Why DolphinAssisted Therapy Isnt Therapy Lori Marino Neuroscience

Why Dolphin-Assisted Therapy Isn’t Therapy Lori Marino Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology Program Emory University Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Ways that the public experiences dolphins in captivity NON-INTERACTIVE VENUES DISPLAYS SHOWS INTERACTIVE or ‘SWIM WITH DOLPHINS’ PROGRAMS RECREATION DOLPHIN ASSISTED THERAPY (DAT)

DAT programs are proliferating all across the globe

Is DAT therapy?

Therapy • 1 : of or relating to the treatment of disease or disorders by remedial agents or methods • 2 : providing or assisting in a cure - Merriam-Webster Dictionary

The Key Features of Therapy • There are specified goals and objectives for each individual. • Progress is measured.

General DAT Scenario Dolphins are kept in a pool or in a gated enclosure. Participants interact with the dolphin(s) by touching, feeding, swimming with, or riding on the dolphin(s).

There is always additional human contact and attention by trainers/”therapists”/ etc. during the session. There may be conventional remedial tasks employed during the session. Sessions can last for a few minutes to an hour and the whole “treatment” can last for either one session or many sessions over several weeks. DAT is expensive. The cost for 5 -10 sessions is between $3, 000 - $5, 000 plus expenses. DAT is unregulated and unaccredited. No professional training or certification is needed.

• • • • Kinds of ailments purported to be treatable by DAT include but are not limited to: Depression Anxiety Mental retardation Autism Downs Syndrome Attention deficit disorder Multiple sclerosis Cerebral palsy Anorexia Cancer AIDS Blindness Immune system disorders

How is DAT purported to work? Increased concentration = Increased learning Brain wave shift (“alpha-theta crossover”) Sonar healing Biophilia

DOLPHIN HUMAN THERAPY Dolphin Cove, Key Largo, Florida DHT is a private, professional organization dedicated to providing the highest quality rehabilitative therapy. DHT helps participants to improve rapidly and to become more independent. DHT does not cure or prevent injury, illness, or disability. DHT treats all disabilities, including the severely and profoundly disabled. Therapy is conducted once a day, Monday through Friday, for two to four weeks. Dr. David Nathanson

Dolphin Assisted Therapy (D. A. T. ) is a new and exciting field of modern medicine that some people categorize as part of the Animal therapy. We have developed a rehabilitation system for patients suffering from neurological disorders (in adults- chronic fatigue syndrome, in children - conditions brought about by a negative influence of the environment, enuresis, logoneuroses, phobias, depression, neurosthenia, infantile autism syndrome and cerebral palsy) based mainly on the contact of the patients with specially trained Black Sea bottlenose dolphins.

Dolphin-Assisted Therapy: Harnessing the Healing Effects of the Sea “. . . bioaquatic studies in the Bahamas. . . ” The cost person is $4, 500 plus all expenses such as travel, hotel, transportation and meals.

DAT proponents rely heavily on personal testimonials. This is a common practice in pseudoscience. “Dolphins helped my child” By Tory Milne BBC News Online Staff

Claims made by DAT studies (in the peer-reviewed literature) • Nathanson et al. (1997); Nathanson (1998) – (1) DAT significantly increases attention span, motivation, and language skills – (2) DAT achieves these results more rapidly and more cost- effectively than conventional therapy, and – (3) DAT produces positive treatment effects that are maintained over a long-term period (i. e. at least one year).

• • Antonioli & Reveley (2005): Depression Webb & Drummond (2001): Anxiety Servais (1999): Learning in autistic children Lukina (1999): improvement in nonspecific behaviors in children with “psychoneurological” dysfunction • Iikura et al. (2001): Improved treatment for atopic dermatitis and pain relief

Critiques of DAT studies • Marino and Lilienfeld (1998): assessed two studies • Humphries (2003): assessed five studies “Claims of the effectiveness of using dolphins as a procedure for improving the behaviours of young children with disabilities are therefore not supported by available research evidence”. • Marino and Lilienfeld (2007) – assessed five studies All peer-reviewed published DAT studies have been reviewed to date!

Marino and Lilienfeld (1998, 2007) Is there any scientific evidence that DAT claims are valid? We performed a methodological assessment of the peer-reviewed studies. We applied standard criteria for scientific validity from four established published sources.

Marino and Lilienfeld (1998): found no less than 11 independent methodological weaknesses in the studies that undermined the entire scientific validity of both. Marino and Lilienfeld (2007): identified no less than 13 independent methodological flaws across all five studies that undermined their scientific validity. No study had less than 5 weaknesses.

Common flaws in DAT studies due to lack of experimental control • Nonspecific effects – improvement from effects not specific to the treatment Placebo effects – improvement from expectation Novelty effects – “feel good” response to anything new • Construct confounding – inability to disentangle effects of dolphin and other components (attention by therapist, being in water, etc. ) • Experimenter expectancy effects – bias towards findings that are consistent with the researcher’s hypothesis

Is DAT therapy? No

Are theories about DAT even plausible? Increased concentration = Increased learning Brain wave shift (“alpha-theta crossover”) Sonar healing Biophilia

Potential Detrimental Impacts of DAT • • • Exploitation of desperate parents Forestalling effective treatments Injuries to participants Disease transmission Stress and negative affects on the health of the dolphins (Brensing et al. ) • Impact of capture on wild populations

The Bottom Line. . . There is a substantial potential for detrimental impacts of DAT on both humans and dolphins. Viable, more valid, and safer therapies exist. There is no scientific evidence for the claims made by DAT proponents. DAT SHOULD BE TERMINATED