Animal Assisted Rehabilitation Psychology

Many acquired disabilities and chronic diseases have psychosocial side effects such as increased propensity of isolation, divorce, depression etc. These are not only bothersome to the person and his/her social surroundings but also costly in the sense that they impede the person's ability to benefit from available services. nevertheless, when people acquire long-term and possibly chronic diseases (e.g., ABI, PTSD, chronic pain), often they are offered interventions that address the direct impediments only, but little support that addresses their grief and existential challenges following the loss of their former self. It is a core contention of rehabilitation psychology that counseling to address these issues is warranted for two reasons: (a) it can ease the psychological pain and assist in re-identifying oneself; and (b) when unaddressed, the issues may lead to depression and additional crises that hinder the person's outcome of the rehabilitation intervention as such. We argue that animals may play positive roles in rehabilitation psychology in at least three ways.