Psychology
How Animal Therapy Assists Various Kinds of Patients

Animals and humans have had a long and multifaceted relationship over time. There are many of us who have visited petting zoos, regular zoos, and kept pets in our homes. People who have bonded with animals know first hand how strong the connection can be between a person and an animal. It is only been in the past several decades where formal research into the advantages of animal-human companionship has been conducted. As recently as the 1960s is when this research began, and in subsequent decades, the area of Animal Assisted Therapy has been established, and a number of studies have been conducted about the numerous physiological, emotional, psychological, cognitive, and behavioral benefits there are when humans and animals spend time with each other, in the long-term and in the short-term. Animal Assisted Therapy has been implemented in a variety of settings with….

69). Petting a dog lowered blood pressure and respiratory rate -- even if the dog was somebody else's. Pet owners that have heart surgery recover faster and stand a better chance of full recovery. Touching a warm furry animal gives them relief.
Moreover, pet ownership is a predictor of survival after hospitalization for any serious illness (Gunter & Furnham, 1999).

Demello (1999) found that the "mere presence of an animal" could lower blood pressure and that the effect persisted even after the animal was gone. Visual contact with an animal, although it helped, was not as good as touching. Heart rates decreased significantly in a three-minute period of physical contact with the animal (Demello, 1999).

A story in Time magazine (2001) tells how a brain-injured man needed help to get back his sense of balance. Ginger, an Australian shepherd, liked to fetch, so physical therapy for this man was to reach down,….

Conversion therapy is a topic that has both critics and supporters and has been recently in the news ever since California came out with a law banning conversion therapy for teenagers and children (Buchanan, 2012). Critics say that the therapy is an example of pseudo-science that it forcibly tries to change the gay's person's sexual tendencies and that, since this is unnatural and impossible, only eventuates in guilt and depression. Supporters, on the other hand, maintain that, as like every other therapy, conversion therapy cannot be expected to help all. More so, there are some individuals who do wish to change their sexual tendencies and, therefore, they should be enabled to sign up for conversion therapy would they so wish. Finally, the government has no right to interfere unless conversion therapy has been shown to be destructive to all clients; and this is has not yet evidenced itself to be.
What….

Mignini, Pradeep Jayaram, and Khalid S. Khan
BMJ 2007 334: 97. Online available at http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/334/7588/274

Perel, et al. (2007) states that only immediate preclinical testing of new drug therapies, but animal research aids medical science in many more ways Animal studies play a part in the initial development of candidate drugs, and the development and testing of medical devices and surgical procedures. Even more crucial, animal research informs clinical research by building the foundation of biological knowledge." (2007)

6. Study on Long-Term Effects of Chemicals on the Environment

Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution. 22 Mar 2007. Online available at http://www.rcep.org.uk/chemicals/chemscop.htm

This work states that diverse organizations including the 'Chemical Industries Association', CEFIC, the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions as well as the Department of Health and Friends of the Earth "...raise the impact of chemicals assessment policy on animal testing. Most of the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions'….

Society Feels About Animals
As a first order primate, humans have a natural affinity with animals of all types that has contributed to their mutual relationships throughout history. In fact, animals of different types have been since the time of the ancient Greeks to improve the emotional and functional status of humans (Mccauley, 2006, p. 358). Animal-assisted therapy (AAT) has grown in popularity in recent years based on its proven efficacy in treating a wide range of healthcare and mental health conditions. Although dogs and cats are most commonly used in AAT settings, horses, rabbits and even fish can also be used. For instance, according to Macauley, "The use of animals ranges from companion animals that provide camaraderie and emotional support to assistance animals that provide direct physical-functional support to therapy animals that aid with the habilitation-rehabilitation in physical, occupational, speech-language, and recreation therapy" (2006, p. 358). Moreover, some researchers….

Evidence has been cited suggesting that ECT is particularly efficacious with psychotic depression. Experimental research and reviews of the literature tend to conclude that ECT is either equal or superior to antidepressant medication in the treatment of severe depression. In one study both depressed men and women were helped by ECT, but women tended to improve more with ECT than with imipramine, a tricyclic antidepressant. Men tended to improve more with imipramine. Both men and women improved more with ECT than with phenalzine, a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI). It has been suggested that MAOIs and serotonin-specific reuptake inhibitors (SSIs) may be less clinically effective than heterocyclic antidepressants for severe depression. Thus, ECT's favorable comparison with imipramine is a strong endorsement.
Adverse Effects

The side effect of ECT that has received the most attention is memory loss. ECT results in two kinds of memory loss. The first involves quick forgetting of new….

Perceptions are generally based on the present, and therefore, the need to explore the past by delving into it in great detail becomes totally unnecessary. Glasser felt that even if the person exhibited bizarre and extremely strange types of behavior at a particular time, it was because of an innate reason of trying and attempting to find the best solution in order to meet the person's needs at that particular time in his life, and therefore, it was logical and sane to him, if not to others who would sometimes label him as strange or insane. (the Use of eality Therapy in Guidance in second Level Schools) delinquent would make choices based on the best way to meet his basic needs at that time, and therefore, must not be criticized. This, in essence formed the theory of eality Therapy of William Glasser, wherein the concept of 'Choice Theory' was….

Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet thus correspond to the seven chakras located along the spinal column." (Fuller 242) Crystal therapy is therefore based on the control and manipulation of these energies so that there is the "correct" or appropriate and balanced amount of this energy in each of the chakras.
The most touted of New Age healing techniques has been the use of crystals. Enthusiasts claim that because rock crystal is almost entirely devoid of color, it is an almost perfect capacitor of divine white light. Explanations of exactly how crystals wield their healing powers vary from practitioner to practitioner. Some maintain that the unique properties of crystals make them excellent receptors of metaphysical energies.

