If you know someone who’s been diagnosed with cancer, you probably know how difficult the experience can be for both the patient and his or her loved ones. The feelings that accompany the patient throughout the cancer journey can be draining and harsh on mental health. Depression, helplessness, and stress are tough to experience, especially while undergoing cancer treatments.
One of the most effective therapies that benefit the overall well-being of a person with cancer is animal-assisted therapy or pet therapy. This unique therapy uses the natural intimacy between humans and animals to provide relief for cancer patients, resulting in many positive effects such as an improved quality of life, increased socialization, a distraction from illness or pain, and improved mood. You’ve probably heard of therapy dogs or canine therapy, so how exactly does this type of therapy work?
Pet Therapy Helps Decrease Stress and Improve Overall Mood
From initial diagnosis through treatment and even post-treatment, cancer patients often experience many negative feelings such as stress, anxiety, and depression. While not always an obvious choice, emotional support animals can often help reduce these negative feelings. Animal-assisted therapy provides companionship and comfort that helps to decrease stress and these other negative feelings. As a result, both the psychological and physical well-being of the patient improves. Cancer patients feel more confident and better equipped to cope with their illness, which can make the healing process easier.
Pet therapy for cancer patients doesn’t stop at stress relief, it also helps improve overall mood. Therapy animals have been proven to boost serotonin levels which are associated with feelings of happiness and encourage positive thinking throughout the day. Providing your loved one with an opportunity to pet a therapy animal can help them feel happier during these trying times. All of these benefits aim to improve the overall well-being of people with cancer and decrease the discomfort associated with the treatment process.
Pet Therapy Helps Reduce Pain
It’s no question that the side effects of cancer treatment are often unbearable and even unmanageable at times. In addition to the treatment itself, cancer patients often suffer from chronic pain, and animal-assisted therapy has been proven to help reduce this pain.
Studies have shown that spending time with a pet can decrease the amount of pain felt by cancer patients as the simple act of petting an animal causes the body to release oxytocin, a chemical that causes feelings of calmness and relaxation. These feelings are often similar to those experienced during meditation.
Animal Companionship Helps Improve Sleep
The presence of a pet can influence the amount and quality of sleep cancer patients experience. A study conducted by Best et al. found that people with pets experience more hours of sound, restful sleep than those who did not have pets.
The presence of an animal during sleep increases the levels of serotonin in the body which facilitates sleep, especially that deep sleep we all crave. When sleeping next to a therapy dog or other service animal, patients have an increased sleep duration and sleep quality. The improved sleep quality can boost a cancer patient’s energy, enabling them to better combat fatigue throughout the day.
Pet Therapy Helps Improve Socialization
Having a companion animal around can also encourage socialization in patients who are affected by cancer. Spending time with therapy animals has been associated with feelings of happiness, which in turn benefits patients who are dealing with loneliness and depression due to their illness.
Studies have shown that having someone or something to lean on can help cancer patients feel better equipped to face life’s challenges. Spending time with an animal has been proven to reduce feelings of hostility and sadness while increasing feelings of enjoyment that encourage positive thinking and a more confident outlook.
Animal-assisted therapy can also help cancer patients make new meaningful relationships with people and other animals because it allows them to interact and communicate.
Conclusion
Research shows great promise for the use of pet therapy to improve the lives of cancer patients. Cancer patients often feel isolated and lonely as a result of their diagnosis and treatments. Therapy animals can help break this feeling of isolation and provide emotional support as well as increased wellbeing and improved quality of life.
Between the treatments, medications, appointments, and the side effects, there’s so much involved with cancer treatment, and the costs of all of this should be the last concern. At Pawsitively for Pink, we aim to help alleviate the financial burden of patients with breast cancer; help us make a difference for underserved women with breast cancer.