Dolphins Help Depression
Reported November 30, 2005
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — Swimming with the dolphins may sound like just another fun way to spend an afternoon. New research, however, shows it could also be an effective treatment for depression.
Researchers wanted to know what effect interaction with the natural environment would have on depression. They designed a study that would have patients with depression interacting with dolphins in Honduras over two weeks.
Researchers recruited 30 patients with mild to moderate depression. Half were assigned to interact with dolphins during water activities one hour a day for two weeks. The other half was assigned to the control group, which participated in the same water activities but had no interaction with dolphins.
All patients stopped taking antidepressants before and during the experiment. Depression scores were measured before and after the treatment. Researchers say the group treated with animal interaction had a significantly greater improvement in their depression scores than the group not treated with animal interaction.
Additionally, researchers discovered three months after the conclusion of the study, participants in both groups reported lasting improvement in their depression scores. The researchers say this suggests drugs or traditional psychotherapy may not be needed when patients have access to treatment involving environmental interaction.
SOURCE: British Medical Journal, 2005;331:1231-1234