Animal-Assisted Interventions and mental health: Transdiagnostic effectiveness across the lifespan

Journal title RIVISTA SPERIMENTALE DI FRENIATRIA
Author/s Caterina Ambrosi Zaiontz, Vittoria Ardino, Giovanni Bucci, Desirè Gaj
Publishing Year 2025 Issue 2025/3
Language Italian Pages 32 P. 75-106 File size 783 KB
DOI 10.3280/RSF2025-003005
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Mental health has a significant impact on people’s daily functioning and wellbeing. Scientific data has shown that traditional treatments are not always effective in modulating symptoms and curbing treatment resistance. On the other hand, the socalled complementary therapies, such as AnimalAssisted Interventions and Therapies through the humananimal relationship, constitute an important integration or alternative, as recent scientific literature has demonstrated. AnimalAssisted Interventions represent a therapeuticrehabilitative approach recognized and regulated by the Italian Ministry of Health. The aim of this contribution is to highlight the role of such interventions in modulating psychopathological outcomes due to different vulnerabilities in the mental health sphere and in promoting psychophysical wellbeing throughout the entire life span. Specifically, this contribution focuses on the mechanisms through which the presence of the animal facilitates therapeutic work, such as neurophysiological and emotional coregulation, mentalization, and the flow of cognitive processes, as well as the consolidation of the attention span. The effectiveness of these interventions also concerns behavioral indicators, where dysfunctions are present, and psychosocial skills. This article also presents two examples of intervention: the first concerns the mental health field with a special focus on psychological trauma and its syndromes, and the second refers to the geriatric context, where studies show the effectiveness in reducing anxietydepressive symptoms in stimulating reflective capacity and working memory favoring an increase in social interactions; the second concerns work on transdiagnostic problems related to the impairment of emotional regulation (trauma, personality disorders, antisociality).

Keywords: guidelines, animalassisted therapy, emotional regulation, humananimal bond, gerontology, trauma, therapeutic alliance.

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Caterina Ambrosi Zaiontz, Vittoria Ardino, Giovanni Bucci, Desirè Gaj, Gli Interventi Assistiti con gli Animali e salute mentale: efficacia transdiagnostica nel ciclo di vita in "RIVISTA SPERIMENTALE DI FRENIATRIA" 3/2025, pp 75-106, DOI: 10.3280/RSF2025-003005