Pet therapy—the use of animals in healing—is a rehabilitative approach that has been researched and tested since the 1960s, forging a connection between people and the natural world.
Contact with animals has shown benefits for people with high blood pressure, for neuromotor rehabilitation, for developing coordination, for age-related dementia, and for treating repetitive behaviors in people with autism.
For seven years now, the Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Headaches in Childhood at Rome's IDI-San Carlo Hospital has used this method to help children with headaches caused by psychological and environmental stress, as well as those with different diagnoses: hyperactivity syndrome, pervasive developmental disorders, sleep disturbances, anxiety disorders, and mood disorders (Vita Con, 6-2010).
An initial pilot study involved 25 patients. The results were encouraging (Moscato, 2006), so the team expanded to 40 children aged 4 to 16. Half showed marked improvement in their headaches. Professor Davide Moscato, a child neuropsychiatrist who leads the center and the project, explains how it works: in a green park setting in Rome (originally within the hospital itself), with supervision from psychotherapists, small groups of children with the difficulties mentioned above interact with different animals in a natural environment. He emphasizes that the relationship with an animal reactivates something ancestral in us—something we have forgotten. When a child faces a puppy or any animal perceived as harmless, our defenses drop. So does the state of high alert that stress normally triggers. The electroencephalogram of someone petting a purring cat shows stabilization; heart rate, breathing, blood pressure, and muscle tension all decrease—the opposite of the damaging physiological response caused by stress.
Through nonverbal behavior, the animal becomes an important emotional mediator for the child who cannot communicate or manage feelings, or who has actual communication disorders. The child builds an empathetic bond with the animal, which encourages identification with it and helps the child recognize and name emotions, building self-confidence.
Children encounter animals of different sizes and learn that each requires different handling: how to pet a rabbit is not how to pet a pony.
Professor Moscato explains that many of the conditions treated do delay developmental milestones—but do not stop them. To help children catch up, learning can happen through alternative means. Interest in animals helps children acquire pre-verbal skills essential for later development. The therapist acts as a mediator, helping the child become aware of these growing competencies through interaction with the animal. When children then share what they've learned with the wider group, their relationships with peers and adults improve too. The therapists themselves are trained in animal interaction; they teach children correct handling and care, and they manage the group skillfully.
Children already in the program become mentors to newcomers, helping them learn.
Several mothers of young patients spoke at a conference on Childhood Headaches held May 15 at IDI. Professor Moscato asked them to share their experiences. They described the benefits their children received, the changes they saw in their sons and daughters—and in themselves. Children who had suffered severe, disabling headaches with a strong psychological component showed remarkable improvement, which remained stable even a year after therapy ended.
One mother described how the approach changed her own behavior. When a headache episode struck, she would immediately reach for painkillers. But through this new method—unexpected for almost all of them—she began taking her son for walks in the park, maybe to feed the nutria at the small lake. Often, she discovered, no medication was needed afterward.
The challenges are real. Running and maintaining a facility like this—a small farm with sheep, lambs, goats, ponies, dogs, cats, rabbits, birds—each suited to a child's particular needs—requires dedicated staff for daily animal and grounds care, plus veterinary expertise.
But such rewarding work inspires new projects. At the same conference, organizers unveiled a pilot program that will test pet therapy for autistic children over one year at Zoomarine, a marine park in Torvajanica (near Rome), using sea lions and seals.
These animals were chosen deliberately. They are unusual, large, and awe-inspiring—capable of creating a truly striking, emotionally powerful experience for an autistic child. They do well outside the water, so children can see them clearly and up close in large tanks and touch them on land. They are mammals that live in water but must surface to breathe—much like autistic children, who need to learn to let their relational capacities emerge.
The program runs in weekly one-and-a-half-hour sessions for groups of four children. Children are assessed at the start and then every four months. The presence of this high-quality marine park near Rome, staffed by specialists and dedicated to both education and building new human-animal relationships, made this dream finally possible.
The goal is clear: autism cannot be cured, but we can try to help the autistic child surface—to bring out, as much as possible, his or her emotional capacity. And with that, other and wider possibilities for growth. After one year, we will know if the results truly warrant hope.
Cristina Tersigni, 2010