effects were ascertainable. CONCLUSION: Our findings show that individually applied dog-assisted therapies have positive short-term effects on the wellbeing and craving of drug-addicted patients.