In a study in which depressed human patients were allowed to play, swim with and look after bottle nosed dolphins it was found that interaction with these animals can help to alleviate symptoms of mild to moderate depression in two weeks, (Antonioli and Reveley: 2005). It seems that interacting with nature and in particular with animals is very good for our mental health and that in cases of depression, animal therapy may be used to good effect.
The research was carried out at the Roatan Institute for Marine Sciences in Honduras and participants were not allowed to take antidepessant or anxiolytic drugs during the study. Interactions with the dolphins were given for one hour per day for 2 weeks. The group receiving dolphin therapy experienced an improvement in their depressive symptoms; whether the dolphins helped the patients with anxiety is not clear from this work. A follow up study was not carried out, however those patients who did report back three months later were mostly still experiencing better mental health. The authors of this study believe that the echolocation system of dolphins, the aesthetic value of the animals and the emotions experienced by those interacting with the dolphins may explain their healing properties. They would like to research the effects of sound and the echolocation system further.
Dolphins are beautiful and intelligent animals which seem to enjoy contact with humans. They might have a place in helping humans in various ways but we should not forget that dolphins in captivity may suffer greatly. Wild dolphin capture is violent and cruel: they do not breed well in captivity so are usually obtained in this way. They can live for up to 45 years in the wild but in captivity the average dolphin dies in 5 years.
These mammals can swim 40 to 100 miles per day but in a tank (which is full of chemicals and bacteria causing health problems) they must swim in circles. Dolphins spend lots of time hunting in the wild; this behaviour is not possible in captivity so they are probably very bored and often show signs of abnormal behaviour such as swimming in repetitive circles. Trained behaviours such as jumping through hoops are not natural and the dolphins may be kept hungry so that they will perform these actions for a food reward.
Dolphins have limited opportunity to use their echolocation or sonar system in captivity. This is their most important sense and being deprived of it must be incredibly stressful for them. Dolphins have a smily face so always appear to be happy but there may be a very miserable animal behind that grin.
I have no idea how the animals involved in this study are kept or trained but I do hope that the animals which helped treat depression in humans are not suffering from it themselves! Dolphins do suffer as a direct result of people exploiting them for research, entertainment or other purposes. I think that this must have been a wonderful experience for the human participants in this study, but perhaps interaction with animals closer to home may help people with depression too? Dolphins belong in the wild!
Reference
C.Antonioli and M.A. Reveley Randomised controlled trial of animal facilitated therapy with dolphins in the treatment of depression BMJ 2005;331:1231
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