Cats, Dogs and Mental Health | Ellie Harvey | TEDxKingAlfredSchool

[Applause] until I was six within a farm in Northumberland if you don't know why that is basically head north and if you hit Scotland you've gone too far we had about 17 pets of the time that we lived there and they range from horses to goldfish I - and I changed their names every day but what I really wanted was a dog and so when we moved back to London we got one I'm not sure why we didn't get one then when we lived in an actual farm but anyway her name is indi she's a

rescue from Battersea cats and dogs home I'm not entirely sure of her age but she's very playful so assuming about two or three now despite the fact that my dad was the one who wants to talk the least he now loves her more than anybody the breaking and nighttime scenario in our house is this my mum comes up to bed in Indy or the dog she's mostly known he's sleeping on her side of the bed with her head on her pillow my dad has pretty much cheating on my mum at this point but what I

didn't learn until later is that it was partly through the recommendation of a psychologist that we got her this is because my dad I see is no depression now my family isn't alone in this when four people have been diagnosed with a mental disorder at some point in their lives as a way to treat some psychological problems come four animals are given to the patient come for animals at any animal like my dog animal assisted therapy has been going on for a very long time we can trace it back to the ancient Egyptians you select

dogs at the feet of their wounded now this seems pretty gross but it turns out they had the right idea as dog saliva actually contains a number of antiviral antibacterial compounds as well as some growth factors from where healing the ancient Greeks used to use horses to lift patients spirits by taking them into temples and letting them interact with the wounded in the 1940s the American Red Cross at a similar idea and worked in farms where veterans could come and interact and take care of farm animals when they were covering from injuries this was thought

to comfort them and help them take their minds off the war horses have even been known to help people don't have again for strengthening their quarterback riding Florence Nightingale describes in her book and notes on nursing a belief that small animals can decrease anxiety after she conducted a series of inform experiments where she gave small animals to children and noted their responses Sigmund Freud used to bring his dog jofi in cecht with him and noticed how the patient would be relatively stress-free when he was around later a child psychologist Boris Levinson discovered that nonverbal children

would actually speak to his dog he used to ask them questions but change his voice sound like the dog was talking and then the children would speak back to the dog an example a bit closer to home is our school dog Alfie who is amazing in so many ways from accompanying our school counselor to bereavement groups to helping children make friends by taking him for walks but why is it that this happens the truth is we don't really know scientifically there is not a lot of research although more is being done one test does show

the significant drop in stress hormones in a patient when they around an animal there is also the measurable effect that stroking a dog has an increase in your dopamine levels from a psychological point of view isn't because animals don't talk or judge is it because they provide unconditional love is that why people find it so easy to open up to them especially children the impact that my dog has had on my dad's life is undeniable having an animal that forces you at the house after your own head there's no medicine that helps and like she

does Andy was a rescue dog but it was us were rescued [Applause]