As well as initiating play, another behaviour participants experience as being helpful is the initiation of timely physical comfort, as Alan illustrates: I was feeling a bit down and I was laying in bed […] and he came upstairs, runs in bounds on the bed and then he sort of crawls up the top of the bed to where I am and he comes for a cuddle and you know things sort of brighten up a little bit (443-452). Alan appears to derive comfort and distraction from his dog’s initiation of affection. His description of the impact of Fred’s approach hints at an experiencing of his dog as being like a ray of sunshine breaking through the dark clouds of depression. Here, describes how he experiences his two dogs as joining forces to bring him out of low mood: ‘they tag team [laughs] they kind of tend to work hand in hand’ (57). While Buster typically instigates affection, Lola will persistently bark at him until he plays with her. David goes on to describe that when he is particularly down, his dogs will increase their empathic efforts and go the extra mile: ‘If I’m really, really, really down, I’ve noticed that they will do things that they don’t like doing’ (75-76). He provides an example: describing that before recently quitting smoking, when he felt really low he would go and sit outside in the rain and smoke. One of his dogs, Buster, hates to get wet: ‘if its raining, it’ll rain for three days he won’t go out of the back door’ (79-80). However, despite this: He would still go out and sit with me. Um and I could tell he absolutely hates it and it’s going against absolutely everything that’s telling him to go inside where he’s got a lovely bed and a radiator but he’ll still come out with me (84-87). David appears to offer this example as proof of what he is convinced to be true: that his dogs’ behaviours are attuned responses motivated by empathy. When at his lowest ebb, this timely,
Rita similarly describes her dog as having a motivating role in overcoming her avoidance of outside, thereby increasing her willingness to do the behavioural homework tasks she is set in treatment: Rita: You oh I’ll give it a go, and even though you don’t want to do it, I’m doing it because with somebody else aren’t I. Interviewer: Is this like going out the house and- Rita: Yes, or, or for me it was going in the garden, or- whatever it was, it’s like, come on Coco, and it’s like back up, you’re doing it together, something that as soon as it was said in your head you kind of thought, oh, can’t do it (583-591). The sense of togetherness appears to boost Rita’s sense of confidence and self-efficacy and encourages her to make literal steps towards recovery. Being able to go into her garden again was particularly meaningful as ‘my passion was gardening before’ (129). In this way, having Coco has also been facilitative in reclaiming her life by enabling her to reconnect with her interests. The desire to social interaction was a common experience. For Alan, this was severely impacting the quality of his life: ‘I would go to Tesco at 3 o clock in the morning so I could avoid people, and I didn’t really have much of a life’ (126-127). Like the other participants, Alan feels more at ease navigating the outside world accompanied by his dog. Fred’s calm presence appears to reduce his level of arousal in social situations, enabling him to cope better: ‘I don’t interact with people very well um I panic, I get anxious. Fred takes a little bit of sting out of that tail’ (187-188). Furthermore, Alan finds that people’s attention is deflected away from him, towards Fred: ‘Yeah so when Fred comes out with me people treat
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with validated cases of CSA, aged 7-17 Not randomly assigned With Stories, No Dogs AAT in 4/12 sessions (10-15 min) TSCC showed sig. more change than Dogs No Stories. Hamama et al (2011) 9 traumatized adolescent girls (14-16) 2 sets of designs: design design 12 x weekly AAT and intervention sessions DSM-IV criteria items A1 and A2 for PTSD Likert scales PCL-C SCESD Decline in PTSD symptoms and significant reduction in risk to develop PTSD for AAT group Hoffman et al (2009) 12 hospitalized adult patients with diagnosis of unipolar major depression Pre- and post treatment controlled crossover design, subjects randomly assigned 2 x 30 min interviews with dog vs control STAI BDI (II) STAI state anxiety score significantly decreased for intervention group Le Roux & Kemp (2008) 16 elderly residents in a long term care facility, 8 men & 8 Age 65< RCT 30 min AAA once a week for 6 weeks vs control BDI BAI Sig. decease in depression for treatment group but not for anxiety. Lang et al (2010) 14 acute schizophrenic adult patients (7 male, 7 female) Pre- and post treatment controlled crossover 2 x 30 min individual interviews (1x with dog 1x without) STAI Sig. reduction in anxiety for AAT group compared to control (p <.0001)
Research Research Methods and Statistics Test Professional Issues Essay “Physical contact with clients/service users is never acceptable”. Discuss this statement in the context of clinical psychology practice across the life-span and specialties Problem Based Learning – Reflective Account The Stride Family People with Learning Disabilities/Child and Family/Older People – Case Report Systemic consultation work with staff teams supporting a male client in his 60s with a learning disability, a history of trauma and a recent diagnosis of autism Personal and Professional Learning Discussion Groups – Process Account PPDLG Process Account People with Learning Disabilities/Child and Family/Older People – Oral Presentation of Clinical Activity Trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy with a girl who had experienced traumatic bereavement Year III Assessments Programme Component assessment title Research - SRRP A service evaluation of a Lifestyle Management at a Chronic Fatigue service Research – MRP Portfolio The experience of canine companionship during recovery from post-traumatic stress disorder: an interpretative phenomenological analysis Personal and Professional Learning – Final Reflective Account On becoming a clinical psychologist: a retrospective, developmental, reflective account of the experience of training Child and Family/People with Learning Disabilities/Older A neuropsychological assessment with a male client with a history of recurrent meningioma and seizures