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Animals as Anodyne

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Animal-Assisted Intervention

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Abstract

An anodyne is something that soothes, calms, or comforts. In this chapter, I argue that animals facilitate intervention, in part, by acting as an anodyne—eliciting a superficial, perhaps temporary, reduction in distress (i.e., improved mood, reduced tension or anxiety). Just as an aspirin can relieve the pain of a headache superficially, without necessarily treating the underlying cause, interacting with an animal may result in a reduction of subjective distress, without necessarily treating the underlying source of the distress. This lift in mood may be an end in and of itself or may help to facilitate a therapy or learning process aimed at longer-term change. Various research on animal-assisted intervention (AAI) implies an anodyne effect, wherein interactions with animals are associated with reduced physical or emotional distress. This chapter reviews a sample of those studies in the context of an anodyne effect and describes experimental research testing animals as anodyne.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For a more thorough description of the study, see Fournier et al., in press).

  2. 2.

    6.7% identified as Native American (n = 3), 4.4% identified as African American or Black (n = 2), and 2.2% identified as Asian (n = 1).

  3. 3.

    The HHIS was created to identify any differences in social interaction among participants across the three conditions. This is a 19-item rating scale similar in form to the HAIS. After observing a session, researchers rated, from 0, indicating “not at all,” to 4, indicating “a great deal,” the extent to which they observed various interactive behaviors between group members. Reliability analysis, via Cronbach’s alpha, suggests the instrument had adequate internal consistency (α = 0.73).

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  1. Psychology, Bemidji State University, Bemidji, MN, USA

    Angela K. Fournier

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Correspondence to Angela K. Fournier .

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Fournier, A.K. (2019). Animals as Anodyne. In: Animal-Assisted Intervention. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32972-3_4

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