Why Dolphin-Assisted Therapy Isn

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Why Dolphin-Assisted Therapy Isnt Therapy
Lori Marino Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology
Program Emory University Atlanta, Georgia, USA
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Ways that the public experiences dolphins in
captivity
INTERACTIVE or SWIM WITH DOLPHINS PROGRAMS
NON-INTERACTIVE VENUES
DOLPHIN ASSISTED THERAPY (DAT)
DISPLAYS
SHOWS
RECREATION
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DAT programs are proliferating all across the
globe
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Is DAT therapy?
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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
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The Key Features of Therapy

• There are specified goals and objectives for each
  individual.
• Progress is measured.

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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).
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• 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.

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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

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How is DAT purported to work?
Increased concentration Increased learning

Brain wave shift(alpha-theta crossover)

Sonar healing
Biophilia
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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
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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.
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Dolphin-Assisted Therapy Harnessing the Healing
Effects of the Sea
...bioaquatic studies in the Bahamas...
The cost per person is 4,500 plus all expenses
such as travel, hotel, transportation and meals.
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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
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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).

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• 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

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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!
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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.

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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.
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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
  researchers hypothesis

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Is DAT therapy?
No
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Are the theories about DAT even plausible?
Increased concentration Increased learning

Brain wave shift(alpha-theta crossover)

Sonar healing
Biophilia
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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

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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