"e;An animal is a prescription without side effects."e; Do you love animals? Do you feel a connection with a furry friend? Do you believe animals offer something that can touch and heal a human heart? My Therapist and Other Animals tells of the healing bond that can be created when animals are participants in our lives. These true stories document the loving connection between humans and those with whom we share a planet. Written by Rene Chorley, an experienced attachment therapist, it illustrates how animals can reach through the pain of abuse, neglect and trauma and reignite the ability to feel safe, cared for and valued. Animals can make a difference in our lives. They are consistent and unconditional in their time, attention and affection, qualities that may be missing in the lives of so many. Each story brings to life a connection - whether it be an exceptional dog offering friendship or a squeaky guinea pig excited for feed time, our importance in their lives feeds our self-worth. These heart-warming stories prove that this connection has the power to overcome all.

"An animal is a prescription without side effects." Do you love animals? Do you feel a connection with a furry friend? Do you believe animals offer something that can touch and heal a human heart? My Therapist and Other Animals tells of the healing bond that can be created when animals are participants in our lives. These true stories document the loving connection between humans and those with whom we share a planet. Written by Rene Chorley, an experienced attachment therapist, it illustrates how animals can reach through the pain of abuse, neglect and trauma and reignite the ability to feel safe, cared for and valued. Animals can make a difference in our lives. They are consistent and unconditional in their time, attention and affection, qualities that may be missing in the lives of so many. Each story brings to life a connection - whether it be an exceptional dog offering friendship or a squeaky guinea pig excited for feed time, our importance in their lives feeds our self-worth. These heart-warming stories prove that this connection has the power to overcome all."

Afternoons with Puppy is a heartwarming account of dynamic relationships and outcomes involving a therapist, his therapy animals, and his patients over the course of almost two decades. Afternoons with Puppy is a narrative of Dr. Fine's experiences and the growing respect for the power of the animals effect on his patients and himself. This book documents some of the magnificent discoveries that Dr. Fine has witnessed and made over the past few decades working with these animals, and showing how the reader can apply these observations and discoveries to their lives. The authors illustrate the deeper and more fundamental elements of life found in our bonds with animals. more at ease but still reserved. As we sit and talk, Hart [therapy dog] sits close to her chair. At one point in our session, Sarah's reserve finally crumbles. Pushing up her left sleeve, she shows me her scars. As she lowers her arm, Sarah notices that Hart's eyes are fixed on that arm. At that moment, Hart lifts her gaze from the arm and connects with Sarah's eyes. Hart then looks over at me. With an expression on her face that I can only call puzzled, Hart looks back at Sarah, and then Hart lowers her head and begins to lick the scars. Sarah is startled for a moment but then sits quietly as Hart continues to lick the wounds. Finally, she bends over hart and holds her close.

The integration of animals into the therapy setting by psychotherapists has been a growing trend. Psychological problems treated include emotional and behavioral problems, attachment issues, trauma, and developmental disorders. An influential 1970s survey suggests that over 20 percent of therapists in the psychotherapy division of the American Psychological Association incorporated animals into their treatment in some fashion. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the number is much higher today. Since Yeshiva University psychologist Boris Levinson popularized the involvement of animals in psychotherapy in the 1960s, Israel has come to be perhaps the most advanced country in the world in the area of animal-assisted psychotherapy (AAP). This is true especially in the areas of academic training programs, theory-building, and clinical practice. Great effort has been put into understanding the mechanisms behind AAP, as well as into developing ethical guidelines that take into account the therapist's responsibility toward both client and animal. This book exposes the world to the theory and practice of AAP as conceived and used in Israel. It emphasizes evidence-based and clinically sound applications with psychotherapeutic goals, as differentiated from other animal-assisted interventions, such as AAE (animal-assisted education) and AAA (animal-assisted activities), which may have education or skills-oriented goals. Not just anyone with a dog can call him-or herself an animal-assisted therapist. This volume demonstrates not only the promise of animal-assisted psychotherapeutic approaches, but also some of the challenges the field still needs to overcome to gain widespread legitimacy.

Afternoons with Puppy is a heartwarming account of dynamic relationships and outcomes involving a therapist, his therapy animals, and his patients over the course of almost two decades. Afternoons with Puppy is a narrative of Dr. Fine's experiences and the growing respect for the power of the animals effect on his patients and himself. This book documents some of the magnificent discoveries that Dr. Fine has witnessed and made over the past few decades working with these animals, and showing how the reader can apply these observations and discoveries to their lives. The authors illustrate the deeper and more fundamental elements of life found in our bonds with animals. more at ease but still reserved. As we sit and talk, Hart [therapy dog] sits close to her chair. At one point in our session, Sarah's reserve finally crumbles. Pushing up her left sleeve, she shows me her scars. As she lowers her arm, Sarah notices that Hart's eyes are fixed on that arm. At that moment, Hart lifts her gaze from the arm and connects with Sarah's eyes. Hart then looks over at me. With an expression on her face that I can only call puzzled, Hart looks back at Sarah, and then Hart lowers her head and begins to lick the scars. Sarah is startled for a moment but then sits quietly as Hart continues to lick the wounds. Finally, she bends over hart and holds her close.

Diana Wells's intriguing exploration into the rewards of relationships--both the canine and human varieties--begins when she reluctantly starts seeing a psychologist, Beth, during a difficult time in her life. With no insurance to pay for counseling, a barter is arranged in which the client becomes part-time caretaker to the therapist's dog, Luggs, a sweet, clumsy black Labrador retriever. As Wells examines her past--her peripatetic childhood, her eccentric family, her grief over the deaths of loved ones--Luggs provides a bridge between therapist and patient. Dog lover by nature, historian by trade, Wells finds herself curious about the connections that dogs and humans have shared for centuries--and what these bonds tell us about our own psyches. Wells observes that training a dog has much in common with the therapeutic techniques her psychologist employs. Looking into recent experiments that have proved dogs better at interpreting human behavior than chimps or wolves, Wells explores the subtleties of her own relationship with dogs. Increasingly she finds herself agreeing with Diogenes, the original Greek cynic (the word cynic comes from the greek kuon, meaning "dog"), who said that unless we think like dogs, happiness will elude us. Wells analyzes what we name our dogs, how we breed them, how we've explored the wilderness with them, the kinds of literature we write about them, why we love them, and, most important, what we can learn from them. When an unexpected illness befalls Beth, Luggs comforts the two women, and his devotion helps Wells come to accept that relationships--despite the possibility of hurt and pain--are what life is all about.