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Written By: Dr. Daniela Graf
As a psychiatrist in Dubai, I get to work with young people from a dazzling array of backgrounds and cultures. Despite this melting pot, there are always simple, universally human things that bind us together. One of these is our relationship to animals and pets in particular.
Most people love animals. This is nothing new. The majority of households today also own a pet.
Apart from the fact that pet owners love to play and cuddle with their pets, we psychiatrists in Dubai know that there are a variety of psychological benefits of human-animal interactions, too.
This is why many schools, clinics, and the best psychiatrists Dubai has to offer have long since started to integrate animal-assisted therapy into their therapeutic range.
There are already wonderful concepts worldwide where work is done with dogs, horses and dolphins in particular.
Before becoming a psychiatrist in Dubai, I worked in Germany, where we had a therapy dog in our child and adolescent psychiatric day clinic. Little “George” was, without a doubt, our star.
Whenever we saw little patients with anxiety disorders, autism spectrum disorders, conduct disorders or depression, he took the children’s hearts by storm. And the almost instant positive effects on the young patients were more than impressive.
The children and adolescents showed a significantly reduced level of symptoms. Anxiety was reduced tremendously. Sad and crying children began to cheer up, angry or agitated children became much calmer. Neurodiverse children who rarely or never spoke to adults began to talk to the animals.
And, of course, it also helps the children to take responsibility, to show consideration, and it strengthens their self-confidence through the unconditional love they receive from their pet.
As a great animal lover and psychiatrist in Dubai, I can only recommend having a pet to all parents who are currently considering getting one for their child.
It is impressive how many of my patients tell me during my work as a child psychiatrist in Dubai how much they would like to have a pet and ask me to convince their parents to do so. Well then, I hope that I have succeeded a little in this today.