Fuller 242/3)

rief history of crystal therapy

As has already been mentioned, the history of this form of therapy is to be found in many historical documents and in myths, stories and records from the….

Personality Therapy
Personality is very complex. Individuals can differ considerably from one another, because of the wide variety of traits possible. In addition, a person can act a certain way in one situation and completely different in another, or have internal processes that manifest themselves through very different external actions and behaviors. Because of this diversity and complexity, psychologists have developed a number of theories to explain personality phenomena, as well as suggest yet unknown possibilities. This report, based on the book Perspectives on Personality by Charles Carver will discuss these theories and how they can be applied for behavioral change through therapy.

Two theories fall under the dispositional perspectives category, which emphasize that people display consistency or continuity in their actions, thoughts and feelings: The "trait and type" theory and the "needs and motives" theory. The first concludes that people can be divided into different types or categories. Nomothetic personality traits….

" Long-term use may develop psychoses, like schizophrenia and severe depression. The use of MDMA may produce psychological difficulties, like confusion, depression, sleep problems, drug craving, severe anxiety and paranoia, even weeks after the use of the drug. MSMA develops symptoms, such as muscle tension, nausea, blurred vision, rapid eye movements, faintness, chills, sweating, and increased heart rate and blood pressure. it, therefore, poses a special risk for those with heart disease. Overuse can lead to death (Kurtzweil).
West Africans used ibogaine as a stimulant and aphrodisiac in the early 1900s (Kurtzweil 1995). Native Americans used mescaline from peyote cactus in religious rituals. LSD was first synthesized in 1938. Throughout history, it was considered a source of many types of medications. Its psychedelic effects were first discovered in 1943. Two decades after World War II, LSD was used to determine its effects on patients with schizophrenia and other mental disorders. It….

Cognitive Stimulation Therapy for Early Stages of Dementia
With an aging population, issues related to cognitive abilities and impairment, including dementia, are increasing in relevance to public health officials. Being able to delay the negative results of dementia can contribute to increased quality of life for a number of aging individuals and their families. At present, many health care professionals view dementia as a condition that will deteriorate over time and do not view it as something that can be effectively stalled or reversed (Hodges & Graham, 1999). Many of the programs available for individuals dealing with cognitive deterioration or dementia are designed to provide for their safety and contentedness, but do not focus much on improving or maintaining cognitive abilities. Furthermore, the emphasis of many day programs is on providing a safe place for individuals so that their caregivers can have the much-needed respite in their care routines. Caregivers….

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The two hypothetical systems working on an individual's brain during the experience of addiction are complementary within and between system changes. The first counteradaptation results in a decrease in the transmission of dopamine and serotonin release during withdrawal phases of the cycle (obinson & Berridge 2001). Effectively, dopamine and serotonin transmission is artificially increased beyond the normative range during drug use, then virtually stopped once the drug has left the body. This intensifies not only the "come down" feeling but also the preoccupation anxieties associated with substance abuse as well as the existing emotional, environmental, or social vulnerability which lead to the initial lapse. Sensitization is the component of addiction which compels an individual to continually seek greater quantities of the substance (obinson & Berridge 2001). Effectively once the brain has been exposed to a chemical which alters neural transmission, the body attempts to return to a homeostatic state.….

Creoles
Professionals involved in therapy and counseling with members of the Creole culture of New Orleans and southern Louisiana should be aware of the history and traditions of this group that make it distinctive from all others in the United States, and indeed from the French-speaking Cajun communities in the same region. In Louisiana, Creoles are not simply the white descendants of the early French and Spanish colonists, although in the post-Civil War era of Jim Crow there was a major attempt to redefine them as 100% white. This was never the case in history since they are a mixed-race people descended from Europeans, Native Americans and African slaves during the 18th Century and occupied a special caste in pre-Civil War Louisiana. They spoke their own language known as Creole French, as do tens of thousands of their descendants today, and in appearance have often been able to 'pass' as white.….

Complementary and Alternative Medicines (CAM) Systems
Complementary and alternative medicine systems are health care approaches that are characterized by a history of use or origins that are external to mainstream medicine or health care practices. These health care systems or approaches have lasted for centuries since different kinds of complementary and alternative medicines have been reported. According to the World Health Organization, different types of complementary and alternative medicines have acted as the basic health practice in developing countries and are increasingly used in countries with predominant conventional medicine (Kramlich, 2014, p.50). CAM therapies have become common in the recent past and are used for treating various conditions including chronic pain conditions. Actually, several CAM therapies and practice interventions such as acupuncture and massage therapy are increasingly used in chronic pain management.

Naturopathic Medicine

Naturopathic medicine, which is also known as naturopathy or alternative medicine, is a term that is used to refer….

Comparing Behaviorism and Humanism Learning Theories in Understanding Mike\\\'s SituationIntroductionThe Case of Mike is one that deals with addiction and how to overcome it. Mike was introduced to drugs at an early age, as a treatment for ADHD. Eventually, he took to harder drugs and ended up prison. Now he is out and wants to stay clean. Two contrasting learning theories can be applied to the case study of Mike are Skinner\\\'s Behaviorism, which emphasizes the role of environmental reinforcement and punishment in shaping behavior, and ogers\\\' Humanism, which focuses on the individual\\\'s subjective experience and intrinsic motivation. This paper will look at Mikes case from the perspective of these two theories, compare and contrast them, and show how they can be applied to Mikes situation.Skinner\\\'s BehaviorismB.F. Skinner\\\'s behaviorism theory, or the theory of operant conditioning, rests on the assumption that all behavior is a product of conditioning, with reinforcement….